Self-obsessity! Cars should be taxed based on weight to help consumers choose greener ones, experts say

Cars should be taxed based on their weight to help customers choose the greenest vehicles, a leading automotive expert has said.

Nick Molden, founder of environmental research firm Emissions Analytics, warned the UK was living in an “age of self-absorption” and called for new measures to end consumer confusion.

He said the weight of a car multiplied by the distance traveled is a better way to calculate environmental impact.

Molden argues that this could replace existing tax methods and be applied to all types of cars with simple implementation, as the data could be easily obtained.

Their proposal would see a driver pay £100 less a year if their vehicle was 150kg lighter than average or driven 620 miles less a year than average.

“We’ve looked at dozens of different pollutants from vehicles, including carbon, noise, infrastructure impact and safety, and 83 percent of them correlate well with mass,” he said.

“Mass is a very good shorthand for the total environmental impact of vehicles. This method doesn’t bother people with additional taxes, but allows everyone to make their decisions freely without the government spying.

“It’s your decision (to buy a heavy vehicle) or not, no one bans technology or says you can’t go visit your grandmother, but you have to pay for the right.”

Molden said the government has to take action because it is losing tax revenue with the electrification of cars.

“This is a very simple initiative that does not require prior legislation, so the tax is simply based on two figures that have a legal basis,” he added.

“Luckily, it helps reduce environmental impact and is the right policy at the right time.”

He said there is a way for people with larger cars to save money with his proposal.

“If you want that big, heavy SUV, the way to compensate for that is to be wise about the trips you take,” Molden said.

The average weight of new cars in the European Union increased to 1,518 kg in 2022, an increase of 19 percent compared to 2001, and this is mainly due to the shift to electric vehicles.

One in four new vehicles sold in Britain is electric and although these cars do not release exhaust emissions, they still contribute to air pollution.

Toxic particles are released when tires, brake pads and roads wear out and this process is accelerated in heavier cars.

Battery electric vehicles are on average up to 40 percent heavier than equivalent gasoline and diesel cars, according to research published in the book Critical Mass by Molden and Felix Leach.

Molden believes this has led to confusion among drivers about how best to be environmentally friendly, pointing out how an all-electric Tesla Cybertruck produces more emissions than a small 1.2-litre petrol car.

‘The whole issue has become terribly complicated. The only thing people can cling to is “buy electricity”, but that is not a good decision-making system,” he said.

‘Look at the mass in the brochure and it will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the environmental impact. You can forecast the amount of taxes you will pay for the year and calculate how much each trip will cost you.

“Without confusing people with science, it gives them a very simple tool to make decisions and right now people are being led astray by conflicting messages and that’s causing confusion.”

The electric Tesla Model Y weighs around 2,000 kg and became the best-selling car in Europe last year, overtaking the Peugeot 208, which weighs approximately 1,200 kg in its gasoline version.

Previously light cars have become heavier in recent decades, including the Volkswagen Golf, which weighed 775kg in 1974 but has since doubled in weight.

Norway introduced a tax on cars weighing more than 500kg in January 2023 and two years ago France implemented a tax of 10 euros on petrol and diesel cars for every kilogram over 1,800kg.

While Cardiff City Council debated whether larger vehicles should pay more for their residential parking permits.