America pays for road upkeep partly through gas taxes — a situation that made sense in a world where every driver bought gas. As more of us drive without the stuff, it threatens to shift the burden of paying for road maintenance onto a shrinking group of drivers.
Many states are making up the difference through added registration fees for electric vehicles (EVs). A few also add taxes on public EV charging stations.
A new study from Atlas Public Policy found the approach reversed the situation. “EV drivers face an inequity when compared to drivers of gasoline-powered vehicles,” the researchers say.
EV drivers in 35 states plus the District of Columbia “pay more in taxes than drivers of gasoline-powered vehicles,” according to Atlas.
What Gas-Powered Car Drivers Pay
Drivers of gasoline-powered cars pay registration fees for their vehicles and then a tax on every gallon of gasoline they buy. Atlas says those taxes range “from six cents per gallon (Alaska) to 61 cents per gallon (Pennsylvania), with the average tax being 27.1 cents per gallon.”
But taxes aren’t keeping up with the cost of road construction. Cars keep growing more fuel efficient. Roads keep crumbling. And taxes aren’t going up to keep pace.
Related: The Terrible State Of America’s Roads Costs You $1,000 Per Year
What EV Drivers Pay
Some states have enacted additional EV registration fees to help ensure EV drivers pay for road upkeep, with the funds directed toward road maintenance.
“Around 34 states charge battery electric vehicle (BEV) drivers additional registration fees, ranging from $50 (Hawaii and South Dakota) to $225 (Washington) with the average fee costing $132.58,” Atlas says. Twenty-eight charge similar fees for plug-in hybrid vehicles.
At least seven states charge an additional tax on each kilowatt-hour of electricity used at a public charging station. “For example, Utah charges a 12.5 percent tax on public EV charging services. Electrify America stations cost $0.56 per kilowatt-hour in the state making Utah EV drivers pay an additional seven cents per kilowatt hour — the largest in the country,” Atlas researchers say.
Together, these fees create an “EV penalty,” Atlas says, that varies from state to state.
A Few Caveats
A few caveats are crucial when thinking about the results.
Atlas researchers raise concerns about additional taxes on public EV charging, noting that “the taxes end-users pay at public EV charging stations are not transparent.”
Researchers also assumed that an EV driver “is charging only at Electrify America stations because of the charging company’s nationwide network.”
But many EV owners do most of their charging at home, where those taxes don’t apply.
Electrify America is the nation’s second-largest charging network, well behind Tesla’s Supercharger system. The report doesn’t reveal why the researchers chose not to use the most common network in their calculations.
Many electric cars are also considerably heavier than their gas-powered counterparts, forcing new considerations in everything from crash testing to highway guardrails. Vehicle weight might also play into any fair calculation of road use, as heavier cars cause more wear and tear on infrastructure.
The EV Penalty By State
| State | EV Penalty ($) |
| Alabama | $234.77 |
| Alaska | -$61.71 |
| Arizona | $23.18 |
| Arkansas | $126.29 |
| California | $22.29 |
| Colorado | $41.72 |
| Connecticut | -$78.86 |
| Delaware | -$80.57 |
| District of Columbia | $101.49 |
| Florida | -$9.93 |
| Georgia | $325.61 |
| Hawaii | -$59.71 |
| Idaho | -$15.66 |
| Illinois | $5.84 |
| Indiana | $181.54 |
| Iowa | $151.71 |
| Kansas | $57.80 |
| Kentucky | $260.23 |
| Louisiana | $92.58 |
| Maine | -$0.69 |
| Maryland | $32.91 |
| Massachusetts | $21.94 |
| Michigan | $171.74 |
| Minnesota | $145.38 |
| Mississippi | $222.40 |
| Missouri | $73.07 |
| Montana | $165.10 |
| Nebraska | $77.54 |
| Nevada | -$76.11 |
| New Hampshire | -$36.00 |
| New Jersey | $69.01 |
| New Mexico | $84.57 |
| New York | -$62.06 |
| North Carolina | $185.54 |
| North Dakota | -$12.00 |
| Ohio | $134.86 |
| Oklahoma | $188.72 |
| Oregon | -$119.49 |
| Pennsylvania | $70.63 |
| Rhode Island | -$96.00 |
| South Carolina | $79.20 |
| South Dakota | $28.06 |
| Tennessee | $235.03 |
| Texas | $201.71 |
| Utah | $368.76 |
| Vermont | -$10.97 |
| Virginia | -$45.39 |
| Washington | $154.71 |
| West Virginia | $209.26 |
| Wisconsin | $95.14 |
| Wyoming | $166.30 |
