Everytime you look at the news nowadays, there seems to be something on regarding cars, co2, emissions etc. The delightful Mayor Ken wants the heavy polluters to pay more. Well, a thought occurred to me. The congestion charge is rapidly becoming a co2 tax, so why not actually charge for the amount of co2 produced?
All new cars have a co2 figure. Which is great, but how many people know how the figure is achieved? I dont. Im assuming a standard test of some kind. Which is fine, but how does it factor in how the car is driven? Lets say im doing an "italian tune up" one day. Or im enjoying a spirited (but safe and legal) drive. Surely my car is producing more co2 than if i was drying at the standard level.
So rather than tax the car and introduce pay per mile and all the other nonsense, i suggest charging by the amount of co2. With a bit of tweaking of an ecu (im no expert on these things) they could get get an output from the ecu showing how the car is driven and based on a nifty formula a calculation could be made regarding how much co2 has come out. This data could then be picked up from somewhere (data transfer when filling up as an example, or roadside units that communicate with the onboard computer) and you can receive a nice monthly bill.
Must be a fairer method than everything else i have seen suggested.
Any opinions welcome.
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Basically it's the amount of CO2 emitted per km based on the offical average mpg. Some engines do a little better, some a little worse. It's a pretty linear relationship, mpg halves, CO2 doubles, though sports cars tend to produce a little more due to the way the engines are tuned. You are completely right that driving harder means more fuel used which means more CO2. But the Prius would look rather less impressive claiming 150g/km of CO2 for its true 45mpg.
They can go even better than what you have suggested... they can base it on the fuel going in. Diesel and Petrol both have a pretty constant volume of Carbon per gallon. With modern catalytic convertors you basically convert everything to CO2 and water (>98% I think it is these days) and so you may as well assume all of it becomes CO2. So 1 litre of petrol produces... oooh 2.4kg of CO2, and a litre of diesel about 2.65kg (it's more dense and has a fractionally higher carbon/hydrogen ratio). Then tax the fuel accordingly through the current system.
This accounts for driving style, and distance, not choice of car. It is unreasonable to penalise a Range Rover driver doing 4000 miles a year when his neighbour with the Mondeo TDCi is doing 43000 a year and emitting many times more. Put it all on fuel and stop arguing and wasting money into the bargain.
Just my view.
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I agree, if they were honest, it would be based on the carbon mass of the fuel.
They are not honest though, and are hypocrites with many ulterior motives.
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But you cannot make money out of being honest with motorists...
We put pay to that ourselves with the fuel price wars in 2000. Since then we haven't had the deterrant tax rises in fuel duty. So rather than make a politically diffcult move that would cost vote, instead they choose to have road taxing which reverses rather than helps the case for cleaner vehicles.
Take the figures from the back of What Car? My Audi A3 2.0TDI - 50p a mile to run, a RR Supercharged is a snip at 172p a mile. Now add say 5p a mile for road charging. The A3 is now 55p a mile (+10%) while the RR is 177p a mile (+2.9%). If you look at it in terms of fuel, each litre of diesel takes me about 11 miles, effectively a 55p a litre rise in fuel duty to ~£1.45 a litre. The RR meanwhile does 3.5 miles on a litre, raising the cost of a litre from 85p to 102.5p. Every way you look at it congestion charging is a FARCE. Put it on fuel and population who want greener lifestyles please would you be quiet and take your nimbyism someplace else... try Etna, I'll even buy the fuel to get you there...
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Correct me if I am wrong, but the CO2 emmissions from one litre of diesel or one liitre of petrol will be exactly the same whether it is consumed in a performance engine being driven hard or low powered car driven carefully.
You already pay more tax for driving low mpg car, so do we need yet another complex tax regime?
I think not.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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I agree. Forget all this ridiculous road-pricing, just up the fuel duty (and reduce RFL) - so much simpler and easier to collect. NO additional infrastructure, etc. required. But then no nice fat contracts to run a road-pricing scheme for companies with their hands in the government ministers pockets, either.
And for those really rural blighters, give them a tax credit.
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Sounds like perfect common sense, which is why no politician will ever agree to it.
Cheers
DP
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>they could get get an output from the ecu showing how the car is driven and...
... then you could get points for driving your car too hard and producing too much CO2. What a fantastic idea. Big Brother is watching your car's performance every second. And wh gets to pay for this amendment to the ECU? All motorists, even those who don't go into the c-Zone.
be off with you before you're lynched. ;)
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