https://insideevs.com/features/739111/state-fees-register-ev-phev/
Find your state at the link
A common solution for alternatives to gas tax. Seems reasonable to me.
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Yes, EVs should pay for road use. But this article repeats the nonsense that EVs should pay more because they are heavier.
First, the weight increase for a car in the same class is relatively minor
Second, semi-trucks, garbage trucks (which drive over most every street weekly) and other actually big vehicles are far heavier and cause the vast majority of road damage compared to EVs or even heavy big SUVs and trucks.
If we are going to charge EVs a bigger road tax/fee than a gas car of about the same size due to the extra weight, shouldn’t we consider charging the gas car extra for the local air pollution and noise pollution- produced? Or what about the extra road damage caused by the tanker truck to deliver the gas?
IMO, this is the anti-EV lobby getting its message into what could be an informative article.
Mike
3 Likes
Seems reasonable to me that heavy vehicles should pay more. And I think trucks already do in licensing fees.
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What do you mean by heavy? A 7000 lb diesel pickup or an 80,000 lb loaded semi truck?
Or are you concerned about the extra heavy Tesla model 3 compared to the BMW 330i?
The M3 is 3600 to 4100 lbs (depending on range and single/dual motors) while the gasoline BMW is ~3700 lbs.
Mike
4 Likes
A per pound license fee is ok with me. Seems fair. They already do that with trucks.
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Are you suggesting that the road tax be proportional to the road damage?
If so, trucks would pay about 99.9% of the taxes
This example illustrates how a car and a truck affect the surface of a road differently according to the fourth power law.
- Car (total weight 2 tonnes, 2 axles): load per axle: 1 tonnes
- Truck (total weight 30 tonnes, 3 axles): load per axle: 10 tonnes
104=10⋅10⋅10⋅10=10,000
times as large
The load on the road from one axle (2 wheels) is 10 times greater for a truck than for a car. However, the fourth power law says that the stress on (damage to) the road is this ratio raised to the fourth power.
The road stress ratio of truck to car is 10,000 to 1.
Semi trucks drive about 10% as many miles as passenger cars, but cause 10000x as much damage per mile.
Mike
3 Likes
Semi-trucks probably do more miles than passenger cars per vehicle. And get less gas mileage so pay more gas tax. And pay higher licensing fees in most states.
However you do it its apples and oranges. But depends on what state legislature decides. And you can bet the truck lobbysts will be in the middle of it.
Regardless of what is right or fair, politicians will decide.
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Semi trucks get about 4-8 mpg, while the average car gets about 25 mpg…or 100+ MPGe for EVs. So they only pay about 10x more fuel taxes (not other taxes) but cause 10,000x as much damage. Actually more than that for things like garbage trucks with the constant starting and stopping.
I’m not suggesting that trucks pay more…we all get the benefit of cheap shipping for food and other products. But toying with the difference of a 3500 lb car vs 4000 lb car is a political statement not a science decision since cars in those weight ranges (roughly) cause 0.01% of damage vs 0.015% damage to the roads.
Mike
4 Likes