Should we tax vehicles by size instead of (or in addition to) emissions?

[Dr_Paul]

Surely today's technology enable differing vehicle tax to be easily calculated for different types of motor; all that's needed is for each model's data (weight, etc, etc) to be input, along with other relevant criteria (electric or internal combustion, etc, etc) at the DVLC, and a suitable tax-rate established for each one. These rates will be shown on the DVLC's website, so that people can how much this or that motor's tax will be.

 

[styles]

Personally I feel it should be something like:

weight x weightfactor x size x sizefactor x emissions x emissionsfactor

Probably emissions factor will be the largest, but I do think it's important to account for the other major aspects.

 

[Meerkat]

There is a big issue here with small cheaper cars increasingly not being made at all, leaving many with little option but an SUV even if they don't want one. e.g. Ford has stopped making both the Ka and the Fiesta. The Toyota Aygo / Citroen C1 / Peugeot 108 (all basically the same car with different styling) is no longer produced.

The result is that older cars are selling for increasing amounts. I was actually talking to a local garage owner yesterday and he told me that increasingly it's now worth repairing older small cars even if they need a load of welding, because of the way values have increased.

Is this an EV issue?
occured to me that you can have an ICE super mini and go anywhere (I’ve driven mine to Austria and back via the Millau viaduct….), but AIUI the range for little EVs just isn’t good enough for regular long trips, you have to get a bigger one??

 

[edwin_m]

Is this an EV issue?
occured to me that you can have an ICE super mini and go anywhere (I’ve driven mine to Austria and back via the Millau viaduct….), but AIUI the range for little EVs just isn’t good enough for regular long trips, you have to get a bigger one??

Possibly so. Comparing a larger vehicle with a smaller one and other things being equal, the volume available for battery is likely to increase more than the power needed to drive it a given distance, so the range will also exist. Also small batteries are likely to have lower energy and power densities than larger ones, because all the enclosures etc that surround the part that stores the energy will not reduce proportionately with the overall battery size.

 

[BlueLeanie]

I have long thought that making the cost of parking permits dependent on emissions is not logical - any car is zero-emission when it is parked. It has led to some unintended consequences - I know a two-car family in which the big seven seater family car is used for the daily commute, so only the smaller city car needs a permit. Why not make the cost of parking permits dependent on length?

Some areas are already banning the issuing of permits to vehicles that are classed "too long".

 

[E27007]

The VED rates defy logic, my 2019 Honda Supercub 125, a very practical form of transport, a 125 cc version of the famous Honda 50cc step-through of which Honda have manufactured around 120 million, my Suoercub would return over 180 mpg, the exhaust emmissionwere very low, due to fuel injection and a catalytic convertor, VED was £25 per annum , a neighbour with a Vauxhall Mokka, the VED for the Mokka was £30 per annum,