Electric vehicle (EV) owners could be asked to pay fuel surcharge as early as 2030, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday.
The issue was discussed in a meeting at the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee, which was scheduled to review the budget plans proposed by the Railway Bureau, Institute of Transportation and Taiwan Transportation Safety Board.
Owners of electric vehicles are not obligated to pay a fuel surcharge for now, as the government is aiming to gradually phase out the use of gasoline-powered vehicles to curb carbon emissions, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Taipei Times
However, since fuel surcharges are levied every quarter from all motorists who access roads built by the government, electric vehicle users should be no exception, he said.
As electric vehicles are not powered by gasoline, the name of the surcharge should be changed to “highway maintenance, construction and safety management fee,” he said.
A separate pricing scheme should be established on how electric vehicle users should be charged, he said.
The nation has about 90,000 electric cars and 700,000 electric scooters, Department of Public Transportation and Supervision Director-General Lin Fu-shan (林福山) said.
“They would be asked to pay the fuel surcharge, just like other car owners when there are 500,000 electric cars and 2.4 million electric scooters in the country,” Lin Fu-shan said.
“Judging from the rate at which they grow, the target number could be reached as early as 2030,” he added.
The amount of fuel surcharge that electric vehicle owners should pay would be calculated by converting the vehicle’s horsepower to engine displacement of gasoline-powered vehicles, Lin Fu-shan said.
The largest engine displacement volume of a gasoline-powered vehicle is 8 liters, and the fuel surcharge would be set at NT$15,720, (US$483.92) he said.
The maximum fuel surcharge that electric car users would pay would be the same as that paid by drivers of 8-liter vehicles, Lin Fu-shan said.
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