@scottearle
It's pretty complicated.
We actually need road transport. All sorts of everyday goods, including essentials such as food and clothing, are transported by road. If we increase taxes on #lorries, we get inflation and we worsen the cost-of-living crisis.
The reason I pick on #SUVs is that most people who drive them don't need them. Conspicuous consumption and the urge to bully other drivers off the road are not legitimate needs.
#EVs โ yeah, they're heavy. Mine weighs 1.8t, and it's one of the lightest decent ones I could find. Reducing weight means reducing battery-count and therefore range, and that means fixing the over-priced, over-complicated, fragmented charging network we currently have. Prices should be substantially lower than they are now โ they've been tweaked to make the cost of electric driving (just by coincidence) match the cost of petrol driving, mile-for-mile. When I can charge for 7p/kWh at home, I resent paying 90p/kWh for a public charger. I also refuse to use chargers that force me to give away my privacy by using an app. All chargers should clearly show the price per kWh, none of them should require an app, all of them should accept contactless payment, and none of them should be allowed to track drivers' locations.
I do like the idea of taxing vehicles by weight. To some degree, we already do that. I also think we should reduce speed limits for heavier vehicles more aggressively than we do now. Want a #RangeRover? Fine, you can have one, but your motorway speed limit is now 50mph to reduce the wear you impose on the tarmac and the damage you do in a collision.