Tesla has been trying to lobby with the United Kingdom government to promote higher taxes for their gas-powered vehicles or rather known as petrol cars. This includes a proposed ban generally on internal combustion engine vehicles.
Tesla lobbies for EV benefits
According to an article by Electrek, over the course of the years, Tesla has occasionally been lobbying with the UK government in order to get electric vehicle incentives.
However, the automaker has always made his position quite clear when it comes to the best solution: the taxation of products that reportedly result in more polluting emissions for them to represent their true cost.
Tesla is trying to call for a rise in fuel duty as well as a charge in general on diesel and petrol car purchases, which would reportedly pay for grants and tax breaks, just like a VAT exemption for the general battery-powered cars.
If they are successful, this would benefit Tesla as they would then be able to make EVs even more affordable than fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
Fossil-fueled cars higher taxes
While the higher taxes on fossil-fueled cars, in general, could accelerate the global adoption of sustainable transportation, the governments usually end up hesitating due to the general threat of political backlash. Considering the UK alone, the said Conservative government has now frozen the fuel duty for well over a decade, a subsidy for both petrol and diesel that is well estimated over $69 billion.
Lobbying efforts against the government initiatives are now aimed at generally banning both petrol and diesel cars. This would include hybrids that have reportedly been opposed by several of Tesla's competitors within the automotive industry.
Sometime in November 2020, the general government reportedly noted that hybrid vehicles should still be allowed well until 2035. This will be an extension of five years compared to their initial goal of 2030, according to an article by Teslarati.
Tesla zero-emissions
Tesla's general lobbying efforts not only called for higher taxes of fossil-fueled cars as well as VAT exemptions to owners of battery-electric vehicles, but the company also noted that automakers should be generally required to sell a proportion of zero-emissions vehicles in their own lineup.
This would work largely in favor of Tesla as well as other electric car makers.
Tax breaks made for corporate car users who reportedly utilize battery-electric cars have a new "charging promise" coming from the government that could potentially increase the total number of public charging stations.
An initiative that would result in people getting paid to switch from fossil-fueled vehicles to EVs was also part of the suggestion by Tesla. While this move is generally beneficial for electric car makers, Tesla is an all-electric car company which means none of its manufacturing efforts will be wasted.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian Buenconsejo
