Taxes are important but it’s too early to tax electric vehicles in an Australian market still in its infancy

The electric vehicle road user tax is intended to ‘cover the cost of revenue lost from the fall in fuel excise duty raised from the sale of petrol and diesel’. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

The looming electrification of road transport is something that motorists, fleet managers, bus operators, logistics companies, transport agencies, automotive manufacturers, and all levels of governments are grappling with.

Wednesday saw a landmark case showing just how precarious it can be with a major setback for the Victorian government and any other states thinking of introducing road user taxes for electric vehicles.