Mixed Signals from Governments on EV Proliferation

[moosetags]

I was thinking that governments at all levels were offering incentives for the purchase and use of electric vehicles. Then I read an article saying that the State of Ohio has enacted a $225 per year additional license tag fee for electric vehicles.

I realize that government will eventually want to make up lost revenues from the highway fuel taxes. I am somewhat surprised that the State of Ohio has chosen to gouge EV users right out of the box. I now wonder if other states will follow suit. With EV's on the cusp of going mainstream, governments need to suck-up their greed, at least in the short term.

Brian

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[opnwide]

I believe Colorado has also recently dinged EV’s at Registration as well.

(Side note, I just noticed you’re from Santa Rosa Beach/San Destin?). Great area! I’ve been there and Miramar Beach. I’ll be down at Watersound and Rosemary Beach end of March for some vacay. Best sand on the beaches ever!)

 

[Sgt Beavis]

I believe Colorado has also recently dinged EV’s at Registration as well.

(Side note, I just noticed you’re from Santa Rosa Beach/San Destin?). Great area! I’ve been there and Miramar Beach. I’ll be down at Watersound and Rosemary Beach end of March for some vacay. Best sand on the beaches ever!)

$50 isn’t a big deal when you consider CO still has a $2500 tax credit.

 

[RforRivian]

So here's the logic for those additional fees... Since state roads throughout the country are mostly/partially paid for by taxes added on to the price of gas EVs are essentially using those same roads without paying for there up keep. Wether or not these fees are reasonable will vary from person to person since it is a flat fee and some people drive very little (and therefore do not cause as much wear on the roads) while others drive drive a lot.

Here is my take. EVs shouldn't get off the hook and get to use state roads for free while ICE vehicle owners pay for the up keep of those roads.

 

[DeafPug]

So here's the logic for those additional fees... Since state roads throughout the country are mostly/partially paid for by taxes added on to the price of gas EVs are essentially using those same roads without paying for there up keep. Wether or not these fees are reasonable will vary from person to person since it is a flat fee and some people drive very little (and therefore do not cause as much wear on the roads) while others drive drive a lot.

Here is my take. EVs shouldn't get off the hook and get to use state roads for free while ICE vehicle owners pay for the up keep of those roads.

Agreed. Personally, I would prefer that the fuel excise tax is cancelled on all gasoline purchases and ALL vehicles go to a flat (or mileage based) tax on the yearly registration. While this wouldn't necessarily get funds to where they are used (road use while on a road trip), it would have the benefit of not singling out a specific class of people/vehicles for a fee that could be argued is either not enough or too much depending upon if you were in our out of the singled out group. Taxing gasoline had the benefit of ease of collecting usage based taxes when there was a single fuel source, but doesn't work as the transition to EVs and possibly Hydrogen, Compressed Natural Gas, or Mr. Fusion.

Similarly, I get frustrated at the electric companies that single out people with solar panels on their house because they are not paying their "fair share" of the grid maintenance fees and charge punitive base fees or demand charges that are not paid by "normal" residential users. If your base fee for being connected to the grid isn't enough, raise the base fee for EVERYONE (and lower the per kWh rate to make up the difference for the average user).

Like these sometimes punitive registration fees on electric vehicles, many of the electricity rates for people with solar panels are punitive enough that you can actually pay more for electricity after you install solar, which should be impossible position to support and defend.

 

[Mjhirsch78]

Just renewed my Tesla in WA and cost $225 more for EV fees.

 

[Autolycus]

I was thinking that governments at all levels were offering incentives for the purchase and use of electric vehicles. Then I read an article saying that the State of Ohio has enacted a $225 per year additional license tag fee for electric vehicles.

I realize that government will eventually want to make up lost revenues from the highway fuel taxes. I am somewhat surprised that the State of Ohio has chosen to gouge EV users right out of the box. I now wonder if other states will follow suit. With EV's on the cusp of going mainstream, governments need to suck-up their greed, at least in the short term.

Brian

Ohio is at least the 20th state to enact an additional fee for EVs. Most are not too high, between $50-$150/year. Georgia is the only one other than Ohio which has a fee of $200+.

Georgia is particularly offensive because the state used to have an EV tax credit of $2500. Talk about a big swing in incentives for EV ownership!

IMO, a fee in the $100-150 range is reasonable. $200+ starts to be punitive because that's equivalent to an above-average annual fuel usage.

 

[moosetags]

I agree that EVers should not get off scott free, although I have always wondered what percentage of the motor fuel tax actually goes into maintaining the roadways.

I just feel that at this point in time governmental entities should refrain from making EV's less to attractive the average new car buyer.

Brian

 

[mkg3]

The problem is that as states add EV surcharge on registration fees, it is all likely that federal and states will also implement equivalent of "pump station tax" onto the EV chargers everywhere.

In CA, there are $1.19/gal tax between the fed and state taxes. Its only matter of time before $/kW is added to chargers.

 

[SANZC02]

Just renewed my Tesla in WA and cost $225 more for EV fees.

That seems reasonable.

Doing a quick search the average miles driven in WA is 12k and the gas tax is 49.5 cents per gallon, 225 is equivalent 454.5 gallons so that is what someone would pay driving 12k miles getting 26.4 miles per gallon.

Sure it would be more equitable to have a calculation based on vehicle weight and miles driven but a lot harder for the government to manage that.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Yup. $175/yr fee here in CA. I’m sure they will figure out a way to have EVs pay the Smog Check fee!

 

[OEVA]

Oregon has a sliding scale with fuel efficient vehicles paying more - the better the mpg (and less gas they buy), the more they pay. EVs are at the top of the scale and pay the most.
Gas and EV owners have a "by the mile" option if they install a device in their vehicle to track usage. Break even is about 5K miles per year.

The registration numbers below are for 2 years. New vehicles pay for 4 years of registration - double what is listed when first registering.

They apply the same scale to Title fees:

 

[Riviot]

Ohio has enacted a $225 per year additional license tag fee

Ohio has chosen to gouge EV users

You're right, the current EV drivers who are well above the median income level should pay absolutely nothing to use our modern transportation system. In fact, they should be giving us MORE tax credits towards our $80k cars! ??‍

Riviot

 

[r1t_kev]

For PA, the R1T would be registered as a Class 3 truck based on weight, which is $177 per year. We don't have a state EV tax credit, but we don't have an EV registration surcharge either. Our gas tax is a cool $0.576/gal, second only to California for highest in the country. Oh and when Biden was here for a visit to Pittsburgh for an infrastructure talk, a bridge collapsed in the city; so good on PA for using the gas tax funds for road fixins. ?‍

In general the PA government is pretty head-in-the-sand about EVs. So much so that Tesla is the only auto manufacturer permitted to sell direct to consumer and only by exception to an existing regulation.

Maybe I should look into one of them Tessler Siber Trucks.

 

[Atlrivian]

I saw someone else do the math for Georgia on this forum in the past (maybe @Autolycus?), but here is the recap of why GA especially gouges:

213.7 Renewal fee
Gas tax 28.7 cents/gal
That's 762 gal/year
To use @SANZC02's 26.4 mpg, this works out to ~20k miles driven
Given I drive ~10k a year, this is a bit of a raw deal.

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