First off we (the royal "we") must acknowledge two items:

1) the current fuel taxes cover about 10% of road construction and maintenance costs. There's a yuuuge deficit in the actual costs and what the taxes collected pay for. In Arizona, for example, the highway maintenance fund is $20Billion underfunded. So even without any EV population (vehicles that don't pay fuel road taxes) there's a serious funding problem.

2) Vehicle weight is what does most of the road damage. A 6000 LB SUV does 20x more road damage, per mile, than a 3000Lb "car". EV's tend to be on the heavy side (especially those with large batteries) but most still weigh less than any Suburban or pick up truck.

Do heavier cars cause more road damage?

In addition, as truck axle weights increase, pavement damage increases an at even faster rate. For example, while a truck axle carrying 18,000 pounds is only 9 times heavier than a 2,000-pound automobile axle, it does 5,000 times more damage

So, IMHO, there also needs to be a weight "fee" or penalty along with usage (mileage). We must acknowledge that the current fuel-based tax is seriously underfunded (and heavy trucks aren't paying anywhere near their "fair share").

 

Any kind of flat fee in my opinion is going to be abused by politicians. If you get a few of them that don't like cars and want to force the use of mass transit in a city that doesn't really support it well, instead of funding mass transit on people they might raise the yearly road maintenance fee to $2000-$3000/yr and simply make it unaffordable to own a car.

 

We have a LONG way to go before EVs make any noticeable dent in road tax/gas tax revenue that would hamper road and highway funding. If the government wants to improve the infrastructure they can start by cutting the absolutely insane military spending. That would go a long way

 

If the government wants to improve the infrastructure they can start by cutting the absolutely insane military spending. That would go a long way

Interesting point since I believe when the interstate highway system was founded in the U.S., it initially was military spending.

I'm also going to expand on what I said above, and add that I'm against any kind of highway funding plan that is pre-paid vs post-paid. Because pre-paid is reliant on making sure EV owners over-pay so they don't run short of their budget. This is, at least in part, what causes ridiculous EV registration fees in some states - the other part is lobbying from dealer and oil lobbies with the intent to punish EV owners, but I'll skip over that part for now.

 

Since EV registrations have a 'hippy tax' added to their fees, make that universal. I would prefer it tied to the number of wheels on road and gross vehicle weight.so motorcycles (unicycles?) would have the lowest annual fee.

Perhaps some gas taxes to penalize inefficient ICE cars and trucks may make sense. But not if they are going to be suspended when gas/diesel prices go up.

Bob Wilson

 

Add a weight fee and you can be assured that you are still going to pay for it, but with a few additional companies marking up the cost as it passes through the production chain.

Georgia implemented a yearly fee and while slightly higher than an equivalent ICE, it isn't exorbitant (gas taxes are actually suspended right now, so EVs are the only ones that pay at this time)

 

One of the benefits of the gas tax is that both in-state and out-of-state drivers pay it. Also heavier and less efficient vehicles end up paying more. The flat tax on the other hand only burdens in-state drivers in addition of disregarding their actual miles driven.

Ideally, because Tesla already tracks where we go with the car's onboard GPS, it should be easy to get a summary of miles driven by state and pay the road tax to Tesla who would distribute the money to each state. It may sound a bit extreme but isn't it how online sales tax already works?

For those who are worried about the state tracking you, consider that the car's GPS already does this, so is your smartphone and the car plate readers all over the country.

 

One of the benefits of the gas tax is that both in-state and out-of-state drivers pay it. . . .

Except where State gas taxes were suspended to reduce the price per gallon.

The flat tax on the other hand only burdens in-state drivers in addition of disregarding their actual miles driven.

We already have a graduated registration/tag tax based on age of the vehicle. The gross weight and number of wheels does not change so age related discount works too.

Ideally, because Tesla already tracks . . .

The problem is tracking actual vehicle use, regardless of mechanism, requires more labor by the State workers. In contrast, a simple table updated annually solves the problem without touching or tagging the vehicle.

Bob Wilson

 

The truth is that only a portion of the highway funds come from gas taxes. The rest come from other taxes, and they are unfairly collected, because you pay them even if you don’t own a car.

I’m pointing that out ahead of time because if I suggest that a small tax be added to every electric customer‘s metered usage as a “fuel tax” for EV’s (and I mean really small because it would be intentionally over distributed) there would be a lot of responses like “but what if I own a gas car“ or “what if I don’t own a car”. And yet you’re already being highway taxed now, but you’re not complaining about that. Except maybe instead of a highway tax, this one can be an “infrastructure tax” that also covers roadside charging, upgrading the grid, etc.

 

There is little evidence that the gas tax actually goes to highway maintenance, but rather into the general fund for easy diversion to other uses. Perhaps it would help if there was a way these taxes were really used solely for roads and bridges.

 

The answer is simple: for all vehicles: a mileage tax. It’s fair for all, ICE, EV, hydrogen, whatever.

Keep the gas tax for cleaning up the country, picking up trash, etc, as a kind of environmental tax.

 

The answer is simple: for all vehicles: a mileage tax. It’s fair for all, ICE, EV, hydrogen, whatever.

It’s fair if different rates apply to different weights. A mile of a motorcycle does a whole lot less damage than a mile of a wide-load trailer carrying a Terex mining vehicle.

 

$.00001*miles*weight

No tracking needed, you just report your own mileage (via odometer picture). That reporting would have to be trued up at time of sale/trade.

 

They could do like insurance companies are starting to do now: You get a discount off of a flat fee based on correctly and voluntarily reporting your mileage. All you have to do is enter your current odometer, sign off with "I attest that this mileage is correct", and you get a discount. If you abuse the system or don't want to report it, you lose the discount and pay a flat fee (as well as being prosecuted for falsifying info if you lie about it).

 

Even self-reporting odometer looks to require State employee labor. Then there is the 1/10 digit challenge for non-technical owners and dealing with failed odometers.

In contrast, an annual updated table generating the tag reminder is consistent with existing practices. There is no owner or multiple State employee labor requirement.

Bob Wilson

 

It looks as if folks like a system that will end up being more expensive to implement than you are already paying.

 

Double the Federal gasoline tax. Whatever that percentages, charge the same on superchargers and level to public charging. Give us a break for at home charging. We’ve already paid to have the powerlines run to our house. Charge semi their fair share The road wear they cause

“An off-quoted federal study once found that road damage from one 18-wheeler is equivalent to the impact of 9,600 cars. A fully loaded tractor-trailer weighs 80,000 pounds, 20 times more than a typical passenger car at 4,000 pounds, but the wear and tear caused by the truck is exponentially greater”

 

Semis are never going to pay $100K a year in road taxes.