NSW is about to become the most expensive state in Australia to drive electric: Tell treasurer Daniel Mookhey to halt the EV tax

UPDATE June 2026: The NSW budget is in, and it confirms the worst.
The government has now written $440 million from this EV-only tax into its budget, banking the revenue from a charge that doesn't even exist yet. The same budget gives every driver a one-year registration discount that disappears after twelve months, while the tax on electric cars switches on right after it and never stops. The charge still isn't in effect. Add your name while there's still time to stop it.

As petrol smashes record highs, the NSW Government is bringing in a brand new tax that only applies to electric cars and charges them more per kilometre than petrol hybrids.

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Under the NSW scheme, electric cars would be taxed around 43% more per kilometre than petrol hybrids. Hundreds of dollars a year, every year, on the cleanest cars on the road.

For hundreds of thousands of Australian families, driving electric is the one thing standing between them and another year of punishing petrol bills. No more $150 fill-ups. No more wincing at the pump every time oil prices swing.

Now the NSW Government wants to put a tax on that escape.

It's a per-kilometre tax, and it lands only on electric cars. Under the NSW scheme, a fully electric car would be charged around 43% more per kilometre than a petrol hybrid. The cleanest cars on the road would pay the most.

That's the part that doesn't add up. A tax that charges electric cars more than petrol hybrids doesn't just hit the wrong drivers, it nudges the next family choosing a car back towards petrol, right when getting off petrol has never mattered more.

And the drivers hit hardest would be the ones who drive furthest: outer-suburban commuters, regional households, rideshare drivers clocking up the kilometres. The people who switched to electric to escape the pump would be the ones charged for it.

But it's not too late to stop it.

The charge is due to come into effect by June 2027 or when EVs hit 30% of sales. . A NSW parliamentary inquiry is examining it right now, and right now, the government is listening. Record petrol prices have put electric cars front of mind across the state, and drivers' voices are carrying more weight than they have in years.

That's why adding your name matters here. If enough people who drive electric, or are weighing up their next car, speak up while this is still being decided, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey will know there's a real political cost to getting it wrong.

Add your name, and tell the NSW Government to halt its EV-only road user charge, and let families get off petrol.

SIGN THE PETITION

To: NSW Treasurer Daniel Moohkey
Halt the EV-only road user charge.

Signed:

FAQs

  • Fuel excise is a tax of about 52 cents on every litre of petrol or diesel that Australians buy. Because EVs don't use petrol, their drivers don't pay it. The government wants to replace that lost revenue with a new per-kilometre charge — but only on EVs. How this is calculated, at what rate and how it’s paid, is all yet to be confirmed by the government.

  • Eventually, sure. A proper road funding reform — one that applies to all vehicles, prices in emissions, and comes in when EVs are genuinely mainstream (around 30% of the fleet) — would make sense. What's being proposed is none of those things. It singles out EVs, at the exact moment households are trying to escape record petrol prices.

  • NSW is moving ahead on its own, ahead of any national approach. That means drivers could face one set of rules in NSW and different rules across the border, and a poorly designed state scheme could become the template other states copy. Getting NSW to halt this now stops that in its tracks.

  • Sooner than most people think. The charge is set to trigger once electric cars hit 30% of new sales, or by June 2027 at the latest, and sales are rising fast. That means it could start charging drivers well before the deadline, which is exactly why now is the moment to speak up.

  • It depends how far you drive, but for an everyday electric car it adds up to hundreds of dollars a year, every year, on top of rego. The more you drive, the more you pay, which is why outer-suburban and regional drivers are hit hardest.

  • Because this affects whether going electric stays affordable when you're ready to switch. A tax like this keeps more households on petrol for longer and more exposed to global oil shocks. The Iran conflict sent petrol past $2.50 a litre. That won't be the last time.

  • Your name adds to the pressure on the NSW Government to halt the charge, and we'll keep you posted on the parliamentary inquiry and the next chances to make driver voices heard.

A campaign by EV Drivers Australia

EV Drivers Australia is made up of teachers, nurses, tradespeople, and families who went electric.

There are 500,000+ Australians like us who drive electric. We made the smart choice for families, our wallets, and the long term. Now we're organising to make sure the policies that affect us are shaped by us, not decided without us.

When governments make decisions about EV taxes, charging, and affordability, we should be in the room.

EV Drivers Australia is an initiative of Solar Citizens.

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