The proposed EV tax would require almost 20k miles a year in order to break even if you compared a 24 mile/g ICE vehicle. That’s what is stupid about the entire thing. there is a super obvious vendetta and it isn’t to supplement the tax system. How many people put 20k miles on their vehicle a year? I know I’m on the lower end, but I barely got 3k miles over the last 2 years because my car doesn’t have to leave my house much. Back when I had to commute 30 minutes 5 days a week for work, I would do maybe 10k per year. The 24m/g is a the low end as well. Most consumer ICE vehicles are even more fuel efficient than that, with the US national average according to the EPA being 27.1 miles per gallon across all manufacturers in 2023 and that raising to 28.1 by 2025.
With the national annual mileage average being at 13,474 miles (per the federal highway administration). Why should an EV be forced to pay a flat rate that is the equivalent of 22,907.6 miles for an ICE vehicle(assuming national averages). That’s nearly double the price of it’s ice counterpart which doesn’t use a flat rate.
If they were serious about this supplementing the system, it would be based off mileage, since all vehicles require yearly registration with mileage anyway. In my eyes this is clearly intended to push people away from EV’s.
When Washington state used to do emissions testing we would take our cars through a place every 2 years where they put test equipment on it. If they could afford to run that whole operation I really don’t see why it wouldn’t work to have electric cars stop at a licensing office once a year for an odometer reading, and base the elecric car fee on the mileage. So simple. There’s no excuse at all for charging all EV drivers the same flat fee no matter how much (or little) we drive. For me the annual fee is twice as much as the gas tax I would pay if I drove a hybrid. That kind of sloppiness is unconscionable.
edit: emissions testing was every 2 years not every year.
Yes that system would work but I’m not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that “inspect every EV in the country” is simpler than “flat tax on EVs”. Running inspections at that scale seems multiple orders of magnitude more complex than a one time fee.
No, I’m talking about Washington state. How other states do it is none of my business.
No, I never said taking odometer readings was simpler than collecting a flat fee, I said it was fair and a flat fee is unfair.
Charging a flat gas tax would be simpler than metering every gallon of gasoline sold, but it wouldn’t be fair, and we don’t do that. So why should we do it for EVs?
Well the article is about the federal government so your state laws are not the subject of the discussion at hand.
You said it was simple to collect odometer readings from all EVs. I disagree. I think that’s the most labor intensive solution we could come up with.
We meter every gallon of gas sold because that’s an easy thing to do at the point of sale. The gas station already tracks how much fuel you’re buying so they know how much to charge you which means there is no extra work required for anyone. You could say the same for DC fast charging an EV but using any other power source would require additional work by someone that does not currently have to happen. That adds complexity and cost to the proposed solution that is not necessary.
I don’t think it would be all that much more effort, to be honest.
All states require vehicle registration and it would just be supplying the current odometer reading at point of annual registration, and comparing it to a list of mileages to determine cost.
Now don’t take me wrong, that list can be as simple a base amount divided by how many miles it did, or it could be as complicated as breaking down every model vehicle and having a different fee for every model.
Data storage wise, it’s just checking the previous odometer reading to the current odometer reading, both are still there. The difference is how much mileage you had.
human effort wise it’s just an extra box for the registration form
Honestly, there’s an argument that it would be easier to have that system than the current system that we have for gas tax. Since the gas tax system is required at every single pump out there every time you fill where the mile-based odometer reading would only be town offices/bmv as a yearly thing
I didn’t realize there was states out there that didn’t require mileage on their registration. I’ve never been in one that didn’t. I know there was some that don’t require mileage if the vehicle’s older than 10 years old, but I didn’t realize there was some that just straight out didn’t.
regardless it’s a nuisance, if you’re still doing an annual registration, that system still works. You just supply your mileage when you register.
The proposed EV tax would require almost 20k miles a year in order to break even if you compared a 24 mile/g ICE vehicle. That’s what is stupid about the entire thing. there is a super obvious vendetta and it isn’t to supplement the tax system. How many people put 20k miles on their vehicle a year? I know I’m on the lower end, but I barely got 3k miles over the last 2 years because my car doesn’t have to leave my house much. Back when I had to commute 30 minutes 5 days a week for work, I would do maybe 10k per year. The 24m/g is a the low end as well. Most consumer ICE vehicles are even more fuel efficient than that, with the US national average according to the EPA being 27.1 miles per gallon across all manufacturers in 2023 and that raising to 28.1 by 2025.
With the national annual mileage average being at 13,474 miles (per the federal highway administration). Why should an EV be forced to pay a flat rate that is the equivalent of 22,907.6 miles for an ICE vehicle(assuming national averages). That’s nearly double the price of it’s ice counterpart which doesn’t use a flat rate.
If they were serious about this supplementing the system, it would be based off mileage, since all vehicles require yearly registration with mileage anyway. In my eyes this is clearly intended to push people away from EV’s.
When Washington state used to do emissions testing we would take our cars through a place every 2 years where they put test equipment on it. If they could afford to run that whole operation I really don’t see why it wouldn’t work to have electric cars stop at a licensing office once a year for an odometer reading, and base the elecric car fee on the mileage. So simple. There’s no excuse at all for charging all EV drivers the same flat fee no matter how much (or little) we drive. For me the annual fee is twice as much as the gas tax I would pay if I drove a hybrid. That kind of sloppiness is unconscionable.
edit: emissions testing was every 2 years not every year.
Yes that system would work but I’m not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that “inspect every EV in the country” is simpler than “flat tax on EVs”. Running inspections at that scale seems multiple orders of magnitude more complex than a one time fee.
Charging a flat gas tax would be simpler than metering every gallon of gasoline sold, but it wouldn’t be fair, and we don’t do that. So why should we do it for EVs?
Well the article is about the federal government so your state laws are not the subject of the discussion at hand.
You said it was simple to collect odometer readings from all EVs. I disagree. I think that’s the most labor intensive solution we could come up with.
We meter every gallon of gas sold because that’s an easy thing to do at the point of sale. The gas station already tracks how much fuel you’re buying so they know how much to charge you which means there is no extra work required for anyone. You could say the same for DC fast charging an EV but using any other power source would require additional work by someone that does not currently have to happen. That adds complexity and cost to the proposed solution that is not necessary.
I don’t think it would be all that much more effort, to be honest.
All states require vehicle registration and it would just be supplying the current odometer reading at point of annual registration, and comparing it to a list of mileages to determine cost.
Now don’t take me wrong, that list can be as simple a base amount divided by how many miles it did, or it could be as complicated as breaking down every model vehicle and having a different fee for every model.
Data storage wise, it’s just checking the previous odometer reading to the current odometer reading, both are still there. The difference is how much mileage you had.
human effort wise it’s just an extra box for the registration form
Honestly, there’s an argument that it would be easier to have that system than the current system that we have for gas tax. Since the gas tax system is required at every single pump out there every time you fill where the mile-based odometer reading would only be town offices/bmv as a yearly thing
I am 100% certain my state doesn’t keep track of mileage, even superficially, because I have never looked at my odometer for any paperwork reasons.
Registration yes, mileage no, and even emission testing varies by county/city.
I didn’t realize there was states out there that didn’t require mileage on their registration. I’ve never been in one that didn’t. I know there was some that don’t require mileage if the vehicle’s older than 10 years old, but I didn’t realize there was some that just straight out didn’t.
regardless it’s a nuisance, if you’re still doing an annual registration, that system still works. You just supply your mileage when you register.