Hundreds of Victorian EVs deregistered for not paying road user tax

October 18, 2023: Victoria's EV road tax has been struck down

In a blow for the state, Victoria’s zero-emissions vehicle road-user tax has been deemed unlawful.

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Two hundred and forty three electric vehicle owners in Victoria have had their registration cancelled for failing to pay the controversial tax on electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

The Zero and Low-Emission Vehicle (ZLEV) road user charge was legislated by the Victorian Government in mid-2021 to tax fully-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) based on distance travelled, in lieu of the fuel excise paid by drivers of internal-combustion engined cars.

The charge increases per financial year based on inflation. It currently costs motorists 2.6 cents per kilometre for pure-electric vehicles or 2.1 cents per kilometre for PHEVs.

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“Less than one per cent of ZLEV-registered operators have had their registration cancelled from non-declaration of odometer readings,” VicRoads Registration and Licensing Services COO, Michael Hooper, told the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

All EV and PHEV owners need to manually take a photo of the odometer annually and submit it to VicRoads within 14 days of request, with the Government suspending vehicle registrations after 78 days if owners don’t pay the tax within 56 days.

But Nissan Leaf owner Lisy Kane told the AAP that she inadvertently didn’t pay the EV tax as VicRoads didn’t notify her employer, who administers the car’s payments.

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“It turned out I was driving my car unregistered for about six months. I was really, really shocked. It seems like an extreme remedy for not paying a small fee," Kane said.

“There was no email or any follow-up saying 'we're going to cancel your registration in 30 days' or anything like that.

“We're fairly certain we did submit the odometer reading, but we might have missed it. It was very stressful.”

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Two Melbourne EV owners have taken the first-of-its-kind EV tax to the Australian High Court, arguing it discourages Victorians from switching to lower- or zero-emissions vehicles. The case is expected to finalise in April.

South Australia previously planned for a similar EV tax to start from 2027, but the plans were recently scrapped by the newly elected Labor-led state government.

Meanwhile, the New South Wales and Western Australian state governments still plan to introduce an EV tax from July 2027 or as soon as EVs make up at least 30 per cent market share.