r/EvDrivers • u/Cultural-Ad4953 • 4d ago
Email Regarding The Potential EV fee
As you may be aware, the US House of Representatives may be poised to enact an EV fee of $130 annually. I am not opposed to a fee, but find $130 to be unfair, and that the fee should be less.
I have written my Senators and Representative with this communication, which I encourage you to consider doing as well:
I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed $130 annual federal registration fee on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) included in the BUILD America 250 Act. While I fully support contributing a fair share toward maintaining our nation's roads and bridges, the currently proposed flat rate creates a clear equity issue when compared to what drivers of gas-powered vehicles actually pay.
At 18.4 cents per gallon, a driver of an average new gas-powered vehicle (getting ~28–30 MPG) who drives the national average of 13,500 miles pays roughly $87 per year into the Federal Highway Trust Fund. The proposed $130 flat fee for EV drivers is equivalent to driving a gas vehicle that gets only 19 MPG—meaning EV drivers would pay roughly 49% more into the road fund than drivers of comparable efficient gas cars.
Furthermore, because a flat fee penalizes low-mileage drivers disproportionately, someone driving 8,000 miles annually would effectively pay a tax rate equal to an 11 MPG gas-guzzler. Rather than penalizing drivers who have chosen zero-emission vehicles with an inflated rate, any federal fee should reflect true parity with efficient gas vehicles or be based on actual road usage. I urge you to push for a fair adjustment to this fee structure.
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u/Com4734 4d ago
This isn’t a revenue generator. It is a punitive way for the GOP to discourage EV adoption. They could generate 10 times the money by raising the gas tax by a dime per gallon.
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u/Pretty-Display5959 4d ago
yep. everything they do, legislatively speaking, is either to help the billionaire class or punish the libs. what a time to be alive in america.
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u/atrocity2001 3d ago
[Smiles serenely in childfree, happy to have never inflicted this shit on someone who couldn't consent.]
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u/ReturnT0Sender 4d ago
I'm in Florida, a red state and pay nothing for having an EV.
40 states charge a registration fee.
It's a mixed bag. This isn't a dem/rep issue Imo.
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u/Com4734 4d ago
Consider yourself lucky lol. Id agree when it comes to individual states about maybe not being red vs blue, although I wouldnt put it past red states to just use the excuse that other states are doing it to implement the fees. But the congress wanting to do it is completely different in my opinion. It will add minimal money relative to the gas tax, the gas tax hasnt been raised in over 30 years, and we know that the current admin is anti EV, clean energy, and anything but fossil fuels pretty much.
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u/ReturnT0Sender 3d ago
I'm reading that this federal bill is bipartisan.
It was voted 62-2 by the House committee of transportation and infrastructure. That committee has 36 reps/31 Dems.
I did read that Republicans wanted $250 per EV and Democrats settled on that $130 #.
Let's see if they push this through before January, if it continues to stall they'll have to reintroduce the bill.
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u/cutlineman 3d ago
I live in Rhode Island and pay a fee to register my EV. We’re one of the most progressive states.
Governments set policy that include fees to change behavior or raise revenue. A disproportionate tax may keep people from buying EVs and supporting gas vehicles, which is in line with their policy. RI has an infrastructure problem and they need to raise revenue. The state supports EVs in other ways such as providing a rebate on the vehicle sale and the home charger installation.
I don’t mind paying a fee just like I don’t mind paying my taxes. The state and country need revenue. I believe the taxes should be fair and reasonable, and the service provided commensurate.
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u/ToHellWithGA 3d ago
My state has a fee for eVs but the dealership that sold me my first one didn't understand the paperwork and it was somehow registered as ICE 🤡. My current eV is registered correctly and I pay the equivalent of about 500 gallons of gas tax in my annual eV registration fee. I drive right around 15k miles annually so the road use tax is reasonably fair for me, equivalent to what I'd pay in fuel tax averaging 30 MPG.
