Just looking at electric cars and noticed that annual tax on them is fixed at 146 euros. Which is a great price - but some diesels are 104 for the lowest tax band.

Surely, zero emissions should qualify for lower tax than a diesel car (albeit very efficient but still has way more emissions) ?

Sure, the Motortax people never really used logic in the past - why use it now

Well this is it, also you have to consider that the carbon foot print on electric cars is huge anyway, though it's all in the construction phase, plus they're not really zero emissions, they're just moving the emissions to the powerstations.

Passing the book in this country? I would never have thought it...

Is that 146 for a pure electric or do prius etc fall in to that also?

Petrol and diesel cars also have overheads for their production aside from the emissions themselves.

I think the 146 is for fully electric - not hybrid.

Yeah but elec cars can have double the carbon footprint of an average combustion engine car as batteries, car shell, charger and electrical componants all ship from Europe, Mexico and China, all to Japan for assembly and then all back out around the world for delivery. An M3 for example, is all built in Germany and then shipped out. The government go on about the emissions of car, but that is a load of bull. The real emmissions are in shipping. Massive ships belching parts all around the world by the container load. Sure it's a fact that all of the cows in Ireland do more damage to the environment than all of the cars. A cow has four stomachs of fermenting grass. Methane (FARTS) by the truck load. Also, how much does it cost to recyle all those batteries full of chemicals? They can't be just crushed or dumped in a landfill. There will be a battery tax im sure, like the WEEE shite.

Can the Irish government tax a ship sailing from Mexico to Japan? NO.
Can the Irish government tax cow farts? No.

So what do they do? Tax the Irish motorist to hell and back. What's profitable? Whatever they deem profitable, simple as. It will never make sense. Oz and NZ tax the fuel. Fair usage system. The more you drive, the more you pay tax. Your car lies up for a while, you are not using the road and so you pay nothing. I think everyone would be up for that.

Plus for example, an M3 does better MPG than a Prius when tailing a Prius around a race circuit as fast as the Prius can go. Top Gear proven!

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