Minnesota EV and Hybrid surcharge proposal.

40% of states have around 1000 or less new/used plug in sales,
And that stat speaks nothing to how many actual new BEV sales occur to increase the number residing in a paticular state, since the metric doesn’t specify, heck they don’t even separate PHEVs which are more popular in many states and still burn gas.

From what I’ve seen only 3 states have statistically significant EV sales, 5 if we stretch the definition,
I think we are far too early to even consider taxing these cars.

But For some reason there is a mass of people, even in this thread that dream of taxing EVs, even if it costs millions of dollars to do, even in states where their “fuel” isn’t a compelling savings,
why this is such a burning desire, I do not know, but it is not necessary at this point in at least 45 of the 50 states and even in the single state with more than 1 percent of them on the road I still think it’s too early.

 

People who already own the hybrid and EV vehicles are taking the sting but people who buy them in states with the extra tax should know before they buy and it will be their decision if they want to play the game or not. I think people who can afford to buy a new car it will not be an issue.

Looking at it in another way, as more and more cars go the hybrid and EV route the tax will already be in place and then it will be a non issue on how we get money to repair roads, the tax will probably increase as time goes by with more hybrid and EV on the highways.

 

We are conflating hybrids and plug-ins.

It is unfair to tax hybrids because you will have, say a 33-MPG RAV4 Hybrid paying more taxes than say a 33-MPG non hybrid...but they are all using the same fuel. All that does is discourage hybrid sales, which is bad policy because it is unfair.

Plug-ins are a whole different story, because they are switching fuels to at least part-electric. Plug-in America is super-aggressively lobbying for plugins. On the other hand, we have zero lobby defense for hybrids.

 

We live in a transitional period in history. Look at what they did to the automobile back more than 100 years ago, they made them license them. Now we need to repair our roads and in time most everything will be some sort of electric. With gas sales on the decline in the future (we hope) the money will have to come from somewhere, why not tax the people who use the roads or do we want toll roads?

 

This is a trend that s going on Nationwide. Just saw another state introducing this kind of fee. That 3 or 4 in the last month.

 

In Wisconsin 75% of BEVs were bought used and during the run up to the EV tax we lost 33% of the annual EV sales

Wisconsin has the record for the most dramatic drop year over year in EV sales 2 going on 3 years in a row

 

I agree it is too soon to bother with a system for taxing plug ins, and do not dream of doing so.

But a reason legislatures are considering such taxes on them, and hybrids, is because our road ways are underfunded. Such measures can be defeated by tactics discussed here, but after the win, and even without, the roads are still under funded. Which is why I discuss a mileage tax for all vehicles in addition to current fuel taxes.

Discussing options does not equate to support of one. It is just acknowledgement of an issue. Simply fighting against the proposals one does not like does not fix the issue.

 

I know what you mean. Politics is not everything, but anything can be politicized. In current Divided States of America, everything is divisive. I hate that climate.

 

+1.

Time for 'climate change!'
(...sorry. couldn't help myself!)

I'm not a resident of Minnesota, nor am I a hybrid owner.
I'm not much of an EVangelist either, although I do acknowledge that BEVs are probably going to scale up to be a more dominant vehicle in the future - EVEN in states where winter temperatures often come with a minus sign.
I'm thinking that a 'hybrid' surcharge is less 'fair' than a surcharge for (PH)EVs because at the end of the day a "hybrid" is just another gas burner.

I did some quick math.
If I'm right, folks in MN pay 47 cents a gallon in fuel taxes.
That means that a person driving a 25MPG vehicle for 15,000 miles in any given year would pay $250 in fuel taxes for that year.
YMMV.
Weather, population densities and distribution, and income all make MN a VERY different state than the California but it seems to me that somebody at least made a passing attempt to make the EV tax at least proportional to that which a pickemuptruck driver would pay.

Other than that?
It's ALL politics.

EV drivers - especially in states like MN tend to be more wealthy, and what could be more fair than taxing the wealthy - right?

 

Basic math, it helps to understand what a plug-in tax means:

• (annual_miles / MPG ) * sales_tax_per_gal = annual_gas_tax :: start from
• (annual_miles / annual_gas_taxes ) * sales_tax_per_gal = MPG :: Algebra 1
• Example: (15000_mi_per_year / $250_gas_tax_per_year ) * $0.18_per_gal = 10.8 MPG

Today Alabama has an $0.18/gal, gas tax, and it planning to make it an annual, $250 tax on plug-ins. So this gives my EV car an effective MPG of 10.8.

Bob Wilson

 

You should write the legislatures,
If the fee was $25 I would say whatever but much higher and I think the same as you

 

What Virginia did, among other things, we increased sales tax in Northern Virginia in lieu of statewide gsao tax increase, because rural Virginians feel gaso taxes are unfair to rural drivers who have to drive lots of miles in pick ups and larger vehicles.

 

I know this is an old post but I live in ohio and just got my first NEW registration statement from the DMV with the surcharge on it. Now on my son’s 2012 Prius3 he got charges and EXTRA 100$ per year. I no longer own a Prius (sold to son) and I have a Ford CMax energi (plug in) My surcharge for the next year is $200 + the normal fee of 46$ for plates. I am getting robbed. This legislation is out there and being written by the group called ALEC (which is funded by the Koch Brothers). It is wrong and not only does it charge me 5-10 times more than it should ( I am retired and drive about 5000 miles max a year) but it doesnt take into consideration the lower pollution of a hybrid car or the lower weight of a hybrid such as a Prius or insight.

 

Welcome to my world!

I take small comfort that I'm still spending half as much per mile as a regular car driver ... and growing resentment against the Republican Party who passed this unfair tax.

Bob Wilson

 

Well hybrids like Prius only use gasoline, so it is very unfair to tax them extra. But our Country/States are not favoring hybrids, so there is that slap on the face.

Our Country is favoring plug-ins, but not all states are, but you get big tax credits in most cases. There is some merit for normal state road taxes on a Plug-In due to escaping the high gaso taxes charged at the pump. But it should not be heavy handed compared to what a normal car would pay.

 

These flat fees are highway robbery.
If these tab fees are to pay for road maintenance, they the fees should be based on axle weight and miles driven, for all vehicles.
Semi trucks especially escape paying for the damage they cause.

I have no issues with user fees. But this one size fits all, arbitrary fee is a crime.

 

The trouble is that some states just divide the cost of all infrastructure over the number of non-exempt vehicles and start talking like we need $10,000 a year tabs.

These fixed taxes are regressive and difficult to avoid legally.

I believe we should have nominal reasonable registration fees for consumer vehicles and accept that funding needs to be budgeted out of general funds.
It saves the state a large chunk of change having permanent plates on certain classes of vehicles Due to the amount of collection actions, police, legal and punitive Actions that need to be pursued through enforcement of the law.

Mandatory insurance which came with insurance stacking bans has been a total failure in Wisconsin, not only has the rate of insurance gone down, along with the number of registered vehicles but rates jumped exponentially overnight. All this drives more costs to enforcement removing funding that money from the coffer

If roads are a benefit to everyone then they will eventually need to be budgeted for differently. Many in the next generation won’t own a car