New $100 registration/Renewal EV tax in TN

[verygreen]

So it seems to be mostly official now.
EVs (but not hybrids) are getting additional $100 in registration/Renewal fees starting July 1st.
Tennessee gas tax increase: What it means for you

I guess that means EV incentives are not even on any sort of a radar. (also interesting they list there are about 2500 EVs in TN in total now).

 

[xyeahtony]

Seems only fair. EVs do not pay any road use taxes (since they don't buy gasoline) but they use the roads just as much (if not more) than gas cars.

 

[verygreen]

Seems only fair. EVs do not pay any road use taxes (since they don't buy gasoline) but they use the roads just as much (if not more) than gas cars.

It's only fair if you would have used exactly 335 gallons of gasoline a year (after the first round of increases) (and in your own state only too).
If you drive less - you are overpaying, if you drive more you are underpaying.
(also hybrids, exempt from the tax, typically use less gas, esp. plug-in hybrids that can also recharge).

Not that the amount is overly high, of course, but if they want to have metered road usage - they should just push for that directly.

 

[bevguy]

The alternative plan before the legislature would have made it $300 per year.
$100 sounds fair to me and I live in Tennessee and drive a Tesla.. Most drivers of BEV will be paying less tax than the average ICE driver , thus it is a very mild BEV stimulus
They also increased diesel tax by more than gasoline tax ,though truckers still get an outrageous break considering that they cause most of the road wear and tear damage.

 

[verygreen]

Well, it's only fair in the "not too bad" sense, but not the "fair and square" sense.

The gas tax was a useful proxy for road use (= weight + distance driven).
more efficient engines upset that equation a little bit, but it was still fair. then hybrids (and esp. plugin hybrids) upset it a lot more (more weight, but less gas use, often very significantly).
Then BEVs and people that drive on vegetable oil (also fuel cells and hydrogen) of course threw it out of whack completely.

Trucks, having terrible MPG (esp. when loaded) certainly don't get all that much of a break, except when they play tricks with huge tanks to fill in cheap places in other jurisdictions (but then this current increase does not really address this at all).

Personally used to fill up my ICE SUV every month to every other month, not because it's super efficient, but just because I don't drive much (under 5k miles/year).

So I still see this as a somewhat cheap money grab. If they wanted a fair fair solution they might have considered:
Cars get some sort of road use tax (like the BEV $100 now), light trucks and cars over certain weight get a multiplier to that (more road wear from them) and gas tax is eliminated. Out of state trucks would be weighted and charged for mileage (most of the infrastructure is in place already with truck weighting stations). Out of state cars would be kind of free-riding, but their road tear is generally small compared to trucks anyway.
OR
Gas tax is eliminated, everybody gets charged per miles driven with a weight factor (constant for cars, remeasured all the time for trucks as they drive over the weight stations).

 

[CSFTN]

Seems only fair. EVs do not pay any road use taxes (since they don't buy gasoline) but they use the roads just as much (if not more) than gas cars.

I did the math ... if I paid the planned gas tax in my wife's 19 mpg vehicle, times number of miles driven last year, I would have paid $120 in gas tax. So, I don't see a $100 fee as unreasonable.

And this is TN - you aren't going to get ANY tax increase through the legislature without it being tied to a tax cut at least as big. That is what happened here

 

[verygreen]

And this is TN - you aren't going to get ANY tax increase through the legislature without it being tied to a tax cut at least as big. That is what happened here

This part is indeed true, I guess I will save about $100 on grocery taxes in a year with the 1% reduction.
But everybody gets this anyway, not just me. But the extra $100 car use tax? that's just me (and another 2500 or so people that have an EV registered).
Might have as well mandated a separate meter for the EV charging facilities to tack on some sort of a tax there.

 

[xyeahtony]

It's only fair if you would have used exactly 335 gallons of gasoline a year (after the first round of increases) (and in your own state only too).
If you drive less - you are overpaying, if you drive more you are underpaying.
(also hybrids, exempt from the tax, typically use less gas, esp. plug-in hybrids that can also recharge).

Not that the amount is overly high, of course, but if they want to have metered road usage - they should just push for that directly.

i suspect that is mostly politics. They targeted EVs because not many people have the so they're not alienating many people with a "tax," and even the people affected dont seem to mind. Sure its not fair and square in the sense EVs are still paying less than gas owners, but maybe lets just chalk that up as a reward for being environmentally friendly