PA: $200 EV registration fee starting in 2025

[ryun]

It’s punitive. $250+/yr will really add up, especially for those of us with multiple EV households.

Yeaaahhh my wife and I definitely got the shaft on this one. Our commutes are not very long. My wife puts on maybe ~7,000 miles per year on her EV6, and since I work from home I only have ~3,500 miles on my first year. I had read that they were considering a $290 year registration fee so I guess I'm grateful it wasn't higher -- though in a couple of years it probably will be that high.

If they actually ear marked this EV fee solely for road maintenance I would probably be happy. But you're right, given that it's PA my registration fees are going to go to almost anything but maintaining our already crappy roads.

Sponsored

 

[jeff_h]

We've got a similar law in WV, I paid $200 per year EV fee for my Kia Niro EV and now doing the same with the Lightning.

It's like a PP said above, death and taxes...

 

[VTbuckeye]

I definitely prefer a mileage based fee. Our EVs got 6k and 7k and phev 1k over the past year. Phev used maybe 15 gallons of fuel. Vermont is adding fees starting in January 2025.

 

[Lytning]

Pay them now or and pay them later.

 

[husky10101]

In Wa the extra tax for the EV is $300.00 which is much less than I would have paid in gas and diesel tax, so no complaints here.

 

[cdherman]

Death and Taxes...

Mr Trump has proven that taxes are optional as well.

I hope he does not prove that the first given can be overcome.

 

[Pro or NO]

Glad I just renewed for 2 years. I'm OK with the $250 tax. Paid more than that in gas tax with the old F150 ecoboost. Thanks for the post ryun.

 

[XENOILPHOBE]

I hear ya.

I had suggested a LOOOOOOONG time ago (to my Va reps) that they use the mileage at the yearly safety inspection - crickets in response.

This company (emovis) that does the monitoring for the Va DMV does it for other states as well.
The app is called Drivesync.

Back in 2022, they had a computer glitch and charged everybody the total yearly amount one month. It took them over a month to straighten it out.

The only wrinkle with not using GPS in theory might be if I drive a lot in other states, I should not be charged by VA for driving on the other state's roads. However, I don't think this system accounts for that.

One interesting thing is the Drivesync app monitors your driving, so if you are speeding, don't stop for stop signs, etc. it catches that and gives you a score!

They do not use the info for anything except to inform you of your driving profile, according to their privacy statement/contract/rules. So they don't tell the DMV or the Ins. industry you are a good or bad driver.

One thing it showed was that I score usually 100% - no rules violated, but my wife - OMG!
Speeding is especially one of her problems!

I have warned her about it many many times, to no avail, even before the Drivesync tattled on her.

So just last week, she got a speeding ticket mailed to her - $100 - at a speed camera in D.C.

A little OFF TOPIC, even without the GPS OBD device, there are camera's everywhere, the police are even using drones now where there aren't mounted cameras. And of course every thing one says or does on the Internet is captured by En Es Aye computers tied in through the phone company to huge data farms for data mining - my brother worked for ATT when a whistle blower went public with that back in the early 2000's, and he was really upset about the leaking of a classified program. It was part of the Patriot Act to fight terror by collecting overseas calls - however, it caught a lot more than just overseas calls.

Anyway I am EE and an Atty and I worked for the US Patent and Trademark Office for 4 years while in law school with a low level security clearance required for the job. I am aware of the privacy concerns, and how all the tracking and listening tech could be abused, by private companies OR the Govt. OR a foreign entity.

But GPS tracking my Leaf or Lightning movements is a minimal invasion of my privacy that saves me money, so I guess you could say in this case I sold out.

Cell phones are a lot worse, they track you and listen to everything you say, so the potential for good and bad in that cell phone capability is ubiquitous.

Ford monitors a lot of stuff too. If you have Alexa, she is listening. iPhone? Siri is listening. A casual conversation, and the next thing you know, ads for whatever pop up.

And if you use one of a certain set of words, the authorities could be notified. No joke.

The Smart. Tag (toll tag) does the same thing, location, speed, times, etc.

 

[rdr854]

I have been paying a EV surcharge and a hybrid surcharge in Va for years. It's to replace the lost revenue from gas tax that pays for roads, etc.

Recently they have allowed us to pay by actual miles driven, 0.01 cents per mile EV and 0.0056 cents per mile for hybrids.

It caps when the normal surcharge is reached $116.49 for an EV and $65.21 for a hybrid.

The program is called "Virginia Mileage Choice." They assume 11,650 miles per year average driving of ICE vehicles and set the charges accordingly.

They have a OBD device that tracks by GPS the miles driven, more or less accurately, then once a year at registration time you reconcile the mileage.

You put some money down to start and then the automatically deduct whatever the charge is monthly based on the reported miles from the device.

There were some initial glitches getting the devices to connect to their system - they use a cell signal, probably AT&T (like Ford) which has sheety service in my neighborhood, so I had to drive around a bunch to get it to connect. Their app was funky as well, you take a pic with your phone of the odometer and upload it - it has to be pretty perfect of else their system won't read it correctly.

Not a big deterrent to owning an EV or Hybrid.

They ought to think about funding roads another way in my opinion.

We don't get any credit for not polluting the air as much and the costs to the environment, the health care system etc. that tail pipe pollution causes.

Economists call them 'externalities' and they don't use it in their calculations - and global climate change is the result.

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

Give unto Caesar that which is Caesars...

I am in Virginia as well. In addition to the the charges for and plug in hybrids, Virginia also surcharges fuel efficient vehicles. In Virginia, the threshold is 25 mpg And the fee is gas mileage dependent since Virginia uses a sliding scale.

 

[chl]

I am in Virginia as well. In addition to the the charges for and plug in hybrids, Virginia also surcharges fuel efficient vehicles. In Virginia, the threshold is 25 mpg And the fee is gas mileage dependent since Virginia uses a sliding scale.

Yes, that's right, our Prius isn't "plug-in hybrid" just hybrid-hybrid and subject to the fee.
No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[chl]

The Smart. Tag (toll tag) does the same thing, location, speed, times, etc.

Instead of locking up rich offenders, with 34 felony convictions for example, unless they are hip-hop artists, Big Brother trains it's watchful eye on us law-abiding little guys...

I would not worry about it...except that I remember reading Kafka's "The Trial" and seeing Monty Python's sketch about nobody ever expecting the Spanish Inquisition...

Fingers crossed, as all all my Tees.