Hi Ken. I'm in Missouri too and I've never been charged an EV tax. It's nice to know I might get an exemption if it ever happens. Thanks for the info.
Look up the law and read the details. Missouri has a$75.00 EV tax, but the word motorcycle is not listed in the wording. So I took a copy to the license office and they looked it up to verify my copy. Then I was exempted from the tax. I also wrote the Department of Revenue about the overall fuel usage of motorcycles vs cars and was granted an exemption for future registrations.
My insurance company also jacked up the rates for my FX, so I shopped around for a different company and cut my rates by half.
It is a state's rights issue. No Fed involved here.
Hey guys...I had a very similar experience in Missouri myself....twice.
In 2014 when I bought my 2014 Zero S I went in to get it licensed at the DMV in STL and the woman working there was SOO confused. She started to do the paperwork and then asked me how many cc....I responded...zero....it's electric. To which she responded....oh....you don't need to get a license plate for electric bikes. I asked her if she was sure and she then asked if it could go more than 30mph on flat ground.....I responded....hell yeah it can. Her brain exploded. She asked me again what kind of bike it was and started searching for it on the internet and we then had a 15 minute conversation about electric motorcycles with her pulling several other DMV employees into the conversation all of whom were in total shock. Needless to say it was their first electric motorcycle at that DMV office.
So after all that wears off and she is done telling me how cool my bike is and how much she wishes she could get one she realizes that EV's are supposed to get charged the $75 fuel tax. At first I grumbled a little bit but was going to accept my fate....then she pulls out this huge sticker which is supposed to go in the windshield. So I ask....where am I supposed to put that thing?? There is nowhere on a motorcycle to put that thing....it's way to big to put on the license plate and I don't have a windshield. I'm obviously not going to put it on the tank or other part of the body so....
She agreed so she starts to look at the law to see what it says about placement for 2 wheel vehicles and she can't find anything. As she is reading she starts to question if I should even be paying the tax so she tries to call the higher ups in the state capital with no luck in reaching anyone with answers.
She decides to let me go without paying for the sticker and tells me she is going to get in touch with the head guy and get a final answer and then will call me. The next day I had a message saying I didn't need the sticker since it didn't apply to motorcycles....only "passenger vehicles, buses and large vehicles". I went back in to the DMV and she finished filling out my paperwork and even wrote a note on it saying she had contacted the boss and I didn't need to pay the fuel tax.
That didn't stop the state from sending me a letter almost a year later saying that I needed to go in to pay the fuel tax or I would be assessed a fine. I ignored the letter. Then late last year I needed to go in to get my plates renewed and the guy tells me I need to pay the $75 fuel tax. After getting the letter the last time I was gonna just pay the tax and keep the sticker in the storage tank so I could produce it if I ever got stopped and got called on it but then decided to politely ask the guy where I was supposed to put it on my bike (I didn't even tell him the story from the previous time). He tries to look it up and when he can't find anything he asks his supervisor and right away she says "Oh yeah, it doesn't apply to motorcycles".
So there you go....twice the state tried to make me pay the extra $75 but I have gotten out of it both times.
To be honest, I think it's reasonably priced but I object to paying it just out of principle....Missouri doesn't have incentives for buying electric....at the very least they shouldn't be adding extra fees for adopting the technology....or....as many others have stated....it should be much lower for a motorcycle.
MO charges based on the size of vehicle but all vehicles are just broken down into classes. They could just create a class for motorcycles and charge a lower fee (and make the sticker small enough to fit on license plate). Or they could charge based on the weight of the vehicle or the size of the battery. The only downside to using the size of the battery is that the battery for a small car like the 1st gen leaf is only a little over twice the size of a ZF13 but weighs much more than double and it's really vehicle weight that has the most impact on roads. For that reason....if they MUST charge a tax to EV's they should just do it by weight.
P.S. On a side note....I will be at Forest Park on Earth Day (April 22) with Flying Tiger as their Zero SME. Be sure to stop by and say hello
I have been working on modifying my 2017 Zero SR and it will be there on display along with a 2017 Zero S and 2017 Zero DSR. Flying Tiger is also planning to bring a 2016 FXS assuming it hasn't sold by that time.
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Topic: Unfair Alternative Georgia Fuel Fee (Read 1677 times)