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[KrazyEd]

It " Should " be as simple as a mileage reading at registration time. You drove it this much, you pay this much.
Weight and how much damage the vehicle might do to the road would be nice to have in the equation.

[DonTom]

It " Should " be as simple as a mileage reading at registration time. You drove it this much, you pay this much.
Weight and how much damage the vehicle might do to the road would be nice to have in the equation.

Yep, that sounds even better. I think Nevada is getting ready to do that.  They are now asking for the mileage on ALL vehicles, ICE or EVs when they are re-registered. With ICE vehicles, they can verify the mileage when they go in for smog checks every year as is required in the two largest NV  counties.

And on EV's they could check over the internet, at least on some such as with Teslas.  My Tesla is in Reno, NV and I can read its odometer here in Auburn, CA on the Tesla App. Next it will probably be all EVs including motorcycles that send such info over the web.

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Richard230]

According to an article in my newspaper yesterday, California registration fees do not go toward road maintenance but to many other things, such as funding the CHP, DMV, the courts, the High Speed Rail Authority, local public transportation and other random items, as the state legislature has ordained. Sounds like a "slush fund" to me.  Only the gasoline tax is required to be used for road maintenance.  So how is the EV fee, which will be increasing every year with inflation, going to pay for road maintenance, again? 

[DonTom]

According to an article in my newspaper yesterday, California registration fees do not go toward road maintenance but to many other things, such as funding the CHP, DMV, the courts, the High Speed Rail Authority, local public transportation and other random items, as the state legislature has ordained. Sounds like a "slush fund" to me.  Only the gasoline tax is required to be used for road maintenance.  So how is the EV fee, which will be increasing every year with inflation, going to pay for road maintenance, again? 

Could too many EVs be the reason why the roads in the  SF Bay Area never improve?

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Crissa]

No, EVs are not a significant portion of the installed base.

Mostly it was Republicans over the 90s and 00s refusing to keep up with the cost of maintaining roads.

And paying for patrolling, busses, trains, bike paths, sidewalks and rest areas are all are part of roads unless you're a privileged rich snob.  These things increase the capacity and safety of roads to carry private vehicles.

-Crissa

[Richard230]

Here is the latest article regarding the new EV fee that went into effect this month. Naturally, there was no thought about electric motorcycles when the new fee law was passed.  It will be interesting to see if owners of electric motorcycles get hit with the same $100 registration fee as owners of electric cars. Apparently hybrid vehicles slip pass the fees even though they use a lot less fuel than ICE-only cars. Hopefully, the fee will actually go toward road maintenance instead of being diverted to other state programs.

[Crissa]

Busses and trains remove trips (traffic and wear) from the roads, so they're just as important or more so as putting down fresh blacktop.

-Crissa

"It's a shame so many EV driver put...". Dude, annual costs are still costs.  Talk about a sheltered reporter.  This why reporting should be paid work rather than done by dilettantes who have no idea that people might have budgets and limitations and need to eat.

And their math isn't shown about gas taxes but it's off by about 2x.  They reason they chose $100 is because it's the about same as 10k miles at the target 30mpg.  But a fuel efficient car like a hybrid does 60mpg and not all cars drive the average number of miles.

[Richard230]

Yesterday I received the CA DMV bill for my 2018 Zero's 2021 vehicle registration fee. I was happy to see that I didn't get hit with that additional $100 EV fee increase. So I guess it either doesn't apply to motorcycles or only gets added on to electric vehicles purchased after July 2020.  However, I did get hit, as does everyone else who owns a vehicle in California, with the automatic yearly increase in the vehicle registration fee. 

Here is the breakdown between this year's bill and last year's bill:  2019: Registration fee: $138, License fee: $97, county/district fee: $20. Total $255.
2020: Registration fee: $145, License fee: $85, county/district fee: $20. Total $250. For a total decrease of $5 this year. (The license fee is based upon the initial price of the vehicle and its age.)

[Curt]

Busses and trains remove trips (traffic and wear) from the roads, so they're just as important or more so as putting down fresh blacktop.

Trains yes, but I don't think this argument works for busses. Pavement damage is roughly proportional to the 4th power of vehicle weight.

[Crissa]

Busses and trains remove trips (traffic and wear) from the roads, so they're just as important or more so as putting down fresh blacktop.

Trains yes, but I don't think this argument works for busses. Pavement damage is roughly proportional to the 4th power of vehicle weight.

That's true for just the road surface, but not for everything else.

-Crissa