BIL happy to have been listened to, but clear that stronger measures are needed on the commercial vehicle side.
The national budget was presented on Monday, and we at BIL are happy to have been listened to in several areas. Examples of this are the VAT limit on electric cars, which remains unchanged, and that there will only be minor inflationary adjustments to the weight tax.
The budget proposal is generally good and unsurprising on the passenger car side. But what about the cars that make up 20 percent of the car fleet, but account for 80 percent of the emissions?
Commercial vehicles tie Norway together and create great value, but are often “forgotten”. It is not entirely connected with the very ambitious targets that the authorities have set, which state that all heavy trucks sold in Norway in 2030 must be emission-free.
Here we are lagging heavily behind. Only around seven percent of those sold now are electric. If we look at the lighter vans, around 30 per cent of sales are electric, and this is largely the case from month to month.
So something has to happen. Cont. And as history has shown us, the right tools are the recipe for success. It is good that the government chooses not to go ahead with the annual tax on heavy vehicles now, but we need more powerful and predictable measures.
Examples of what we believe can accelerate the shift on the commercial vehicle side: – The government did not provide an exemption from traffic insurance tax for light vans. It should be addressed, and why on earth should drt not apply to ALL electric commercial vehicles? – Increased Enova support is good, but our industry reports little predictability and resource-intensive application processes. Then the question is whether it is possible. Can the processes be simplified? – Why not open up the public transport area for electric commercial vehicles? It will be able to compensate a little for the charging time and efficiency that these cars still have as their Achilles’ heel.
Andreas Handeland, communications manager at BIL, participated in the hearing on the state budget in the Finance Committee on 11 October. Photo: Strotinget