The motoring world will be looking across the Tasman for insights into the future of road policy and how it shapes a future car parc.
New Zealand has chosen to solve the problem of dwindling fuel excise and electrification with a new tax on EV users and with the grace period ending on 31 May, EV drivers will be obliged to pay up or face fines.
After years of incentive packages that brought EVs to as high as 15 per cent of new cars sold, a changed New Zealand government introduced the Road User Charge late last year for full EVs and plug-in hybrids.
The current rate is NZ $76 per 1000km for a full EV and half that for a plug-in hybrid.
A car in Australia that has a fuel efficiency of around five litres per 100 km, would be paying about AUD $25 for the same distance based on a petrol excise of about 49 cents per litre
Last year the High Court of Australia found a Victorian road user tariff was unconstitutional and the government was forced to repay the fees.
Iceland is the only other country currently charging a Road User Charge of approximately the same amount $USD44 per 1000km.
Norway which has the highest EV uptake in the world, about 17 per cent of all vehicles and three quarters of all new vehicles, has witnessed a drop in government revenue but has so far only engaged in studies on an overall RUC.
Drivers of EVs in New Zealand will now have to own a Road User Charges licence that charges them on their mileage.
Fine start at NZ$200 plus backdated charges for the mileage from April 1 for the roughly 100,000 EVs currently on New Zealand roads.
Some media reports indicate, a third of these vehicles have not yet been registered.
The NZ government have always argued the RUC protects revenue for the upkeep of roads but was forced to make a backdown over the PHEV tax and reduce it from $53 to $38 in March.