Drive an Electric Car? One in Three States Now Charge You Extra

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A few months ago, early in the state legislative sessions, we reported on how lawmakers in nine states had introduced bills that would penalize electric vehicle (EV) drivers by charging higher registration fees. Now that the state legislative sessions have mostly wrapped up, itโ€™s time for a review of how these bills fared, and how many states have implemented this extra financial burden on anyone who buys or leases an electricย car.

Coming into the state legislative season, ten states imposed extra fees on EV registrations. Theseย include:

This year, legislators in another ten states proposed similar registration penalties, six of which have been signed into law in some form. Theyย are:

At least three of the sixteen statesย now chargingย higher registration fees for EVs also have some sort of rebate or incentive for their purchase. California, Washington, and Colorado all offer tax credits offย the purchase price of the vehicle, credits which more than off-set the premium registrationย fee.

Realistically speaking, these extra fees probably wonโ€™t deter too many buyers, as the overall cost of operating EVs (considering fuel costs and maintenance) is so much lower than for gas-powered vehicles. But even so, they are penalizing consumer behavior that states should beย encouraging.

As Gina Coplon-Newfield, the Sierra Clubโ€™s Electric Vehicles Initiative director, told us in March, โ€œNow is the time to be incentivizing, not penalizing, electricย vehicles.โ€

These fees are also being mistakenly positioned as the solution to the very real problem of diminishing highway funds. Gasoline taxes typically pay forย highway funds, but these revenues are shrinking as conventional vehicles becomeย more fuel efficient and as gas taxes have failed to keep pace with inflation. Because EV drivers donโ€™t buy gas, proponents of these EV registration fee bills argue that they need to pay their fair share for use of theย roads.

Coplon-Newfield, however, told DeSmog that this is just bad math:ย โ€œWhen you look at the financial numbers, they donโ€™t add up atย all.โ€

Coplon-Newfield uses North Carolina as anย example:

โ€œThe state is hoping to raise millions for their highway fund. If you raised the gas tax by one cent per gallon, the state would raise an extra $7.5 million. Contrast that with the total revenue raised from EV registration fees in 2014: $440,000. Even if the state is registering three times as many EVs today, itโ€™s still millions short of theย goal.โ€

For a solid overview of why taxing EVs is a false solution to the highway fund problem, check out David Robertsโ€™ authoritative post, in which he calls increasing efficiencies in conventional vehicles the โ€œreal culpritโ€ and suggests that states unwilling to push innovative solutions should at least โ€œraise the damn gasย tax.โ€

There are other reasons, by the way, that EVs should be given a break on registration fees โ€” they actually cause less road damage given their light weight, and improve air quality and benefit public health because they don’t have tailpipes spewing dangerousย emissions.

As it stands, nearly one-third of states now charge EV drivers an annual premium not to consume gasoline and spew air pollution. Sure, states need to figure out how to pay for roads. But annual fees on EVs aren’t theย answer.

Main image: An electric car from Tesla.ย  Credit: Sarah Ackerman,ย CC BYย 2.0

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Ben Jervey is a Senior Fellow for DeSmog and directs the KochvsClean.com project. He is a freelance writer, editor, and researcher, specializing in climate change and energy systems and policy. Ben is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School. He was the original Environment Editor for GOOD Magazine, and wrote a longstanding weekly column titled โ€œThe New Ideal: Building the clean energy economy of the 21st Century and avoiding the worst fates of climate change.โ€ He has also contributed regularly to National Geographic News, Grist, and OnEarth Magazine. He has published three booksโ€”on eco-friendly living in New York City, an Energy 101 primer, and, most recently, โ€œThe Electric Battery: Charging Forward to a Low Carbon Future.โ€ He graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College, and earned a Masterโ€™s in Energy Regulation and Law at Vermont Law School. A bicycle enthusiast, Ben has ridden across the United States and through much ofย Europe.

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