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I remember years ago whilst training as an accountant an economics professor saying never assess what the Chancellor is saying at the dispatch box when announcing the budget because the devil is in the detail and the detail is in the small print. And so itr was with the latest budget.

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Whilst company car drivers seemed to have been left alone whilst benefitting from fuel duty freeze in the small print was the ‘leaving alone’ of a previous announcement that benefit in kind (BIK) bands that kick in 12 months from now will continue to 2017 and 2018 tax years. This is the increase of 2 percentage points for each tax band per annum.

So by 2018 the BIK tax applied to cars with a CO2 emission of 76-94g/km will be 19% of the car’s P11D value. So much for looking after the motorist. In 2018 this will raise £240 million for the treasury with a further £480 million in 2019. Those that drive low emission cars will suffer the most as we will see cars under 51g/km dropping into the 13% band with 51-74g/km up to 16% by 2018.

And all this came after the Chancellor announced at the dispatch box that he is ‘increasing the discount for low-emission vehicle.’ I think it is about time for a re-think because this will take anyone currently considering an electric vehicle from a benefit in kind threshold of zero to 13% in 4 years. But it gets worse!

Because if you look at the cost of an electric vehicle compared with the equivalent petrol vehicle the BIK tax is horrendous. Take for example the Nissan Leaf, the Tekna version has an on the road figure, according to What Car of £30,490 before the Government subsidy is applied (and therefore the figure that BIK will be based upon).

Compare this with a Nissan Juke 1.6 petrol Juke, this costs £16,295, the Leaf is nearly twice the price. I seriously think that the government needs to think again about zero emission cars and the disincentive that this brings. By Graham Hill

Nissan Leaf at Tokyo Motor Show (RHD). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My gadget of the week is the latest solution to an old problem. It’s a fuel cap that prevents you from misfuelling a diesel car with petrol. The clever gadget replaces the standard filler cap and prevents the narrower petrol nozzle from entering the tank. The unit, called the Diesel Head is easy to fit, simply unscrew the factory fitted unit and place the Read more »

Image via Wikipedia

For some time I’ve been discussing the merits (or otherwise) of electric cars. Are they fit for purpose or not? The problem is really twofold, firstly the very high cost, even allowing for the £5,000 per car subsidy from the Government, and secondly the range, which in most cars isn’t much more than 100 miles. OK make that threefold as Read more »

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

My gadget of the week is in fact an additive of the week. With fuel costs increasing daily (well it seems that way) a few additives have entered the market claiming to improve your car’s performance, improve fuel consumption and reduce CO2 output. One of these is called Mergi and is described by the manufacturer as ‘Magic in a bottle and helps you get Read more »

As most cars have in car computers fitted these days wouldn’t it be a great option to have incorporated, whereby you input the cost per litre of the fuel that you put into your car and at the end of each journey or possibly during the journey, it showed you the cost of the fuel that you’ve used. Now wouldn’t that stop a few unnecessary trips, especially short trips that might return on 10 miles to the gallon compared with the average of say 40mpg. Any views? By Graham Hill

If you are driving behind a car and it seems to be wandering across the road as though the driver had been drinking, it may not be the driver it may just be the car that’s a little worse for wear! Researchers at Edinburgh Napier University have developed a biofuel from whisky by-products. Called biobutanol it’s 30% more powerful than ethanol and is created out of two waste products: ‘pot ale’ from copper stills and Read more »

We all understand that we need to replace vehicles driven by fossil fuels with alternatives as we are running out, that’s a fact. The answer certainly seems to be electric vehicles as we can create electricity from natural renewable sources such as wind, light and sea movement so we can see the benefits of developing this technology. Something that was understood by the government when it was labour led who Read more »

What has happened to hydrogen cars – the planet savers? There’s been loads of talk about electric cars and how all cars should be replaced with electric cars with a range of 2 miles but what has happened to hydrogen technology, it seems to have died a death? Will electric cars go the same way when the new Government decides that it won’t stuff £5 grand up the non existent exhaust of each new electric car sold Read more »

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Even without the full increase in fuel duty we are seeing a constant increase in fuel cost. Petrol rose by 23% (21 pence per litre) last year whilst diesel increased by 13% (13 pence per litre) and we have already seen fuel increase by about 8 pence per litre this year. On average petrol increased every 2 weeks and as the increase was spread over the year it hasn’t led to serious discontent. But with fuel set to rise Read more »