EV tolls discount may end Dec 31 2023

zg3409

No new vehicles can be added to the system from now on

For anyone planning to avail of discounted tolls with an EV seems like the maximum number has been reached and no new registrations permitted.

From eFlow…

“As a result of reaching the vehicle capacity limit of 50,000 that is set in the LEVTI scheme rules we are unfortunately no longer able to add any new vehicle applications for the LEVTI (Low Emissions Vehicle Toll Incentive) scheme”.

It's unclear if the discount will be extended but the fact no new cars can be added does not look good.

josip

I think it would be unfair to extend for existing owners if new EV owners are not allowed the same benefits.

How much was it costing the government annually?

Hopefully whatever savings they make from removing the subsidy will be put into improving charging infrastructure.

ELM327

I have added a new EV to the scheme this week. It is not confirmed as removed yet. The minister stated it is under review.

Miscreant

The scheme always had a limit of 50,000 vehicles from the outset. If it has reached this number, it does not necessarily mean that it will be finished out at the end of the year. I thought it would keep going for as long as there was money in the "pot". Wasn't there something like €5 million set aside for this scheme originally?

I don't find this limit to be unfair for new EV owners. A lot of us who became EV owners in the last few years missed out on the free public charging that was out there and I never considered it unfair. Incentives like this are to encourage adoption, if you don't adopt (for whatever reason) while the incentive is in place then that is just life. These things come and go all the time.

josip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121346913#Comment_121346913

Yes, but the free public charging stopped for all owners at the same time, which was fair.

yermanthere

Some people got variable rate mortgages years ago, and had low rates for years. A few years later there were no tracker mortgages available.

Sometimes that's the way it goes.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121347105#Comment_121347105

I think there's a difference between the two, the tolling incentive had an advertised fix limit for sign ups, kind of a sign up early and get it in on it kind of deal, versus free charging which was a side effect of the charge point operator not billing people.

It's official now.

lau1247

Saw on Tesla Owner group on Facebook that someone received email from eFlow saying LEVTI will end at the end of year. Couldn't find any news about it.

It was a good run for a good 7/8 months.

liamog

Outside of the toll incentive ending, I wonder as the fleet electrifies will ventilation requirements for tunnels reduce.

waterwelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366351#Comment_121366351

Make tunnels electric vehicles only at some point I'd expect.

Bigmac1euro

I've changed cars recently can I de-register old car bringing the count to 49,999 and register my new car bringing the tally back to 50,000 ??? :)

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366634#Comment_121366634

Call your toll tag provider, I did exactly this but it was earlier in the year. Removed the old car and added the new one at the same time. Does no harm to ask. 🙂

josip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366351#Comment_121366351

I doubt if the requirements will change as long as HGVs are diesel powered.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366760#Comment_121366760

HGV's are also moving away from combustion engines, whether that's electrification via batteries or fuel cells eventually we'll see a drop in ventilation requirements. I imagine they'll still need high levels for emergency ventilation in the event of fire, but the ongoing operating costs will likely reduce.

joe1303l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366219#Comment_121366219

Disappointing that they’ve decided not to extend it but it was probably costing too much. Tolls have gone up significantly since it was introduced. It doesn’t say much for the influence the Green Party have in government.

Bigmac1euro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366758#Comment_121366758

I actually did and they told me I couldn't. I then asked will my old car still have the reduced tolls for the new owner and they said they couldn't answer.

Shortly after this interaction I received an email stating the incentive was ending December 31st of this year. So they had actually forgot to notify me of the end date and seemed to only remember when I contacted them about it. This was eflow. Shamtastic situation.

Alun

I only got a tag and added mine a month or so ago and only got a tag in the first place because of the savings. I don't use the tolls apart from the M50 often enough to warrant otherwise. You'd think that they could have told me at the time!

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367222#Comment_121367222

The incentive was worth €500 per year for private vehicles and €1,000 for PSVs and commercial. I'd estimate around €35,000,000/year was allocated for the scheme. Instead of giving 50k people a discount on tolls. I'm at the point with EV incentives that I'd rather see money spent on items that target problem areas like those who can't charge at home. Spending the money on urban (i.e. city and suburb) charging hubs. €500 in my pocket helps me, a charging hub helps a lot more people.

Hurrache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367222#Comment_121367222

There's now no logical sense in offering discounts on tolls for EVs, makes no difference if the Green Party has a total majority in government.

