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skyote

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What day is the in person R1T there? We are in the area next week 22-25 as relocating permanently to the hill country outside of Austin (Marble Falls).
R1T cannot be confirmed, but the hearing where Rivian needs support is on Tuesday. Hearing time TBD, but I believe it will be scheduled tomorrow.
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@skyote - What do they need as far as support? Any communication on what time and where to go?
 

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Hey Texas Folks...

Here is an email I sent to Roger Williams office (25th District, Travis County and up into Ft. Worth) in support of Terry Canales.

Dear Roger Williams,

I am writing to ask that you support fair Electric Vehicle (EV) fees in Texas and oppose SB 1728 by Senator Schwertner, which was laid out in the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday, April 7th and will likely come up for a vote soon. The bill would levy an EV fee of twice the amount paid by owners of gasoline-fueled vehicles.

Seventy-seven percent of Texas EV drivers surveyed expressed their willingness to pay their fair share in taxes to fund road and bridge construction and maintenance. Last session, the Legislature asked the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to study what a fair EV fee might be and report back this session. The Texas DMV’s $100 recommended amount is contained in HB 2221, the Electric Transportation Act (ETA), by Rep. Terry Canales, which I hope you will support. When EV fees are higher than what gasoline vehicle owners pay, Consumer Reports says it negatively affects EV adoption. EV owners already pay higher sales taxes at the time of purchase and pay taxes on the electricity they use as fuel.

Other key portions of HB 2221 include: developing a plan for border-to-border EV charging stations 50 miles apart, assuring that charging stations are registered and inspected, exempting EV charging companies from being classified as utilities, and calling for a study on EV battery recycling and reuse.

Please support other bills along these lines that include:
• SB 1720 (Eckhardt) and its companion HB 3797 (Israel) sets a $100 fee for EVs & $80 for Plug-in Hybrids
• HB 3637 (Goodwin) establishes a Battery Recycling Study and updates State EV incentives
• SB 1303 (Blanco) and its companion HB 4120 (Deshotel) provides for the replacement of dirty diesel school buses with clean, electric models
• SB 839 (Schwertner) regulates EV charging equipment
• SB 1202 (Hancock) exempts charging companies from being classified as utilities

Please oppose these fee bills:
• SB 1711 Springer $225 Fee for EVs / $125 Hybrids
• HB 427 King $200 Fee for EVs/ $100 Hybrids
• HB 2986 Martinez $200 Fee for EVs or $300 Fees for EV if heavier 10K lbs.
• SB 1728 Schwertner $200 Fee for EVs up to 6K lbs. & $250 EVs 6-10K lbs.

The Houston Chronicle wrote that the state of Texas is quickly being dubbed a national “Electric Vehicle Hub", since we already count 7 EV manufacturers, including Tesla and Navistar. Please support fair EV policies to help transform and diversify Texas’ economic development and draw more EV manufacturing to the State.

Sincerely,
 
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@Jsidell did you collect all of that info on your own? If not, do you have a source?
 
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@Jsidell did you collect all of that info on your own? If not, do you have a source?
Friend of mine collected it - I'll ask him for the sources

I haven't clicked send on my email to Roger Williams yet, so good call out on the sources.
 

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Drifting slightly OT here but... the country (including Texas) needs to move past treating EVs as something special and come up with a funding mechanism that is applied the same for all means of propulsion. Whether that be a flat fee, a mileage based fee, a property tax on vehicles, etc the mechanism needs to be the same regardless of the "fuel" source. I'm ok with fine tuning the rate structure based on things like vehicle class but it's time to move beyond the hodgepodge of gas taxes and EV fees to something that can be applied consistently and equitably.
 
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Drifting slightly OT here but... the country (including Texas) needs to move past treating EVs as something special and come up with a funding mechanism that is applied the same for all means of propulsion. Whether that be a flat fee, a mileage based fee, a property tax on vehicles, etc the mechanism needs to be the same regardless of the "fuel" source. I'm ok with fine tuning the rate structure based on things like vehicle class but it's time to move beyond the hodgepodge of gas taxes and EV fees to something that can be applied consistently and equitably.
Per mile is the most fair way to do it, possibly with a factor based on vehicle weight, because those are the primary factors on road wear. The problem is that's more complex & less predictable than a flat fee based on averages.

DMV did a study & the $100 cited in @Jsidell 's email is what they determined was a fair average equivalent to what an EV would pay if it used gas. That's the simplest solution for the State & consumers, so that's what we should support.

The important thing is to avoid "punitive" fees for EVs.
 