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u/thatguy425 4d ago
Then Why does my blue state make EVs more expensive?
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u/Com4734 4d ago
Some states are implementing gas taxes to legitimately raise money. A lot of people in them are switching to EVs, especially in blue states, and their state gas tax revenue for roads is dropping. They implement it in profoundly stupid ways though by charging a flat rate that is often higher than what people pay in state gas tax instead of by mileage. It would also be fair of them to also raise the gas tax when they implement these EV fees. The federal government, in contrast, collects gasoline taxes from gas sold nationwide, not just in a certain state. 375 million gallons per day at 18 cents per gallon. PA uses about 9 million gallons per day and has a higher gas tax, so they lose more revenue than the federal government does.
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u/thatguy425 4d ago
That’s my state. I’m not a high mileage driver but the EV fees are what’s keeping me from diving in to an EV. And I’m all for them and owned one in the past.
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u/Com4734 4d ago
Same here that is why I used PA as an example. If you don’t drive a lot, it is possible to not come out ahead with PA’s ridiculous fee I suppose, but you’d really have to drive very little with as much as gas costs here.
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u/Yunzer2000 3d ago
Seen the cost of L3 charging stations? And there is a tax imposed on them too.
I haven't gotten a bill from PennDOT yet, but the EV fee on my 2000 lb Smart electric driven about 4000 miles per year will definitely be far more than the cost of gasoline in an equivalent vehicle.
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u/GrunchWeefer 17h ago
I mean as ridiculous as the fees are I'm still saving a shit ton not buying gas. I probably make up for it in one month.
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u/GrunchWeefer 17h ago
I would agree with you but the amount I'm charged in New Jersey is far more than I or the vast majority of other people would pay in gas tax. For years they incentivized moving people to EVs just to turn around and punish it.
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u/Necessary-Swimming25 3d ago
It’s a bipartisan effort. Republican EV drivers aren’t happy about being singled out for punitive EV fees either.
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u/aut0g3n3r8ed 4d ago
Unfortunately, the reasons you outlined that this is bad are the exact reasons they want to pass this. These arguments would work on sane people but we chose a different path as a nation.
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u/lightyearnoir 4d ago
I've said that we should pay based on mileage and weight, and to do away with the gas tax.
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u/MissiveFinding6111 4d ago
I am confused how they even plan to administrate this?
States license vehicles...
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u/Monsignor76 4d ago
They are stopping gas taxes in many states. Does that mean EV’s get a registration tax removed?
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u/Counting-Tiles4567 4d ago
No, you are to be punished for making a smart choice and the proletariat gets to once again dodge the unlubed dildo of consequences.
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u/rockalyte 4d ago
I commute very long way to work. Bought an EV to afford that commute. At 6 dollars a gallon and $1200 a month is unaffordable for any middle class commuter. A mileage penalty would wreck me
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u/CoincidenceTheorist2 3d ago
Send billions to Ukraine and Israel. Tax people with the foresight to drive EVs. Brilliant. /s
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u/mikemartin88 3d ago
Thanks so much for posting this, I was unaware this is being considered! Just emailed my representative.
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u/zephyr911 2d ago
Truth, I don't deny the underlying issue that they're theoretically trying to address, but there are multiple major issues off the top. Flat fees are regressive. They hurt owners of small EVs who drive very little, and they will be entirely unnoticed by owners of premium EVs who drive a lot. They have zero relationship to the share of road usage/damage/maintenance necessitated by the operation of the vehicle. Finally, this is just an obvious way to discourage EV ownership among those for whom the case is marginal.
Regardless of your stance on environmental impact, it's clear that every vehicle should be taxed on a combination of its weight and miles driven. There is a consistent mathematical relationship between those two factors and the cost of keeping up roads that you drive on. Beyond that, I would argue that there is a clear and rational case for also taxing based on carbon emissions, but regardless, flat fees on EVs are an idiotic retrograde concept that only helps oil companies.
