How should EV owners pay for road maintenance? Take our Twitter poll

EVgo charging station in Union City, California with resused BMW i3 battery backupStates around the US are imposing new fees on electric-car owners to make them contribute to state highway maintenance funds. Some can be quite onerous, such as the $1,000 fee for electric-car registration proposed last week in the Illinois legislature, compared to a $148 fee for other cars. CHECK OUT: 17 states have passed extra fees on electric...

Rioting protesters win delay of new French carbon tax

Gasoline prices in California, August 2012 [photo: Brenda Priddy]Rioting in the streets is the sword of Damocles hanging over every decision a politician makes—especially when those streets happen to be French. And rioting in the streets is what put an end to a new gas-tax proposal in France this week. Technically, its wasn't even a straight gas tax. DON'T MISS: Trump administration plans to end...

17 states have passed extra fees on EVs; is that fair?

BMW ActiveE electric car in front of old gas pumps, Belvidere, NJ   [photo: Tom Moloughney]Nobody likes paying gas taxes, and that seems particularly true for drivers who don't buy gas—such as those who drive electric cars. As legislators have begun to notice more electric cars on the roads, more of them have become concerned about their drivers not buying gas—and so not paying any gas taxes. According to a new editorial by...

Maine to hit hybrids, electric cars with fees higher than gas tax?

2018 Toyota PriusMaine has become the latest in a growing string of states to propose adding registration fees for hybrid and electric cars to make up for tax revenue on the gasoline they don't use, or use less of. But it's also part of a much smaller group of those states in which the fees are punitive: drivers of those cars pay more than the gas taxes paid by...

Gas tax should rise 25 cents to fund road repair: US Chamber of Commerce

Gas pumpIt's an unusual thing, to say the least, when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce publicly suggests a major tax increase. In general, the pro-business lobbying group advocates for tax cuts, reducing or eliminating regulations, and free-market policies that allow companies to operate however they choose. But there it was on Tuesday: The Chamber will...

Even California imposes new fee on electric cars in lieu of gas taxes

Golden Gate Bridge, connecting San Francisco and Marin County, CaliforniaLast week, the California state legislature approved a $52 billion transportation-funding package. Unlike the practice in previous years, this one is to be used only for improvements to the transportation infrastructure, to begin cutting into an estimated $ 130 billion backlog of repairs and expansions. As a result of the new bill, owners of...

State fees, penalties on electric cars proliferate this year

2017 Nissan Leaf  Several different states have continued to propose new fees for electric-car owners as a way to pay for road repairs. The fees are typically meant as a substitute for the gasoline taxes that, because they don't buy gas, electric-car owners don't pay. Advocates have criticized these fees, saying they effectively penalize drivers for reducing...

Indiana too slaps electric cars with $150 fee for not using gas

Indianapolis, by Flickr user ellenm1 (Used under CC License)Indiana may soon follow Michigan in implementing fees for electric cars, with the stated goal of helping to pay for road repairs. Michigan is now adding fees for electric cars, as well as plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars, because they don't burn enough gasoline to generate the same state tax revenue as other vehicles. Similar reasoning...