Need for electric vehicles in SA becomes more urgent

Friday, 23 July 2010

From 1 September 2010 our goverment will impose a green tax on vehicles in South Africa. This will specifically apply to all light vehicles and pick-ups/bakkies, but not to commercial vehicles for now.

The tax will be based on CO2 emissions at a rate of R75 a g/km (gram of CO2 per kilometre) for every g/km over 120 g/km. Minister of Finance Pravin Gordon proposed such a tax in February this year and earlier this week National Treasury spokesperson Jabulani Sikhakhane confirmed that the national fiscus expects to earn R450 million in the next financial year as a result of its implementation.

Manufacturers such as Toyota, South Africa’s top selling behicle brand) have said they are opposed to the move as very little discussion took place beforehand. They also argue that they are unable to use newer low carbon emssion technology as it does not operate well with the poor quality of fuel in South Africa.

Sensible move

Although some members of the public have said that the carbon tax is pure greed on the part of government, the move is justifiable in light of information released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) this week.

In terms of high carbon emissions South Africa is ranked 18th in the world, ahead of countries such as Spain and the Netherlands. Our government has made very sparse use of carbon taxing so far, and is a way off from its target of reducing green house gas emissions by 34% by 2020.

Essentially the introduction of a carbon tax on all vehicles which do not meet the 120g/km standard drastically increases the need for environmentally sustainable cars in South Africa, which in turn means that initiatives like Optimal Energy’s electric car will become increasingly valuable.

Have you booked your future test drive in the Joule yet?