FREDRIKSTAD (Nettavisen): In the middle of an industrial area in Fredrikstad, Nettavisen meets Rino Bråten. He owns XL Utleie, who runs a rental business. There are several lifts, excavators and other heavy equipment for hire in the parking lot.
Precisely for this Nettavisen is with Bråten. He saw the matter that SV proposes doubling the one-off fee for diesel vans, and was very upset:
– Then I felt that the cup overflowed. When they also say it’s to get more people to choose electric cars, I’m disappointed. There are no alternatives to electric cars for us.
Under the proposal, a Toyota Proace with all-wheel drive will increase NOK 109,000 in one-off taxes compared to the government’s proposal. At the same time, a Land Cruiser with two seats will increase by NOK 191,000.
To date, there are no all-electric vans with all-wheel drive or capable of transporting XL Utleie’s equipment to its customers.
– We have several vans that take the cars to customers. The weight is therefore between 2.5 and 3.5 tons. We also need to have four wheel drive as we deliver to construction sites and facilities. The SV car we want to use does not exist as of today.
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– I have to drive cars twice as long
Bråten says they replace the cars every four to five years.
– If this proposal goes through, we’ll have to drive cars twice as long. It is the employees office and it is important that they feel comfortable at work. It affects the employees, says a disappointed Bråten.
He goes on to say that if there were all-electric alternatives there would still be issues to sort out.
– Who will pay the top-up during working hours? Is it us or the customer? We deliver equipment all over the country, there are no charging stations everywhere. The infrastructure is not even in place.
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It goes beyond employees
Bråten has been running various companies for over 30 years.
– I have always seen the Labor Party as a collaborative partner with business, but now it has become completely brain dead.
He says it’s not easy to run a business in today’s economic situation.
– Electricity bill skyrocketed. We have taken measures such as replacing all lamps with LEDs and will install solar panels on the roof. But it’s not as easy as now, when everything is more expensive.
Emphasize taxation that comes on top of expensive fuel costs, sky-high electricity prices, and additional employer taxes.
– Soon it will be impossible to run a business in Norway.
Bråten believes many entrepreneurs will give up.
– There are probably many people who don’t mind starting on their own. If the situation continues like this, it will be a big problem.
– The last thing Norwegian companies need
The proposal made the director of the National Association of Bilimportørens (BIL) Erik Andresen and the director of the Road Traffic Information Council (OFV) Øyvind Solberg Thorsen shake their heads.
– This really is the last thing Norwegian companies need in an already very challenging situation, they said last week.
– Commission hikes can go completely wild. We have never experienced anything like this, so what we think is that SV could not count on this, Andresen told Nettavisen, and added:
– They must have just made a fool of him, because the consequences of this will be dramatic for those who buy the cars and depend on them every single day in their business endeavours.
– Forced to use strong grips
Nettavisen sent a series of questions to SV on Tuesday morning. So far they have not answered these questions.
Last week, Mona Fagerås, the party’s transport policy spokeswoman, responded that the market for electric cars is developing, including for cars that can be used for commercial purposes.
– We absolutely must take strong measures to move to a greener Norway. Electric car policy has been a big success and tax policy has been a central part of that, she said, adding:
– Therefore, we have to make choosing climate-friendly solutions also beneficial for the business world and we think it is time to stimulate more purchases of electric vans.
Fagerås therefore did not respond to questions about whether they had calculated price examples or how to choose an all-electric alternative when it does not exist.
