Featured Wisconsin Hybrid Tax- is it legal?

The Old $28 fee probably applied to

NEV’s (neighborhood electric vehicles). Aka Road-able Golf carts.

The patch work of the various states regulations are ridiculous. Some states incentivize EV’s with discounts, some state are Neutral which is a net Discount by not paying gas tax. Some states charge extra by various amounts.

 

Also written iMiEV. It is just Mitsibishi's small BEV. The first i is just the model's name, and the rest can be puzzled out.

If you go odometer based, you do it for all cars. it is a lot cheaper to administer than the GPS systems that are proposed.

 

wow...sounds high

 

So, after all the dust settled on this issue. It turns out there was no hybrid fee surcharge. There will be an electric vehicle surcharge in the amount of $100 added to the standard registration fee of $75.

To quote the DMV webpage.

“ On September 21, 2017, a new law created a $100 annual surcharge for electric vehicles ( motor vehicles propelled solely by electrical energy and NOT capable of using gasoline, diesel fuel, or alternative fuel). The surcharge applies to vehicles registered as an automobile or light truck up to 8000 lbs.

The fee will be collected whenever regular registration is paid for plate issuance and registration renewal. “

A lot of misreporting by local news on the actual details of the laws were passed around. Kind of like the game of telephone.

Either way the $100 BEV surcharge is fair In leu of paying a gas tax.

 

Also, to clarify this statement.

This fee is still in effect. It’s called the Low Speed Vehicle registration fee. Which applies to NEV’s (neighborhood electric vehicles).

 

now, they should be taxed out the wazoo!

 

A neighborhood is defined as??

For example I live in a gated community where the streets are not owned/maintained etc by any state or local government except that they are owned and maintained by a homeowner's association. I own an electric golf car. It has no state or local registration, tags, license or tax. Never is it driven on government owned roads. I drive on the gated community roads to reach the golf course and country club. That action is covered by my homeowner's insurance. But, should I use the golf car to drive on the same community owned road to visit a neighbor, I am not covered. For this I must be covered by my vehicle insurance. Golf car insurance costs about half as much as the insurance on my Prius.

So definitions matter. As do state insurance rules.

 

Does your golf cart have brake lights and turn signals? They are required for NEV’s or LSV’s to drive on city streets in the communities that allow them.

The town I live in has a NEV/ golf cart manufacturer Columbia- Parr Car. It was because of this manufacturer, that the city passed an ordinance allowing them on local streets. They must have conventional turn signals and brake lights and be limited to no more than 25mph.

 

do they require registration and insurance?

 

Registration, yes $28 for two years
Insurance, I’m not sure but would assume so. Minimally a liability policy.

 

but that's a special (low cost) registration fee you mention above?

 

All our golf cars (a golf cart is something hand pulled or pushed) have brake lights. A few have turn signals. Some have horns. All have rear view mirrors. None are ever used on county/state roads. You leave our gated community via an intersection where 4 deaths in the last 10 years have occurred. You exit at a stop light onto a 55 MPH 5 lane road with cars and trucks doing 70. Some stop, some don't. Thus the accidents. And so no golf car would ever venture out.

Some golf cars owned by the country club are gas powered because they can refuel them and rent them out both morning and afternoon. Our courses are wonderfully hilly and our electric powered golf cars requires more voltage than many used on a flat course. My car has covered over 10k miles in about 20 years.

Such a community is remarkable insular. No school buses (ADA exception), no police except by invite, our own style of street signs, our own paving bills. Our own speed limit and we have to enforce them, the county/state can't. None of the boats (electric only) on our lake have state registration numbers. The golf cars don't pay any vehicle based tax. We are governed by the North Carolina Community Association Act which limits what homeowners associations can do.

This all certainly is not true of all golf cars, many other areas they are at least used to cross public roads.

So I wondered about the WI legislature's bill drafting ability and how they define "community". Or for that matter would they tax the soap box derby car we built in our youth and hooked up an old lawn mower engine to it and drove it on county roads in a residential subdivision?

 

"Neighborhood Electric Vehicle" is the popular designation for FMVSS 500 Low Speed Vehicles, which can be operated on public roads in some states.

Don't read too far into the "Neighborhood" part, I'd say - that's more, "it's meant to be used in a neighborhood", and most states only allow FMVSS 500 vehicles (with registration and insurance, usually) to operate on 35 MPH or slower speed limit roads.

 

a soap box derby car with an engine would be illegal on public ways in massachusetts.

 

Yes

 

Neighborhood Electric Vehicle - Wikipedia

 

So does this mean my Volt won't pay an additional charge next year?

The "misrepresentation " came straight from the earlier drafts of the bill on the states own website.
there were last minute changes and if memory serves the governor has line item veto power meaning he could have vetoed the
"hybrids with 4kwhr or larger batteries pay $75 additional tax" portion of the legislation.

 

The key to my question seems to be this text from the regulation
"vehicles operated on the public streets,roads, and highways" and since my roads are not public (Pursuant to 23 USCS § 101 (27) [Title 23. Highways; Chapter 1. Federal-Aid Highways], the term public road means “any road or street under the jurisdiction of and maintained by a public authority and open to public travel.”) ...

Since the roads are maintained not by a public authority (HOAs are private) and access is granted only to the home owners and their authorized agents by the HOA they are not open to public travel.

learned a lot from this discussion. Thanks.

 

Nowhere on the DMV website is there any mention of “ hybrids with 4kw or larger batteries pay an additional $75 surcharge”

See for yourself.


Wisconsin DMV Official Government Site - Vehicle license plates fees


Hit the hyperlink in the Fee amount for Electric vehicle surcharge.

 

It was in the statute , wonder if the DMV is taking its time with implication

Wisconsin Legislature: AB64-ASA1,1900L

See 1895M, it's a pretty clear definition of hybrid being 4kwhr battery or larger and referenced earlier in the code around the EV tax segment

I don't feel like digging tonight but I'm pretty sure an unpleasant surprise is coming