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DMV did a study & the $100 cited in @Jsidell 's email is what they determined was a fair average equivalent to what an EV would pay if it used gas. That's the simplest solution for the State & consumers, so that's what we should support.
I agree that moving to a per mile fee is more complex to implement which is why I'm open to other alternatives. However, I do not agree with applying a flat fee to EVs only while still taxing ICE vehicles per gallon of gas. If flat fees are appropriate for EVs, they are appropriate for all vehicles. A simple fee structure based on GVWR could be applied equally and fairly to all vehicles and would actually end up being simpler than maintaining multiple systems - for both the State and consumer.

Sometimes you just have to start over from scratch and I fully believe this is one of those times. I also know there's not a snowball's chance that will happen. For a variety of reasons, government moves forward (or sometimes backwards depending on your point of view) by effecting the smallest possible changes - which in this case means targeting EVs specifically. Unfortunately that creates the potential for EV fees to be used for alternative agendas including by those who would rather not see EVs succeed at all.

It's also worth noting that, here in TX, vehicle mileage is recorded on the Vehicle Inspection Report. Since the 2016(?) move to "Two Steps, One Sticker", the State has been able to access an inspection database to verify a passing inspection when registering a vehicle. It actually would not be that huge of a leap from where we are to implement a mileage based fee structure. But I'm not pushing for any specific implementation... just a single means for determining the fee.
 

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With modern software stacks your vehicle could popup a monthly payment screen for you to authorize paying your per-month loan and your per-mile insurance and road tax.
 

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With modern software stacks your vehicle could popup a monthly payment screen for you to authorize paying your per-month loan and your per-mile insurance and road tax.
Unfortunately that's far too big of a leap for government to tackle as the next step and it wouldn't even work for many of the vehicles on the road (consider how many older and commercial vehicles are on the road without the necessary in-car tech to support this).
 

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Unfortunately that's far too big of a leap for government to tackle as the next step and it wouldn't even work for many of the vehicles on the road (consider how many older and commercial vehicles are on the road without the necessary in-car tech to support this).
Rivian could serve as your agent to the state tax authorities, paying an estimate in advance annually and offsetting it via the monthly - the only thing the state (and county) tax authorities would need to do is accept an OEM as an agent and a generated report of how many miles you drove that year (and a fat check). Hell, handle payment for my annual tag too, while they're at it.
 

electruck

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Rivian could serve as your agent to the state tax authorities, paying an estimate in advance annually and offsetting it via the monthly - the only thing the state (and county) tax authorities would need to do is accept an OEM as an agent and a generated report of how many miles you drove that year (and a fat check). Hell, handle payment for my annual tag too, while they're at it.
Not only do I not want ICE/BEV/PHEV handled differently but it also doesn't make sense to differ per manufacturer - it would add tremendous complexity for the govt having to interface with so many different entities. It would also add a needless burden to the manufacturers, especially with as many government entities as they would have to interface with. And, again, this would be technology limited as it would only work for the new "connected" vehicles.
 

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Not only do I not want ICE/BEV/PHEV handled differently but it also doesn't make sense to differ per manufacturer - it would add tremendous complexity for the govt having to interface with so many different entities. It would also add a needless burden to the manufacturers, especially with as many government entities as they would have to interface with. And, again, this would be technology limited as it would only work for the new "connected" vehicles.
Oregon introduced a tiered system with higher mpg rated vehicle paying higher rates. EVs are in the highest tier. They also offer a "by the mile" option. Break even is at ~ 5K miles/year for an EV under this plan.
 

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Oregon introduced a tiered system with higher mpg rated vehicle paying higher rates. EVs are in the highest tier. They also offer a "by the mile" option. Break even is at ~ 5K miles/year for an EV under this plan.
Interesting. Unless I'm missing something, that seems like a shortsighted approach. Sure, that replaces the revenue lost due to the adoption of more energy efficient vehicles but it also serves to discourage the use of said vehicles hence encouraging people to retain older more polluting vehicles for longer. The cost of maintaining roads is a function of miles driven and vehicle weight but not of fuel type or efficiency.

To my point about throwing out current ways and starting from a clean slate, the problem with this Oregon approach is it seems they framed their requirements to offset lost gas tax revenue instead of to develop a holistic solution to fund building and maintaining roads. Sure, the gas tax pays for roads but the way you think about the problem influences the solution. While a gas tax was a reasonable and convenient way in 1919 for Oregon to fund roads, it's time for all of us to start thinking about this problem a little differently.
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