if only for a lively debate!
Are you serious?!, do you realise the consequences of your argument? you are playing fast and free with our right to use the roads for no charge via VED!!!
But seriously, like all of us EV'ers, I currently enjoy the "free" VED, however the reality is this cannot continue long term and it seems to me that a much fairer system would be based on a sliding scale which takes account of the "amount of road consumed", akin to the suggestion made by your friend. If that were based on say, weight, then larger vehicles; farm machinery for instance, would also be contributing (that doesn't stop the damage, but goes some way to paying for it). It might not be a popular suggestion amongst the EV community (or farming community), however our vehicles are much heavier than equivalent ICE, ergo they cause more wear to road surfaces over time.
You pulled the pin, I lobbed the grenade in - I declare this debate open