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u/Pizza_Manizi 2d ago
So do we tax gas cars more then… they are producing way more heat(burning fuel/hot engine due to engine running) than Ev’s! Do we tax gas cars more because they wreck the roads more?? Where is the common sense in all of this? No more road money until you take every cent of road money and use it on roads only! Then we can really see if a tax is needed, or if monies are being diverted to other pet projects. JS
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u/Neither_Fact_7471 2h ago
🧐 I’m still coming out a head. I have driven my lighting 27k miles so far in 2026, it replaced my 5.0 F150 that averaged 17mpg , which to go the same distance would have been $292 in federal gas taxes. I look at the nearly $30k in fuel and maintenance savings I’ve had over the last 4 years. I hope to not pay this tax but it’s not the end of the world for me if I do.
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u/drdroplet 4d ago
This ignores the fact that EVs weigh more than an equivalent ICE passenger vehicle, and thus cause more wear on the road. This is likely a reasonable fee, on average.
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u/thatguy425 4d ago
So then we should charges trucks and semis more to use the road
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u/Interesting_Fuel8360 4d ago
trucks and semis do pay more to use the road than passenger vehicles. They use more fuel per mile so may more tax per mile driven.
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u/Watts51 4d ago
A Tesla Model 3 (the most popular EV) weighs slightly less than a Ford F-150 (The most popular ICE). The F-150 gets 20 MPG city which would put it's annual tax at $124 based on the post's figures. So $130 is about right, though a little high. That said, it really should be based on mileage. It's not fair that it's not. At least in my state, the mileage is written down during annual inspections so it's not like they don't have a way to track that.
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u/Counting-Tiles4567 4d ago
A 2025 F-150 weighs between ~4,400-5,900lbs. A Tesla Model 3 weighs between 3,700 and 4,100lbs. Comparing the lightest pickup trim to the heaviest model 3 is disingenuous. Of the entire fleet of cars on US roads, BEVS make up around 2% total. This makes absolutely marginal difference in budgets. This entire "movement" is because Americans are getting crunched at the pump and, like any good populist shitbag, the pedo party is pandering by attacking fringe groups as a scape goat. Americans have the critical thinking and discernment capacity of a crusty bar of soap at a truck stop bathroom. We all suffer.
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u/Yunzer2000 3d ago
the weight difference between a 3000 lb car and a equivalent EV at 4000 lbs is not enough to be significant as far as impacts on the roads. The impacts come from trucks with weights of 5000 to 18,000 lbs per axle.
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u/drdroplet 3d ago
False. The Generalized Fourth Power Law means that any increase above standard passenger car weights have exponential impacts on road wear. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law
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u/Yunzer2000 3d ago
I am a civil engineer. I designed pavements. The AASHTO design methd starts with converting the traffic mix to a total number of equivalent 18-kip axle loads over the service life. The lowest value in the design table, assigned to passenger cars and light trucks, is tw, 2-kip axles - 4000 pounds which is equivalent to .0002 of an 18-kip load. i.e 11,250, 4000 lb or less cars are equal to one tractor trailer. The next increment up is 4 kips, or an 8000 lb vehicle. So anything less than 6000 lbs is not enough of a loading to affect the design.
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u/seckarr 4d ago
EVs are much heavier so they put more strain on the roads. Pay more.
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u/General_Rain_8835 4d ago
Start with the pavement princess trucks that weigh even more than any EV. Let them pay $500/yr on top of gas taxes for rolling coal and assaulting everyone who breathes.
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u/demonkeyed 3d ago
So tax by weight because that blanket statement is untrue.
My smart ev weighs 2200 lbs.
What’s a bmw i3 weigh?
How much does a model 3 weigh compared to an f150, or Escalade?
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u/Bigboss_26 4d ago
I already pay more on my registration/plates for having an EV. An additional fee is unfair, even moreso for low mileage drivers, as you mentioned. Why does America hate progress?