Posted on 07/30/2023 1:30:45 PM PDT by lowbridge
TEXAS has announced plans to charge vehicle owners a $200 annual fee, as well as a $400 one-time fee for new owners.
The law, signed by Governor Greg Abbott, is set to take effect on September 1 of this year.
Those who have an electric vehicle will be responsible for paying the new annual fee in order to recoup tax money.
Electric vehicle owners do not have to pay taxes on gasoline, since they no longer need it.
According to the Dallas Morning News, this law will not apply to anyone that owns electric motorcycles, mopeds, or autocycles.
These taxes on gas are normally utilized for improvement in the state including schools, highway, and road repairs.
According to the comptroller’s office, this new law plans to generate $38million for the state highway fund, in addition to the $3.8billion they will eventually earn from gasoline and diesel taxes.
“This is extremely important to make sure people are paying their fair share and that we have adequate funding for the preservation and maintenance of our highways in the future,” said State House Rep. Terry Canales, an Edinburgh Democrat, in April of this year.
For reference, the average person with a gasoline-powered vehicle pays approximately $130 in state gas taxes per year in Texas, according to data maintained by the Federal Highway Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.
And not everyone is happy about the change as it could disincentivize people buying electric cars.
“Texas is really behind the curve on trying to do the right thing by the environment. And so, that’s embarrassing, I think, for all of us,” UT-Austin transportation engineering professor Kara Kockelman told KVUE.
Consumer Reports policy analyst Dylan Jaff also criticized the law, stating that it will not be as helpful to the state's road funding as
(Excerpt) Read more at the-sun.com ...
I agree. Charge them for all the UV damage too :)
Maintenance costs?
Regenerative braking, so brake pads last well over 100k miles.
No oil, coolant, exhaust, transmission fluid.
Just windshield fluid and tires
A Kilowatt is a kilowatt- whether it’s in a car or your home’s AC or heater. EV owners pay per charge, when not at home (where a vast majority charge; cause it’s way cheaper than elsewhere) it’s still less than half of what it costs to fill a car’s tank. May take longer; but it’s $~50 to top off my car and about $~25 for 250 miles range for a Model 3
Battery life; that’s generally in excess of 150k miles. But we have batteries being recycled today as the lithium, Nickle, copper, magnesium and other materials can be recovered at ~90+% efficiency and they are quite valuable. It’s like throwing gold plated PC boards into the landfill back in thr 1970’s. We don’t do that anymore
How come bicyclist who demand we share the roadways with them, who want their own bicycle lanes, are not required to pay taxes, register their bicycles and pay all the fees associated with all that?
Exactly! And mining for lithium is very bad {insert virtue signally tone here} “for the planet.” And EVs have a higher tendency to catch fire. Also bad {insert virtue signally tone again} “for the planet.”
20 mpg not gpm.
I wonder if the professor quoted in the article has read the following.
Texas evidently leads the nation in wind and solar renewable energy by a wide margin over California.
OK misleading headline that made no sense coming from Texas, (maybe from California, which would find ways to penalize NON EV purchasers) but I can see Abbott’s point. Still don’t like it, but I see the logic. It won’t amount to diddly in $$$ though. It seems just a way of discourage EV purchases.
They drive them where I live....Indians love the things. I see them using the “free” charge up station at Kroger all the time.
“This is extremely important to make sure people are paying their fair share and that we have adequate funding for the preservation and maintenance of our highways in the future,” said State House Rep. Terry Canales, an Edinburgh Democrat, in April of this year.
EVs are heavier than comparable ICE cars thus putting more wear and tear on the road. When their batteries need changing there will be a bigger environmental impact as compared to the battery in an ICE car.
“They drive them where I live....Indians love the things. I see them using the “free” charge up station at Kroger all the time.”
Maybe it takes them a bit to find all of the spices they’re shopping for.
This Texan’s only complaint is that the new EV registration fees are WAY too low!
I SORT OF consider bicycles and motorcycles are good. If they drive cars or trucks instead, the traffic volume would be much worse.
“200 is not enough. The should figure the average annual gas tax cost and then double it for EV owners since they do twice the road damage.”
I would agree if they actually DROVE their EVs on a regular basis...but most people, at least until forced otherwise, buy them to show off.
Not to mention the floating recharging stations hovering overhead. Think about the property rights - how far up can you own real estate?
No, more with the weight of the batteries.
Not here in Central Texas. People fly away the roads on them here. Dangerously so. Then again, we've been in a drought here for much of the past three years, so the road have been dry. Maybe if we start getting even normal amounts of rain, they might disappear from the roads.
MUCH worse? A tesla weighs about 1/3 more than an ICE car of a similar size, but nowadays everyone’s driving trucks.
“Not true. EV damage is much worse due to the fact they weigh considerably more than ICE vehicles.”
Private vehicles cause almost no damage. It is the heavy duty trucks that wreck the roads.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.