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What you need to know

Road users help pay for New Zealand’s land transport system through fuel excise duty (FED) or road user charges (RUC).

RUC is a distance-based charging system that applies to all vehicles not powered wholly by petrol, and all vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes. Owners of vehicles that don’t use petrol as their primary fuel, such as diesel cars, electric vehicles and heavy vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonnes must pay RUC unless they are exempt.

The Government is working towards transitioning the rest of the light vehicle fleet to RUC and away from fuel tax. Transitioning to RUC will ensure that all road users are contributing fairly to the upkeep of our roads, regardless of the vehicle they drive. Before implementing a transition, the Government is progressing legislative improvements to modernise the system. The changes will enable private sector RUC service providers to develop new ways to make it easier for users to pay for RUC.

Electric vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonnes, such as buses and trucks, are exempt from paying RUC until 1 July 2027.

Who pays RUC is set out in the Road User Charges Act 2012.

Our work at the Ministry covers policy, legislation and regulation, and includes reviewing and setting RUC levels, and advising on system performance. We work closely with New Zealand Transport Agency to ensure that the RUC system is responsive to changes in the sector and Government priorities.

Read the latest announcement from the Transport Minister here: (beehive.govt.nz)

The work to date

11
Aug 2025–Present

Legislative improvements to modernise the road user charges system

On 6 August 2025, at the Building Nations 2025 conference, the Minister of Transport announced the next steps to transition New Zealand's light petrol vehicle fleet from fuel excise duty (FED) to road user charges (RUC).

The immediate next step is to reform the Road User Charges Act 2012 and its regulations. These changes will enable the private sector to offer different technological solutions to make it easier for users to pay for RUC.

The Ministry of Transport will soon lead a further market engagement process to identify how the Government can best support the development of new RUC services for the light vehicle fleet. Please contact ruc@transport.govt.nz to register your interest.

A bill to give effect to Cabinet's agreed changes to the road user charges system is currently being drafted. A further update will be provided once the bill is introduced to the House of Representatives. It will be referred to Select Committee for public input.

10
Jul 2025

RUC exemption for heavy electric vehicles

The Government has extended the RUC exemption for heavy electric vehicles until 1 July 2027 (the exemption was previously set to end after 31 December 2025). Heavy vehicles are classed as those weighing over 3.5 tonnes, such as trucks and buses.

This extension gives heavy electric vehicle owners and operators sufficient time to plan for the transition, while setting clear direction that all vehicles need to contribute to the costs of maintaining the road network.

Heavy electric vehicle owners have been exempt from paying RUC since 2017. From 1 July 2027, owners of heavy electric vehicles will need to buy and hold a valid RUC distance licence. 

Heavy electric vehicles are exempt from paying RUC until 1 July 2027.

09
Feb 2023

Extending fuel excise duty and public transport fares reductions, and reintroducing reduced rates of road user charges

FEB 2023 

Extending fuel excise duty and public transport fares reductions, and reintroducing reduced rates of road user charges 

In response to continued high fuel prices placing pressure on household budgets, the Government has announced an extension to the temporary transport support measures: 

  • Petrol excise duty remains at its current reduced rate of 45.02 cents per litre until 30 June 2023 
  • Reduced road user charges rates have been reintroduced and apply until 30 June 2023. All rates are reduced by 36 percent. You can contact Waka Kotahi with questions about individual rates. 
  • Public transport fares remain at half price until 30 June 2023. Community Connect (ongoing half-price public transport for community services cardholders) will commence on 1 July 2023 and half-price fares for Total Mobility users will continue indefinitely. 
08
May 2025

Request for Information — Road User Charges Retail Services

The Ministry of Transport released a request for information (RFI) on to Government Electronic Tendering System (GETS) on 15 November 2025, with responses due by 12 December 2024. The RFI sought to understand submitters’ interest in providing modern, easy-to-use systems for vehicle owners to manage and pay for RUC, and the role the private sector can have in supporting a fleetwide transition of petrol vehicles into the RUC system.