Buffman

Was good while it lasted. As a light enough toll user I've prepay tags with no monthly fee but a 10% of toll per use fee, so I'll probably hang onto them just for the odd M50 journey as it still works out cheaper than no tag or video account. Other tolls can mostly be avoided easily or tag removed to pay the cheaper way with card/cash.

Now that all the lanes have card readers it's a lot handier than messing around with coins.

McGiver

At this stage, when we have <5% of EVs out of the total fleet, this is a despicable, chaotic and outright moronic move by the governement. This has a very high ROI for the government in terms of supporting transition to EVs vs how much it costs - it costs peanuts but it's a nice perk for the EV owners.

We see the government scaling back the already feeble and malnurished incentives while we're only in the early adopters stage (few % penetration). FYI - Norway started scaling back incentives when they reached 70% EV sales and 20% EVs out of the total fleet. This is a sensible pragmatic policy. What the Irish government doing is plain stupid and can't be even called policy. Incentives are being slashed but polluting cars (primarily diesel) aren't taxed to offset that. So what will drive the EV adoption exactly? There's too little carrot and no stick essentially.

Where can I complain about this? 😀

McGiver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367704#Comment_121367704

You wil get no perks and no charging hubs in the end. Taking things away always entails a risk of not getting another thing instead.

Charging hubs and the whole issue of charging is more of a regulatory/legislation thing and I see no indication of any move on this. It needs to be done regardless not instead of perks.

Oscar_Madison

I would have preferred to see no grants except for home charging units- certainly not money off new cars - it provided a false economy for a while and didn’t encourage car companies to incentivise - the sooner we stop wasting money on these stupid “incentives” the sooner car companies will be forced to reduce prices.

Alun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367969#Comment_121367969

True about the card readers, but up till recently I kept my phone plugged in for Android Auto so it was a bit of a faff unplugging it and plugging it back in every time. I've got a AAWireless dongle for it now so that problem doesn't apply any more. Not sure if I'll keep the tag or not now.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367704#Comment_121367704

€35,000,000

Roughly the same amount they are giving RTE next year!!

Hurrache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121368065#Comment_121368065

Wow, what an overreaction.

More EVs on the road do not solve the problem of congested towns and cities, that's where money needs to go.

Mod Note: As always, if you want to discuss the general political discussion of whether car's should or shouldn't be on the road do it on politics

joe1303l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121368484#Comment_121368484

Decentralisation is the way forward. Plenty very quiet towns and small cities here.

zg3409

I saved around 400 euro a year. It was part of the reason I went EV as I used to pass a toll twice a day. I knew it was a limited offer and it's part of the reason I moved house closer to work, instead of a 110km commute round trip my commute is now 2km. Incentives can drive behaviours.

As others have said it's also a physiological thing but it does incentivise those commuting through tolls daily, versus those who don't.

I would like to see more charging hubs, that's really where the money needs to be spent.

k123456

TBH, I bought my first EV, in 2016, to reduce my motoring costs

Subsidy on Tolls Ends end of 2023

Less road tax, road tax while still low, possible that might change, there is a suggestion of increased tax based on vehicle weight

Reduced servicing costs, vs a petrol car, my experience service costs (with Hyundai) have increased

Cost of EVS has shot up, and its possible will go up more , if Europe implements a tariff on Chinese cars being sold in Europe

Outside of our control, electricity costs has increased globally

McGiver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121369485#Comment_121369485

Of course incentives and perks alter behavior. That's the whole point of such policies.

See Norway - so many perks added one by one from 90s onwards and started to be rolled back last year only when the government policy goals were met That's how you do a pragmatic policy. Irish government is unfortunately nothing but pragmatic. How else you can rationally square a situation where they have had a goal of 1M EVs but did very little to meet it. If they reviewed the numbers against the goal year by year from 2015 onwards they would have found out it wasn't working. And any pragmatic government would have added further stronger incentives to achieve that goal. Instead, they have been removing and weakening the incentives. It's completely irrational and mind boggling.

I'd argue that it does makes sense to incentivise those who travel through tolls because those people do higher mileage, which results in much higher reduction of NOx, PM and CO2 pollution if that person switches to an EV. Whereas people who commute 5 kms daily don't really contribute much to the reduction in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by switching to an EV (and are better off with small petrol car really). I see it as a completely rational calculation to incentivise people doing higher mileage to switch to an EV. But we're where we are.