EV owner says province heading wrong way with vehicle tax

In the view of one electric vehicle owner, the government’s decision to slap an annual fee onto EVs puts the province in reverse.

Effective Oct. 1, owners of electric vehicles in the province will pay an annual $150 fee at registration time. The fee was introduced in Tuesday’s provincial budget.

The government says the fee is about fairness and making sure drivers of EVs pay for wear and tear on the province’s roads. Those who drive gasoline vehicles do so through a portion of the fuel tax.

The EV fee is expected to raise about $60,000 in revenue each year.

It’s that meagre number that has Tyler Krause questioning the government’s motivations.

“While I understand the purpose of it, it appears to be more political than anything,” said Krause, president of the Tesla Owners Club of Saskatchewan.

“Simply because they expected revenue of $60,000 annually from this tax, (it’s) a drop in the bucket compared to the $600 (million) to $700 million that the provincial government puts into road maintenance.”

Speaking to the Greg Morgan Morning Show, Krause does not believe the charge will change the minds of those who have already committed to buying an electric vehicle. But he thinks it will slow the rate of adoption by consumers.

He says EVs cost about $10,000 to $15,000 more than gas vehicles as it is.

“I’m not against paying for what I use and I think we all have responsibility to pay our taxes and pay for these sorts of infrastructure upgrades and maintenance. But when we’re looking to incentivize and push our society in a certain direction, this goes against that,” he said.

“We’re the first province in Canada to do this and we have the slowest electric vehicle adoption rate.”

In his response to the budget, NDP leader Ryan Meili agreed that the charge is a bad idea.

“We should be acting on climate change. We should be taking the lead in renewable energy,” Meili said.

“The fact that this is the only thing to do with climate change and it’s something to actually get in the way of people making lower-carbon choices, says a lot about Scott Moe’s priorities.”

Someday, Krause would like to see Saskatchewan create incentives for consumers to choose an electric vehicle, following a province like Prince Edward Island, which he says offers a $5,000 tax break.

He argues it would be in Saskatchewan’s best interests to do so.

“There are some reports coming out of Ontario that show that there is a net benefit,” he said. “For every vehicle that’s converted to EV, there’s a societal benefit of approximately $10,000 due to just in general having cleaner air.”