Excise tax and the future of electric trucking have been hot topics. The impact of this tax is visible. It is one of the reasons why the use of electric trucks is not as high as intended. According to Transport Topics, electric trucks are the key to dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. This was from a study on how to speed up the adoption of electric trucks.
Excise Tax
The report argues that excise duty on medium and heavy-duty trucks is in the way of electrification. If excise tax is removed, the price of electric trucks will go lower. In so doing, they will provide a long-term solution to the issue of emissions. The first retail sale of trucks faces a 12% tax. The heavy-duty tax goes back in time to the WW1 days. Electric trucks are more expensive than diesel trucks. With excise duty, it makes them even more costly.
The government must do more to achieve a clean world. The incentives put in place are not enough. Tax removal will help reduce the gap in terms of pricing between electric and diesel trucks. It would speed up the fight against harmful emissions. Lowering the pricing will increase competition. The tax repeal will be a significant financial boost. Electric trucks will be large investments for small fleets. It will also be a gateway to resolving pollution in the long run.
The Owner-Operators View
The owner-operators are not all that happy about the tax repeal. They want a plan that caters to the lost revenues through the Highway Trust Fund. They are not against tax removal; they want some clarity. The Highway Trust Fund funds most of the government's highway and transit projects. Their main concern is that this plan will enable the bigger boys in the game to get even more significant.
The Highway Trust Fund will make the smaller truckers suffer as they finance, the bigger truckers. The small players in the trucking industry feel that smaller fleets need subsidies to help them succeed as much as the bigger ones. They have limited access to funding. It is more challenging for them to access the new technologies. They need all the support they can get. But in the long run, the main goal is safeguarding the world.