The ATO has introduced a 4.20 cents per km rate for home-charging electric vehicles (EV). The rate is multiplied by the number of kilometres the electric vehicle travels during the year.

As the compliance costs involved in calculating the EV electricity consumption vs the household private electricity use is high, the ‘Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2023/D1’ provides welcome relief to taxpayers.  The guideline applies to zero-emission vehicles that use electric motors (fuelled by a battery, hydrogen fuel cell, electric generator, or off-vehicle electrical power source).

In 2023, Australians can choose from 30 new EV models and are forecast to purchase 60,000 new electric vehicles annually. This is double the 2022 EV sales and up substantially on the 1,000 sold in 2018. Modelling by the CSIRO has forecast that between 2045 and 2050, more than 20 million electric vehicles – close to 100 per cent of all cars – will be on Australian roads.