Motorists will be rewarded for using electric vehicles and punished for high emissions in a new car registration scheme.
The ACT plans to base registration costs on the amount of CO2 a vehicle emits, rather than its weight.
Electric car owners will get charged the lowest fee but the ACT government has promised most petrol vehicles will be charged at the same rate or less.
A new scheme in the ACT will charge motorists registration fees based on the amount of CO2 vehicles emit
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the most any vehicle will be charged extra is $50.
‘For 96 per cent of cars on the road, it either means the same or cheaper, and it’s only a very small number of heavy, and heavy-polluting, vehicles that will pay up to $50 more,’ Mr Barr says.
There will also be one year of additional discounts for those driving hybrid vehicles.
The government claims the changes, which will be phased in over four years, will save motorists $6.6 million.
Under the ACT scheme owners of electric and hybrid vehicles will be paying less for registration
NSW is also introducing green-tinged changes to vehicle registrations but they will be giving motorists the option of paying more to offset emissions.
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Motorists can pay an extra $80 to offset their annual emissions but during registration they donate anywhere from $5 to $200 to projects that reduce CO2.
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean stressed the extra payments were voluntary.
‘We’re not forcing anyone to do anything,’ Mr Kean told the ABC.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr (pictured) has promised most motorists will pay the same or less under rego changes
‘For those people that can’t afford electric vehicles … they can choose to offset their emissions.
‘This is an opportunity for people to do their bit for the environment.’
The road transport sector is responsible for about 22 per cent of NSW emissions with 50 per cent of that total coming from passenger vehicles.
The money will go to projects such as a regeneration scheme in the Bourke and Brewarrina shires of growing native forest on cleared land.
Motorists will be able to track online the projects their money is going towards.
The Queensland government ran a similar scheme for two years from 2009 but it has been shelved.
