Treasurer Confirms He’s Working on an EV Road User Charge, Says There’s ‘No Rush’

Chalmers said, ‘We’re in no rush ... but as we implement over time a road‑user charging regime for EVs, we need to make sure that we get that balance right.’

Treasurer Jim Chalmers at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on July 30, 2025. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers still wants more Australians to take up electric vehicles, as he continues to work on an EV road user charge.

To prevent double taxation, the road user charge would apply only to EVs, not to petrol and diesel cars.

“One of the key considerations as we work through all of the issues and complexities in road‑user charging for EVs is to make sure that we’re not a deterrent. We want to see more and more people take up the opportunity of an electric vehicle.”  Chalmers told reporters.

“In most of the discussions we have, publicly and privately and with the states and with others, we’re very conscious of finding the right balance, getting the sequence right so that we can continue to encourage people into an EV with the tax cuts that we are providing,”

The government is looking at the scheme because they don’t receive fuel excise revenue from EVs.

Chalmers noted the government was not in a hurry.

“But to also be conscious that as we implement over time—and we’re in no rush, as you know—but as we implement over time a road‑user charging regime for EVs, we need to make sure that we get that balance right,” he said.

Australia’s fuel excise, paid by drivers every time they buy petrol and diesel at the bowser, is currently 51.6 cents per litre as of Aug. 3, 2025. The rate gets adjusted twice a year based on the consumer price index (CPI).

Coalition Finance spokesman James Paterson has indicated EV drivers should be contributing to the costs of roads.

“Everybody agrees that it is not fair that some road users who fill up their car with petrol and diesel pay the costs of maintaining roads, and some road users who have an EV don’t contribute to that cost, and so that is an issue which needs to be recognised,” he said in late August.

“We want to see the details here, and it will involve cooperation with the states. It sounds like it’s not something that’s going to come very quickly, but we’ll consider on its merits any proposal that the government brings forward.”

NSW Premier Worried About Delays

NSW Premier Chris Minns said he was “worried” about any potential delay to the road user charge in response to Chalmers’ comments.

“You’ve got a situation where there’s not too many roads across NSW that don’t have a bloody huge pothole in it and there’s got to be a way to fix them up,” he told reporters.

“If we’re not going to have the petrol excise in five, 10, 15 years from now or even a proportionally smaller amount collected, someone’s going to have to pay for it somehow. I just think this is a commonsense change.”

Despite driving an electric car himself, Minns still supports an EV charge for road users.

“I think we should have a road user charge. I still use the same roads as someone who has a petrol car uses. ”

Victoria previously implemented a road user charge for EVs, but this was struck down by the High Court of Australia in 2023.

The High Court ruled in favour of EV drivers Chris Vanderstock and Kath Davies, arguing the charge was not constitutional.

At the time, Electric Vehicle Council Chief Executive Behyad Jafari predicted the High Court ruling would have a positive impact on policy across Australia.

“There is nothing inherently wrong with road user charges, but they should never be calibrated to discourage the take up of electric vehicles,” Jafari said.

The NSW government also unveiled a road user charge for EVs to apply from July 2027, or when EVs make up 30 percent of all new vehicle sales.

However, in light of the Victorian government’s decision, it remains uncertain if NSW’s plan is legal.

“The NSW government is working to assess the potential implications of the decision [to strike down the Victorian EV charge] for NSW’s electric vehicle road user charge,” the NSW government’s electric vehicle strategy website states.