These vehicles may be exempt from paying road user charges (RUC):
Electric vehicles are exempt from RUC if their motive power comes wholly or partly from an external source of electricity.
An external source is when the vehicle can be plugged into the wall or another source of electricity. This means that fully electric vehicles and plug-in vehicles are usually exempt from RUC. Full, or mild hybrid vehicles that can't plug in to recharge, are usually not subject to RUC unless they use a fuel other than petrol, like diesel, or if the vehicle has a gross vehicle mass over 3.5 tonnes.
Vehicles that generate electricity on board through the use of a fuel cell, such as hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, don't meet the definition of being an electric vehicle and must pay RUC.
However, if a fuel cell electric vehicle can be plugged into an external source of electricity to recharge its onboard battery, it's considered to have a motive power that's derived partly from an external source of electricity. This means it's considered an electric vehicle and is exempted from RUC.
A vehicle is exempt from paying road user charges if it belongs to a class of vehicles whose purpose or design means it's unsuitable for regular road use.
Vehicles unsuitable for regular road use are listed below:
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Description of vehicle type |
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A tractor – a motor vehicle (other than a traction engine) that is designed and constructed, and not merely adapted, for traction and powering implements |
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A traction engine |
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A forklift, telehandler or sidehandler |
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A self-propelled machine that is designed and constructed (not merely adapted) for the following specialist industrial purposes:
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A self-propelled vehicle (other than a tractor) or towed vehicle that is designed and constructed for (not merely adapted) agricultural purposes, including:
but not including:
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A trailer towed by a traction engine, a forklift, telehandler, sidehandler or self-propelled machine described above |
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A motor vehicle propelled and supported solely by self-laying tracks |
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All-terrain vehicle |
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Aerodrome crash fire tenders used on road only in emergencies |
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Trailer scraper (not self-propelled) |
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Plant for servicing oil-filled cables |
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Road rollers |
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Stone and gravel crushing and screening plant |
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Bulldozers and angle dozers |
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Front end loaders |
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Mobile pile drivers |
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Motor scrapers (self-propelled) |
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Self-propelled water carts that are always unladen on the road |
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Self-propelled trench diggers and excavators |
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Self-propelled vehicles that are always unladen on the road and that are designed exclusively for carrying earth or other bulk materials |
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Mobile cranes (excluding mobile vehicle recovery units, truck-mounted cranes, and cranes to which a distance recording device is or could readily be fitted) |
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Motor graders |
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Cable jinkers |
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Post debarkers |
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Saw bench apparatus |
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Forestry chippers that are used exclusively in the operation or management of a forest |
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Sawing or shearing apparatus for tree cutting |
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Log haulers that are not self-propelled and are stationary when hauling logs |
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Log forwarders |
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Log processors |
Light diesel vehicles (ie weigh less than 3.5 tonnes) that are used almost exclusively off-road for the following purposes may be eligible for a permanent exemption from paying road user charges. The eligible purposes are:
The vehicle must meet the following criteria to keep the exemption:
If any of these criteria change, the exemption stops. You'll need to make a new application or buy a a RUC licence.
You'll need to make an Application for RUC exemption under section 40 of the RUC Act 2012 (RUCEX).
If you already have a RUC exemption for an off-road light diesel vehicle, but your details have changed, you need to make an Application to change details of RUC exemption (RUCEC).