The Ministry received 25 responses and an additional 3 parties engaged in meetings without submitting a separate response. Respondents included current NZ ERUC providers, over-the-counter retailers, overseas telematics providers, technology companies and fuel retailers. The full list of parties that engaged in the RFI is set out at the bottom of this summary. The Ministry met with 11 parties. 

There was strong interest in selling RUC using technology solutions including:

  • in-vehicle technology and onboard telematics devices
  • mobile apps that can either utilise manual inputs from users as well as, odometer photographs, or connection to in-vehicle technology for distance measurement.
  • selling RUC at the pump via point-of-sale machines and/or apps. 

Parties interested in selling RUC electronically often proposed to bundle the sale of RUC with other vehicle related purchases and administration. For parties that envisage making capital investment to develop sale tools, interest is generally subject to ensuring that a minimum scale (in terms of number of customers) exists to achieve a return on investment. 

The idea of selling RUC without receiving a commission from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) but instead charging customers an admin fee to cover costs is interesting to some respondents. 

Almost universally, respondents noted that the requirement to have physical labels in vehicles should be removed to enable innovation and wider market participation.

Some respondents had comments on the role of NZTA. In summary these included:

  • a desire for easier connection to NZTA systems, and concern that system connectivity is slow and may struggle to manage increased volumes from the transition
  • a need for lower charges for checking RUC-related data with NZTA
  • NZTA’s current role as a retailer combined with its other functions as regulator, RUC collector and agent procurer is seen as anti-competitive and may be a barrier to participating for some parties. 

The full list of respondents and other parties that the Ministry spoke to in relation to the RFI is set out below.

  • AA New Zealand
  • Austroads TCA
  • Be-Mobile NV
  • Bonnett Limited
  • Carma Technology Corporation
  • Caura Limited
  • ClearRoad, Inc.
  • Compass IoT Pty Ltd
  • eConsultants Limited
  • Emovis
  • EROAD Ltd
  • Fast NZ Limited
  • IntelliTrac New Zealand Limited
  • Invenco Limited
  • Kapsch TrafficCom New Zealand Ltd
  • Kora New Zealand Limited
  • Navman Wireless Limited
  • New Zealand Post Limited
  • Nuonic Pty Limited
  • Optimal Fleet Solutions Limited
  • Picobyte Solutions Limited
  • Power Trip Limited
  • RUConnected Limited
  • Smartrak Limited
  • V-DAQ
  • Vehicle Testing New Zealand Limited
  • Waitomo Group Limited
  • Z Energy Limited

 

07
Jan 2022–Apr 2023

Consultation on amending the road user charges system

Between January and April 2022 Te Manatū Waka sought feedback on possible changes to the road user charges system and support the uptake of low carbon vehicles. 

 

More information
06
Jan 2024

RUC exemption ends for electric vehicles

The Government announced that owners of light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles will start paying road user charges (RUC) when the current exemption expires at the close of 31 March 2024.

More information and related documents
05
Apr 2022–Jul 2022

Road user charges reduced between 21 April 2022 and 21 July 2022

04
Jul 2021

Road user charges exemption for light electric vehicles extended until 31 March 2024

03
Aug 2013–Dec 2016

Evaluations of the Road User Charges Act 2012 undertaken

Between 2013 and 2016, we commissioned Allen & Clarke to conduct evaluations of the Act in 3 stages.

More information and related documents
02
Aug 2012

Road User Charges Act 2012 came into force

The Act came into force on 1 August 2012, bringing about changes to how the RUC system worked and allowing the making of regulations to support the implementation of the legislation.

More information and related documents
01
Aug 2008–May 2009

Review group conducted independent review of RUC

The Road User Charges Review Group conducted an independent review of the RUC system and examined land transport cost allocations, options for improving the current RUC system and the merits of alternative methods of collecting revenue from diesel vehicles.

More information and related documents

Get in touch

info@transport.govt.nz