Saving For a Space Ship Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Finally the UK government takes electric motorcycles seriously & announced subsidies on purchases of electric bikes. http://www.motofire.com/2016/10/news/finally-uk-government-takes-electric-motorcycles-seriously/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long time lurking Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Hmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgul Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 About time too. Electric motorbikes could make a real difference but there has been no support of the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChewingGrass Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Pushbike for me but I can't help wondering how many dog walkers and joggers will be wiped out by these as they are forever stepping out into the road in front of me and I'm only doing 15-20mph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitevanman Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Why is this a good thing? Electricity is very lightly taxed in comparison to petrol and diesel. If electric vehicles are viable they will sell without subsidy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chronyx Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 They will still be useless to most for the same reason as electric cars. I loathe traffic and rip off parking so when the need arises I ride into and around London on a 125 BMW C1 scooter (Sadly the only bike that is viable for my job) - 7 quid to do 120 miles a day and recharging takes 5 mins. Perhaps the bigger question should be why there are all these people sat in cars when they carry nothing more than a laptop. (Not steps, tools, and tester) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgul Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 3 hours ago, whitevanman said: Why is this a good thing? Electricity is very lightly taxed in comparison to petrol and diesel. If electric vehicles are viable they will sell without subsidy. Only because electric cars have substantial subsidies. They should introduce a subsidy for electric bicycles as well. It is worth noting that the subsidy at purchase is only an effective reduction in the VAT rate -- I think that anything which is remotely energy efficient compared with the 'normal way of doing things' should have VAT at 5%. But you're right in that the real reason electric vehicles are cheaper is that they don't pay the tax on fuel (and road tax, but that in minor in comparison). If you could buy petrol at its true cost then there's no way anyone would buy electric at the moment. Eventually the gov will introduce road pricing to sort this out, but they'll wait until there's a few more electric car users first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 and meanwhile they are still planning another runway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitevanman Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 32 minutes ago, dgul said: Only because electric cars have substantial subsidies. They should introduce a subsidy for electric bicycles as well. It is worth noting that the subsidy at purchase is only an effective reduction in the VAT rate -- I think that anything which is remotely energy efficient compared with the 'normal way of doing things' should have VAT at 5%. But you're right in that the real reason electric vehicles are cheaper is that they don't pay the tax on fuel (and road tax, but that in minor in comparison). If you could buy petrol at its true cost then there's no way anyone would buy electric at the moment. Eventually the gov will introduce road pricing to sort this out, but they'll wait until there's a few more electric car users first. Bicycles are taxed at 20% VAT. It would be an odd decision indeed to tax electric bikes at 5%. Mind you, electricity attracts 5% VAT whereas food is VAT free, as long as you stick to Jaffa Cakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgul Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 2 minutes ago, whitevanman said: Bicycles are taxed at 20% VAT. It would be an odd decision indeed to tax electric bikes at 5%. Mind you, electricity attracts 5% VAT whereas food is VAT free, as long as you stick to Jaffa Cakes. By my argument normal bikes are a green alternative to cars and should be taxed at 5% as well. But not shoes. They can be used for frivolous activities like dancing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 10 hours ago, dgul said: By my argument normal bikes are a green alternative to cars and should be taxed at 5% as well. They should be given away free to every school child. And give them lights too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainlessSteelCat Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 If you with a company that has a bike to work scheme, you can already enjoy a significant tax break. Trouble is since it was introduced, mid range bikes have automagically increased in price to mitigate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 15 hours ago, long time lurking said: Hmm Ye Gods, if that had been available when I was a young man I would have had to have one . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
council dweller Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 1 hour ago, Bruce Banner said: Ye Gods, if that had been available when I was a young man I would have had to have one . £20k and up ? It sounds like a Hoover. I`m very satisfied with my Suzuki 650, lovely machine and all for £5k. And also the V twin engine makes a beautiful sound and only needs about 3 gear changes to get it up to 6th. Did he really fall off in a car park ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbonic Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 It makes sense to encourage electrifying lightweight vehicles like motorcycles. Unlike the idiotic 'green' gesture of electrifying 2+ tonne 4 x 4s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hail the Tripod Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 3 hours ago, SarahBell said: They should be given away free to every school child. And give them lights too. There are over 600 kids at my sons' primary school (plus maybe 70 staff). The bike racks have space for only 20 bikes, and they're never even half full. This is in a wealthy area, where virtually all the kids already do have brand new bikes. Instead there's a chaotic jumble of badly parked, enormous 4x4s that everyone is aware of as a critical problem. Free bikes would make zero difference. Maybe it would make some difference in some places, but I doubt it would have much impact over the country as a whole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidg Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 15 hours ago, Montecristo said: In a world with high speed broadband and skype, the vast majority of non public facing office jobs can be done from home. Are there any statisics for the job breakdown of road and rail users? I suspect he roads and rail would be empty if the government introduce some tax benefits for comapanies that had a quota of home workers. What about all the jobs for transport industry workers? GDP would probably drop 5% with your scheme. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reddog Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 54 minutes ago, newbonic said: It makes sense to encourage electrifying lightweight vehicles like motorcycles. Unlike the idiotic 'green' gesture of electrifying 2+ tonne 4 x 4s. I would have thought it was already viable to run an electronic motorbike without subsidies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilf Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 1 hour ago, council dweller said: £20k and up ? It sounds like a Hoover. I`m very satisfied with my Suzuki 650, lovely machine and all for £5k. And also the V twin engine makes a beautiful sound and only needs about 3 gear changes to get it up to 6th. Did he really fall off in a car park ! List price is $38,888 With regard to falling off, I suspect you don't get the throttle control as you would on a normal bike to get yourself out of trouble (or at least it is different enough he wasn't able to do it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmic Apple Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 26 minutes ago, reddog said: I would have thought it was already viable to run an electronic motorbike without subsidies. Look at the prices of the electronic motorbikes - you can get commuter 600s for 4-6k depending on brand and options. To pay double for an electronic bike you've got to save a LOT in fuel & maintenance, which will be difficult given the limited range. You can park a petrol bike for free in many places. Not sure about congestion zones though. If your up for getting a licence and riding a bike you're going to do it for a petrol one, electronic bikes are not going to entice punters in to the market place especially not when they are twice the cost of the petrol equivalents. I ride an electronic bicycle to work (home brew) I can do the commute quicker most days on this than I can in the car. Stop time is the killer in the car, my average speed isn't much higher on the bike and of course the top speeds are much lower. If traffic is particularly bad I can do the journey at the same pace my colleague can on his 800cc bike. The difference is good eBikes are 1-2k rather than the 12k asking for an electronic motorcycle, and almost as good for commuting. Electronic bikes need to become a lot cheaper to entice punters from traditional bikes and other modes of transport, imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 1 hour ago, Hail the Tripod said: There are over 600 kids at my sons' primary school (plus maybe 70 staff). The bike racks have space for only 20 bikes, and they're never even half full. This is in a wealthy area, where virtually all the kids already do have brand new bikes. Instead there's a chaotic jumble of badly parked, enormous 4x4s that everyone is aware of as a critical problem. Free bikes would make zero difference. Maybe it would make some difference in some places, but I doubt it would have much impact over the country as a whole. And ban parents from driving their kids to blinking school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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