The political debate over electric vehicles is continuing as individual states start to enforce EV registration fees. More Republican-led states are implementing annual fees costing $200 or more to replace the gas taxes EVs avoid.
The gas taxes that help fund infrastructure are taking a hit as electric vehicles more people are driving EVs.
This issue of electric vehicles is another topic of debate between Republicans and Democrats. GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke in New Hampshire and expressed concerns over the government pushing EVs.
“In places like California, they are forcing all new cars at a certain date in the pretty close future to be electric,” DeSantis said.
Former President Donald Trump appealed to autoworkers in September, saying that the push to EVs would make their jobs obsolete.
“Now they want to go all electric and put you all out of business you know that right,” Trump said. “Biden’s mandate is not a government regulation, it is a government assassination of your jobs and your industry, the auto industry is being assassinated.”
Some Democrats say that the states implementing higher registration fees is another effort to hinder future sales of the vehicles.
Republican-led Texas instated EV fees back in September. Electric vehicle owners now pay a $400 first-time registration fee, followed by an annual $200 fee.
The main debate seems to be over what the cost of a fee should be, and other ways to fill infrastructure funding gaps.
In Pennsylvania, a left-leaning state, lawmakers approved a $290 fee for electric vehicles. Nick Miller, Pennsylvania state policy lead at the Electrification Coalition, argued that costly fees are detrimental for the future of electric vehicles.
“To reiterate, we agree that all vehicles need to be paying for their use of the roadway.” Miller said. “With the gas tax diminishing in value, states search for a viable alternative for transportation infrastructure funding. However, if a state chooses to levy any EV fee, the tax needs to be fair and should be comparable with current ICE fuel taxes.”
Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Penn., voted against the legislation, saying that to fill the funding gaps, there needed to be a complete overhaul on how infrastructure is funded in the first place.
Washington state — led by Democrats — charges over $200 annually in EV fees. A portion of the money goes to the installation of charging stations throughout the state.
In Florida, a right-leaning state, a bill to approve annual fees of more than $200 passed in the state’s House, but failed in the Senate after a study showed lower fees would be more equitable.
Left-leaning Oregon has looked in another direction. Instead of doing annual fees, the state has implemented a pilot program that tracks how far EV owners drive. Drivers are then charged based on the distance they travel in to make up for declining gas tax revenue.
Similar programs have since been adopted by other states, including Utah and Virginia.
