The text of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” which passed the U.S. House of Representatives early Thursday, contains a provision that would impose a new annual registration fee on electric and hybrid vehicles, a move that experts say will disincentivize purchases of zero- and low-emission vehicles across the country.
The legislation outlines fees of $250 a year for EVs and $100 a year for hybrid vehicles, to be imposed by the Federal Highway Administration. If passed by the Senate, the law would also require the fees to increase in line with inflation.
By proposing a new registration fee for EVs, Congress is following the lead of a number of states seeking a way to make up for lost gasoline tax revenue as more and more drivers turn to electric transportation.
Maybe a little, but $100 or even $250 is not going to discourage too many people who otherwise would buy these vehicles. Far more discouraging would be tariffs that could add thousands to the purchase price.
Michigan added a $100 surcharge to EV registration fees, and $30 for hybrids, ten years ago. Seems reasonable, as they are not paying the 31 cent/gallon gas tax I pay, to maintain the roads they drive on.
My practice was to walk everywhere within a 3 mi radius of my home for the exercise. No doubt I’ll be up to 2500 mi/year if my leg doesn’t heal properly.
I drive about 8000 miles a year. Charging costs me - home charging 7600 miles at 4 mi/kWh, so 1900 kWh @ $0.14/kWh, plus supercharging 400 miles at 4 mi/kWh, so 100 kWh @ $0.39/kWh, for a total of about $305 cost of charging for the year. This does NOT include any of the free charging I use at all sorts of places (because that probably won’t last as EVs become more popular).
If I drove those 8000 miles in an ICE at 20mi/gal (a roughly equivalent performing sedan), then it would use 400 gallons @ $3.00/gal for a total fueling cost of $1200 for the year.
So an additional tax of $250/yr still doesn’t tilt the scales enough away from EV.
Also, one of my kids has a free charger at their workplace, so that car costs almost nothing to charge. A few kWh now and then on the weekends, or a short stop at a supercharger once or twice a year.
Though, it’s still annoying to have to pay an additional $750 a year in taxes (3 EVs).
