Victoria

Victorian owners of electric cars and other zero-emissions vehicles will be required to pay a road-user tax of 2.5 cents per kilometre driven from 1 July 2021 – and the precedent could trigger other states to follow. The charge amounts to $375 a year based on the national average distance travelled of 15,000km, or just $125 a year for vehicles that travel 5000km a year.

Australia’s most affordable electric car – the MG ZS EV SUV – will now be available to rent, courtesy of Europcar. From next week, customers will have access to the electric ZS in Melbourne. According to MG, its primary goal is to give consumers the opportunity to properly test drive an electric vehicle (EV).

The 2022 Ford Ranger has been spied testing in Australia wearing full camouflage. The next-generation Ranger prototype was caught undergoing evaluation by Ford engineers in Footscray, in Melbourne's inner-west, by a keen-eyed CarAdvice reader. The prototype spotted in these photos appears as if it could be a Ranger Wildtrak, thanks to its side steps and a stylish rear 'sail plane' valance extending from the rear window – a trademark of the Wildtrak variant.

As several states propose dedicated taxes for electric cars in lieu of the fuel excise, an Australian economist has suggested a potentially controversial alternative plan for "fairly" taxing road users to cover national road maintenance. Richard Denniss, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute think tank, has slammed misconceptions that the fuel excise gives electric cars a free ride, suggesting the Federal Government should instead increase taxes on heavy trucks.

How much you pay for your car insurance can be influenced by a wide range of factors, but one key element driving up premiums that you might not even be aware of is your suburb's vehicle theft and crime rate. September 2020 data from the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NVMTRC) found national vehicle theft increased by 2 per cent in 2020, with a total of 56,312 cars stolen around the country between 2019 and 2020.