On 20 May 2026 I had the privilege of presenting a seminar at the University of Sydney, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, on the topic of "Road user Charging in Australia: Finally, after 20 years?".
One small piece of research I pulled together when preparing the seminar was to look at reported quarterly sales data for EVs (pure EVs, not hybrids) as a proportion of all new light vehicle sales, for New Zealand, Australia and Iceland.
The reason being fairly simple. It is to identify any discernible impact on EV sales of the presence or absence of a distance based road user charge (RUC).
New Zealand introduced RUC for EVs on 1 April 2024.
Australia has no RUC for EVs.
Iceland had introduced RUC for EVs on 1 January 2024 and expanded it to all vehicles on 1 January 2026.
New Zealand's RUC rate for light EVs is the same rate for light diesel vehicles, and broadly equivalent to petrol tax. That rate is NZ$0.076/km including GST of 15%. Excluding GST this would be US$0.038/km or US$0.06 per mile.
Iceland's RUC rate for light EVs is ISK6.95 per km or around US$0.06 per km or US$0.1 per mile.
The result is fairly clear. There is no significant relationship between the introduction of RUC and EV sales.
Nine months after Iceland introduced RUC on EVs, sales grew and have continued to grow as a proportion of new light vehicle sales.
In New Zealand there was no drop at all, although sales remained slow and only picked up recently, this is mainly attributable to poor economic growth and the after-effects of the removal of a major subsidy to buy EVs that was scrapped at the end of 2023 (bringing many sales forward before that time).
Meanwhile, Australia, which has no RUC at all, has only slightly higher EV sales than New Zealand (although Australia has lower fuel tax, and higher incomes).
The oft-cited claim, seen in Australia, the UK and the US, is that requiring EV owners to pay to use the roads would deter their sales, relative to non-EVs, is largely specious. While lobbyists in those jurisdiction get political and media attention for their claims, the reality - in jurisdictions that actually have introduced mandatory RUC for EVs, is that it makes next to no difference.
