The End of Diesels is here... FT article

[otolith]

Obviously particulates and oxides of nitrogen from buses and trains are rendered harmless by magic public transport pixie dust emissions.

[conkerman]

Meh!

Diesel is bad, mmmkay - Tax them shocker!

Successive Euro emissions regs will mean Light duty diesel will need to tow about a small chemical factory, so manufacturers may start removing the option to buy in the first place as te disparity in engine build cost will only increase, I am sure I have seen that a diesel engine is twice as costly to build than an equivalent gasoline.

I do about 30k miles a year so diesel makes sense. I still use gasoline when I want to enjoy myself.

I can see an LPG converted Barge in my future.

[caelite]

Fastdruid said:

VED should be based on weight/size.

Something like:

Sub 500 Kg - free
501-750 Kg - £25
751-1000 Kg - £50
1001-1125Kg - £75
1126-1250Kg - £100
1251-1375Kg - £125
1375-1500Kg - £150
1501-2000Kg - £200
2001+ Kg - £500

CO2/pollution tax should be added to fuel.

As much as this would be nice it would never be practically implemented. Folks would just buy older,lighter vehicles that arnt weighed down with all the modern safety and emmissions dohickeys that modern governments are trying to make compulsory.

[Fastdruid]

caelite said:

Fastdruid said:

VED should be based on weight/size.

Something like:

Sub 500 Kg - free
501-750 Kg - £25
751-1000 Kg - £50
1001-1125Kg - £75
1126-1250Kg - £100
1251-1375Kg - £125
1375-1500Kg - £150
1501-2000Kg - £200
2001+ Kg - £500

CO2/pollution tax should be added to fuel.

As much as this would be nice it would never be practically implemented. Folks would just buy older,lighter vehicles that arnt weighed down with all the modern safety and emmissions dohickeys that modern governments are trying to make compulsory.

No because the same way that pre-2001 cars are subject to a different VED regime it would only apply to new cars.

Minimum emissions and safety would be by type approval and maybe a purchase tax then ongoing efficiency would just be by fuel duty. Simples.

[culpz]

Surely the main issue is the fact that EVERYONE drives a diesel now without looking into the various factors you need to take into account to see if you actually warrant the use of one. Most of these people are zipping around town doing well under 10,000 miles per year wondering why their cars are going into limp mode and DPF filters clogging up. Then removing the DPF and shoving all the st back into the atmosphere. The Government aren't daft and know these kind of things are going on. So i'm not surprised they are clamping down.

I don't have a clue how they are going to go about this though and i very much doubt they do either. As others have said the likes of buses, lorries, vans etc must be a big concern in this case. Also, taxis and black cabs have always made me think. Surely most do short local trips as apposed to long motorway journeys. They are being constantly used day in day out but probably don't even do much mileage overall. Surely these will be easier to cross over to the petrol alternative but these larger vehicles i just can't see much of a compromise. God knows what the next step is going to be.

[liner33]

Perhaps it that EVERYONE believes that a dpf is a magical cure for diesel emissions rather than being at best a sticking plaster fix and at worst a "trick" to get around the emissions legislation for type approval

[Fastdruid]

culpz said:

Surely the main issue is the fact that EVERYONE drives a diesel now without looking into the various factors you need to take into account to see if you actually warrant the use of one. Most of these people are zipping around town doing well under 10,000 miles per year wondering why their cars are going into limp mode and DPF filters clogging up. Then removing the DPF and shoving all the st back into the atmosphere. The Government aren't daft and know these kind of things are going on. So i'm not surprised they are clamping down.

Absolutely, all too many people go "Ooooh £20 per year and 80mpg" and ignore the overall costs (and that they very rarely ever do anything near the headline figures).

Personally I use the manufacture figures for considering my vehicles but use 85% of the claimed as a far more realistic figure.

[J4CKO]

V88Dicky said:

Fastdruid said:

VED should be based on weight/size.

Something like:

Sub 500 Kg - free
501-750 Kg - £25
751-1000 Kg - £50
1001-1125Kg - £75
1126-1250Kg - £100
1251-1375Kg - £125
1375-1500Kg - £150
1501-2000Kg - £200
2001+ Kg - £500

I like this.

I'd be paying a total of £600 per annum for three cars (total mileage 20k) instead of the £1280 I pay now

I quite like that idea as well, nobody should be able to use the roads for free because they buy a 30 grand car that the manufacturers have contrived to pass some arbitrary test to limbo under and arbitrary limit

Another option could be on BHP, say, £1 per bhp ?

[otolith]

Why are we picking arbitrary measures to tax on? What are we trying to achieve, and why?

[Fastdruid]

J4CKO said:

V88Dicky said:

Fastdruid said:

VED should be based on weight/size.

Something like:

Sub 500 Kg - free
501-750 Kg - £25
751-1000 Kg - £50
1001-1125Kg - £75
1126-1250Kg - £100
1251-1375Kg - £125
1375-1500Kg - £150
1501-2000Kg - £200
2001+ Kg - £500

I like this.

I'd be paying a total of £600 per annum for three cars (total mileage 20k) instead of the £1280 I pay now

I quite like that idea as well, nobody should be able to use the roads for free because they buy a 30 grand car that the manufacturers have contrived to pass some arbitrary test to limbo under and arbitrary limit

Another option could be on BHP, say, £1 per bhp ?

Bah! That makes the bikes rather pricey! Not much difference to cars either way, ~£480 against the current emissions based £570 and weight based £400.