Greens want higher taxes on luxury cars to fund electric vehicle charge stations in WA

LUXURY cars will be hit with higher taxes to help pay for more electric car charging stations in WA as part of a Greens Party plan to slash pollution.

Greens Senator for WA Scott Ludlum wants higher taxes for luxury cars to pay for more electric vehicle charging stations.

LUXURY cars will be hit with higher taxes to help pay for dozens more electric vehicle charging stations in WA as part of a Greens Party plan to slash transport pollution.

The Greens are poised to launch a new plan ahead of the Federal Election that aims to put thousands more electric vehicles on WA roads and install up to 39 more charging stations by 2021.

It also calls for free vehicle registration for electric cars for the first five years of ownership to encourage more drivers to switch from petrol, gas or diesel-powered transport.

The Greens want luxury cars like this Ferrari GTC4 to be taxed higher.

Under the plan, $151 million in grants would be used to support local governments, state governments and car park operators to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Greens Senator for WA Scott Ludlam, who visited the Tesla electric car factory in Oakland in the US in 2014, said the number of electric vehicles on WA roads was growing and charging stations needed to be installed to cater for the surge.

“We have a big state with vast driving distances so governments need to provide charging stations to cater for the growing market of electrical vehicles,” he said.

This Tesla electric car is worth around $135,000. It has a range of 400km on a full charge. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Ludlam said his party’s future transport plan included $50 million in grants to “support government and non-government organisations to meet the gap between the cost on electric vehicle and a conventional vehicle”.

An electric car charging at the RAC charging station Wellington Street, Perth.

To help pay for the move, the luxury car tax would rise to 50 per cent for conventional fossil fuel vehicles over $100,000 to “drive consumer choices towards electric vehicles”.

“The plan will help to get 31,000 more electric vehicles on the road by 2021 and 330 more charging stations across Australia,” Mr Ludlam said.