Government survey: 60% of EV drivers want gasoline car again when tax break disappears
Electric driving: are we done with it or not?
Do Dutch people want an electric car or not? If you follow the news, you can’t figure it out. One study shouts that no one wants an EV anymore, while another reports that they are unstoppable. In any case, the sales figures send a clear message: electric cars are still popular. But according to a new survey by the Vereniging Elektrische Rijders (VER) and the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO), many current EV drivers can’t wait to get back into a gasoline-powered car. What is going on?
The benefits vaporize
It’s mostly in the wallet. Until recently, EV drivers paid no road tax at all. Until the end of 2024 you pay a quarter of the motor vehicle tax, but in 2025 it becomes 75 percent and from 2026 you pay the full rate. You’ll feel that. Because electric cars are heavy because of their battery packs, and heavier automatically means: more tax.
Things aren’t getting any nicer for business drivers, either. The additional tax rate – once greatly reduced to make electric driving attractive – is rising along with them. What was once a financial treat is now slowly turning into a sour apple. Without all the tax breaks, EVs are more expensive than gasoline cars, both in purchase and per kilometer driven.
One in three wants to quit
A joint study by the Vereniging Elektrische Rijders (VER), Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO) and the University of Groningen shows that a third of electric drivers are already considering pulling the plug this year. Literally so. When in 2030 all tax benefits have disappeared, even 60 percent say they want to go back to an old-fashioned gasoline car.
No confidence in government
Ironically, government policy is still: everything must be electric. By 2030 all new cars must be emission-free, and by 2050 the entire fleet must drive emission-free. But confidence in the government’s ambition is declining rapidly among Dutch people. Last year, half of EV drivers believed that the government really supported electric driving. Meanwhile, that has dropped to just 29 percent.
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