Consolidating replies to several things-
I find it odd Tesla hasn't appealed to a federal court on Commerce Clause basis. Commerce clause has been misused for all kinds of reasons, but this looks like an appropriate use.
State regulation of how, where, and when things are sold within the state is...pretty standard stuff? Even stuff that came from another state.
They're not saying Tesla vehicles can't be sold in Texas. They're saying only licensed franchised dealerships can sell em. You could work around this by ordering online from out of state (and that's how Tesla does it today). Perfectly legal.
Likewise, for example, Liquor can be sold in my state, but only by state operated stores. I can work around this ordering from out of state online and having it shipped right to my home (requiring an adult signature to take delivery)
The average Texas driver pays $73 in gas tax per year. $200 is punishment. Dealers love it because it gives them another reason not to sell EVs.
Do you have a source for that? I found the rate at 38.4 cents per gallon here:
Since 1923 Texas has used motor fuels excise taxes to maintain roads and bridges. But while driving has changed drastically, the taxes we depend on to fund roads haven’t.
comptroller.texas.gov
Assuming 25mpg, as the rough national average of fuel economy of ICE vehicles... and 16,171 miles a year driven by Texans on average found here:
Americans drive an average of 14,263 miles per year, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
www.policygenius.com
You get that the average ICE texan buys 646.84 gallons of gas a year. Times 38.4 cents, they pay $248.38 in gasoline taxes. Meaning the $200 EV tax is $48.38 less than they'd otherwise be paying annually in total fuel taxes.
So where does $73 come from?
It is too high and should not be a flat tax.
Ok. Except since the majority of states don't have annual inspections which verify your annual driven miles, what choice do they have but a flat fee?
Just let everyone self-report? That'd work about as well as the state consumption tax where you're supposed to report all the things you buy online without paying sales tax every year and 99% of people just put 0 and nobody ever follows up on it.
Your example for comparison assumes a 50mpg hybrid, which is...not what most people are driving... I do think it'd be reasonable to set the fee at roughly something like "average MPG of cars on the road, average # of miles driven annually, average price of gas over X period (TBD for X), and then times the gas tax rate (insert debate of using the state vs total rate here since the feds are losing $ too which is typically passed right back to the states so you need to make up for both)... rather than just picking a # out of a hat as seems to be done in some states. That does mean if you only drive 3k miles a year you're overpaying, and if you drive 25k a year you're underpaying- but again what's a practical, better, alternative?
FWIW my own state charges $130 for EVs... when I ran the math based on my Lexus I owned at the time, and the avg miles I was driving at the time, I found this was actually about $100/yr cheaper than if I kept the gas car. Today however I drive a ton fewer miles so I'm likely paying more. It's not a big enough difference either way to be ok with just letting the roads rot unfunded though.
I know this is going to be savaged here, but I’m gonna say it: FSD that still needs to be supervised is close to worthless, a pure rich person nice-to-have on consumer vehicles.
Autopilot needs to be supervised, and I'd suggest millions of people have found it to have tremendous value.
You can certainly argue if current FSD has -15k- of value of course.
Logically FSD gets so good that people actually start buying it or subscribing to FSD months before regulatory approval.
The "regulatory approval" thing continues to be a complete red herring regarding >L2 performance. It's
already legal right now to roll out L3-L5 systems in at least half a dozen US states including ones representing something like 1/3rd of the nations population. Today. Without any regulatory body getting in the way. Generally you only need certify your system meets the SAE criteria for the level, you have insurance, and it follows all traffic laws and you can deploy it- that's it.
Mercedes has already done this in Nevada (one of the easiest states- you literally just file a form with the state saying those things are true and it's "approved").
So if/when Tesla feels their FSD system is good enough to be L3 or higher, there's no "waiting for regulatory approval" stopping them from deploying it in large portions of the US immediately.
And if it works as well as we keep being told it will, other states would quickly move to allow it as well.