According to FleetCheck, the environmental metrics used by the Government’s Electric Car Grant could be applied to fleet taxation in the future.
The Government decides eligibility for the grant based on the environmental impact of the vehicle’s production process.
Similar incentives and fleet taxation measures are based on more quantifiable metrics, such as CO2 emissions.
Peter Golding, CEO at FleetCheck, said: “Current taxation intended to encourage cleaner vehicle use – such as benefit in kind for company car drivers and road fund licence – is based around the CO2 output of the vehicle at the tailpipe.
“It’s quite a blunt instrument and what the Government is applying here appears to be much more subtle.
“It is a development that might potentially provide an insight into current Government thinking.
“There could be some awareness and concern about the higher manufacturing impact of EVs and a determination to reward cleaner processes.
“While we are claiming no particular intuition about Government strategy, this does seem to us to represent something of a shift.”
Benefit in kind (BiK) taxation tables based on CO2 emissions have already been provided for the rest of the decade.
Golding said: “It may be they are looking ahead to a moment in the medium term when almost all company cars are electric with zero tailpipe emissions.
“At that point, they may instead want to look at the wider environmental impact of each model, including not just manufacturing but transportation to market, recyclability and more.
“Certainly, this would make sense in terms of encouraging more sustainable behaviour from manufacturers and fleets as the EV revolution progresses.”
