In California, you may soon have to pay for every mile you drive. Texas has already brought in an extra registration fee. New South Wales is planning a form of road pricing, while tariffs imposed in the US and soon the EU as well are expected to massively increase the sticker price of every car.
Add it all up, and one point is clear. Electric vehicles are about to get a lot more expensive. But hold on. Even by the standards of industrial policy, this is taking things too far.
The same governments which have been heavily subsidising battery-powered cars as part of the drive towards a net zero economy are now imposing punitive taxes on them. Surely it is time they made their minds up – or just left it to the market to decide.
Toyota shuns electric cars with new generation of combustion engines
Toyota is to develop a new generation of petrol-fuelled internal combustion engines, in the carmaker’s latest bet against electric vehicles.
In a joint press conference with Mazda and Subaru, the Japanese company on Tuesday unveiled prototype engines that it said would be smaller, more efficient and capable of burning eco-friendly fuels such as hydrogen.
It said the engine is designed to be used in tandem with a battery-powered electric motor and is expected to be deployed in future hybrid and plug-in cars.
