NSW EV Road User Charge: The Rate, the Start Date and What It Will Cost You

NSW has legislated a per-kilometre road user charge on electric vehicles that is due to start on 1 July 2027, or earlier if EVs reach 30 per cent of new vehicle sales, at 3.095 cents a kilometre for battery EVs and 2.476 cents for plug-in hybrids at the 2026-27 rate. Nothing is being charged yet, and as of October 2026 the NSW Government is still “working to assess” what the High Court’s decision against Victoria’s identical charge means for its own. For a typical driver it would add roughly $300 to $600 a year. This page is the NSW detail; our national road user charge guide covers Victoria’s failed charge, Western Australia’s announced one and the federal plan.

What exactly has NSW legislated?

The NSW Government’s road user charge page says a road user charge “will apply to eligible EVs from 1 July 2027 or when EVs make up 30 per cent of all new vehicle sales, whichever comes first”, that plug-in hybrids “will be charged a fixed 80 per cent proportion of the full road user charge”, and that the rate is indexed to the consumer price index each financial year. The 2026-27 rates it publishes are 3.095 cents per kilometre for a battery EV or hydrogen fuel cell EV and 2.476 cents for a plug-in hybrid. The charge sits in the Electric Vehicles (Revenue Arrangements) Act 2021, the same Act that created the stamp duty exemption and rebate NSW used to encourage EV buying between 2021 and 2024.

The 30 per cent trigger is worth watching. Battery EVs were well short of it in NSW in 2026, but EV sales nationally hit a 24.2 per cent share in September 2026 on CarExpert’s reading of the VFACTS data, and plug-in hybrids another 9.3 per cent. Whether plug-in hybrids count toward NSW’s 30 per cent depends on the Act’s definition of an EV, which includes them, so the trigger could arrive before July 2027 if the current growth holds. The date is the more likely start either way.

How much will it cost?

Multiply your annual kilometres by the rate. At the 2026-27 figures, before the indexation that will apply by July 2027:

The petrol column is only the federal excise of 53.7 cents a litre that applies from 3 August 2026, according to the ATO’s excise rates; it is before the cost of the petrol itself. So even with the charge, an EV driver pays less in road tax than a petrol driver doing the same distance, and far less once the fuel bill is added, as our guide to what it costs to charge an EV shows. Put another way, 3.095 cents a kilometre is about the same as the electricity cost of charging at home on a standard tariff, and about a third of the per-kilometre cost of petrol.

How would NSW collect it?

The Act is built around distance declared at registration, the model Victoria used: an odometer reading reported to Transport for NSW, with the charge worked out on the kilometres travelled since the last reading and paid with registration or in instalments. NSW has not yet published the operational detail (how readings are verified, what happens on transfer or interstate travel, whether an app is involved), and will not need to until the start date is closer. Expect it to look like Victoria’s 2021 to 2023 scheme, which invoiced owners after their annual odometer declaration.

Will it survive a court challenge?

That is the open question, and NSW’s own page raises it. It notes that in Vanderstock v Victoria the High Court “determined that the Victorian Government’s Zero and Low Emission Vehicle Distance-based Charge Act was invalid”, and that “the NSW Government is working to assess the potential implications of the decision for NSW’s electric vehicle road user charge.” The Court’s reasoning, that a per-kilometre charge on EVs is a duty of excise which only the Commonwealth can impose under section 90 of the Constitution, applies to NSW’s law as squarely as it did to Victoria’s.

The politics have moved since the law passed. The NSW Treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, told ABC’s 7.30 in August 2026 that NSW prefers a national system and “would look to remove the system here in New South Wales, should there be one established nationally.” Federally, the May 2026 budget put a national charge on hold while the Commonwealth works on a model with the states, and the Transport Minister has said she cannot see a parliamentary pathway yet. Our reading: NSW’s charge is legislated, not yet in force, and sits on the same constitutional footing the High Court rejected. If it starts in July 2027, a challenge is likely; if a national scheme arrives first, NSW has said it would step aside.

What else does NSW charge or waive for EVs?

Nothing special any more, apart from registration. The $3,000 rebate and the stamp duty exemption on EVs priced under $78,000 both ended on 1 January 2024, so a new EV in NSW pays full duty, as our EV rebates and incentives guide records. NSW’s emissions-based motor vehicle tax still gives low-emission cars a registration discount. The federal FBT exemption is the incentive that matters for most NSW buyers now, and it is federal, so the road user charge does not touch it.

What should a NSW EV driver do now?

Budget about 3 cents a kilometre into your running costs from mid-2027, keep an eye on this page for the start date and any court action, and do not let it change the purchase decision: on the figures above it is smaller than fuel excise alone, and several times smaller than the fuel saving. If you are weighing a novated lease, the tax saving dwarfs it. We check the NSW page and the Act whenever the government moves; everything above was verified on 20 October 2026.