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• Framework places both plug-in hybrids and combustion engines in 1pc sales tax category with e-vehicles
• Stakeholders say move will distort industry, discourage sale of e-vehicles, localisation efforts
THE New Energy Vehicle (NEV) policy, designed to accelerate the transition towards cleaner electric mobility and reduce oil dependence, is facing criticism over a fundamental policy contradiction: the decision to place plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in the same preferential incentive category as battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
The controversy centres on the draft policy’s proposal to extend major fiscal concessions, including a proposed one per cent sales tax and lower import duties, to both fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, even though the PHEVs mostly rely on internal combustion engines.
