We probably don’t need to remind you, but we are anyway. RUC now applies to light electric vehicles. So if you have a light electric vehicle, you had until 31 May 2024 to buy your first road user charges (RUC) licence and display it on your windscreen. This includes plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs). It doesn’t include petrol hybrids that can’t plug in to recharge.
You need to buy RUC if your vehicle is powered fully or partly from externally supplied electricity, and weighs 1001kg-3500kg GVM (manufacturer’s gross vehicle mass).
The amount you pay depends on the type of electric vehicle you have – battery electric vehicles (BEVs) powered exclusively by electricity, and plugs in to charge – you’ll pay the usual light vehicle RUC rate of $76.00 per 1000km.
Plug-in petrol hybrid vehicle – uses both petrol and electricity, and can plug in to charge.
You’ll pay a lower RUC rate of $38.00 per 1000km. This is because you already pay some fuel excise duty when you buy petrol.
Plug-in diesel hybrid vehicle – uses both diesel and electricity, and can plug in to charge – you’ll pay the usual light vehicle RUC rate of $76.00 per 1000km.
Hybrid diesel vehicles – uses both diesel and electricity, but can’t plug in to charge. You’ll already be buying RUC and paying the usual light vehicle RUC rate of $76.00 per 1000km.
Hybrid petrol vehicles – uses both petrol and electricity, but can’t plug in to charge – You don’t need to buy RUC, as you already pay fuel excise duty when you buy petrol.
Light electric vehicles were exempt from RUC since 2009. The exemption was put in place until electric vehicles reached around two percent of New Zealand’s light vehicle fleet. This point has now been reached, and there are around 100,000 light EVs on our roads, so the government decided to let the exemption expire. Light electric vehicles will now contribute to the costs of the transport system in the same way as other vehicles.
Heavy electric vehicles – electric vehicles with a gross laden weight of more than 3500kg are exempt from RUC until 31 December 2025.
Sustainable Equipment Finance Loan for NZ businesses
Westpac NZ has launched a new Sustainable Equipment Finance Loan, supporting Kiwi businesses to reduce their climate impacts.
The new loan provides a competitive five-year rate for business customers. It can be used to purchase a range of sustainable assets, including electric or hydrogen-fuelled vehicles for business purposes, as well as for machinery, tools and equipment that will help reduce a business’s carbon footprint.
Reuben Tucker, Westpac NZ GM Institutional & Business Banking, says the new loan will help customers to improve their sustainability while also reducing business costs.
“With our new Sustainable Equipment Finance Loan, we can offer customers discounted lending to spread the cost over five years when they purchase a sustainable asset for their business. We know that more efficient assets can help a business’s bottom line by reducing operating costs and contributing to better efficiency and productivity.”
Tucker says Westpac is committed to supporting small businesses and wants to encourage business owners to talk to the bank about their lending and growth aspirations.
“We are working hard to support Aotearoa’s move to a net zero economy and it’s fantastic to now have a sustainable banking solution for all of our customers, from first-homeowners through to some of New Zealand’s biggest companies,” Tucker says.
