Feebate gaining support – Genter

A feebate scheme offering discounts for people buying EVs and other low emission vehicles while penalising polluters is popular with submitters.

So says associate transport minister Julie Anne Genter just before submissions close on August 20 on the Government’s ‘clean car’ plan, which includes the feebate and emission standards.

She says about 80% of the online responses the Ministry of Transport (MoT) has received support the policies, Stuff reports.

Designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower fuel use, the ‘clean car discount’ and ‘clean car standards’ propose emission standards with buyers of high emission vehicles paying a penalty which subsidises those buying low or zero emission vehicles.

Genter says it’s designed to be revenue neutral and that after consultation closes the MoT will start analysing submissions and recommendations.

Jakob Lagercrantz, a speaker at the EVworld NZ 2019 conference whose home country Sweden has had a feebate for a year, describes it as like a “Robin Hood scheme – where the dirty guys pay for the clean guys”.

National Party leader Simon Bridges continues to criticise aspects of the ‘clean car’ plan, which he considers imposes another tax.

Stuff reports more than 12,000 people have signed a petition opposing the Government’s proposals.

Bridges believes alternative policies, such as retaining the EV exemption from road user charges and National’s 2017 target of making more than a third of the government car fleet electric by 2021 would “potentially have more effect”.

The Motor Industry Association (MIA) says the feebate scheme is “the most powerful policy” before the Government to influence car buying decisions but has concerns about the ‘clean car standard’ which it says could have a “range of unintended outcomes” such as increased new vehicle prices and people retaining older polluting and less safe vehicles for longer.

Both the MIA and Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association (VIA) have until September 10 to make their submissions.