Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed SB505 into law, implementing a $200 annual fee for electric vehicles registered in the state.
It costs the average gas-powered car owner $50 to $54 in the state of Texas to register their vehicle annually. The hefty prices are not meant to drive electric vehicle owners away, but rather to make up for lost revenue which would have been collected on the gas tax, and allocated to the state to maintain the roads. The legislation requires registration funds to be “deposited to the credit of the state highway fund,” which is responsible for the upkeep of state roads.
Reason argues that, though the fees seem unfair or politically motivated on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, they are “largely in line with what owners would likely pay in gas taxes.” “Historically, Texas drivers who drive a lot and put a lot of wear and tear on the roads bought a lot of gas, which means they paid for road upkeep through gas taxes,” the writer explains. But because electric vehicles are not subject to the same tax, but enjoy the same well-kept roads, a “higher registration fee is one way to ensure that everyone who drives also contributes toward maintaining the roads.”
In 2021, Texas ranked third in the nation in the number of electric vehicle registrations, more than 80,000 electric vehicles were on the road that year alone. That number has continued to climb over the past two years as hundreds of California residents (who ranked first) make the Lone Star State their new home.
Consider the loss in revenue the state suffered when 80,000 people suddenly stopped paying gas tax, which is an average of .43 cents per gallon — and the need to implement a plan to ensure the state would have the funds necessary to keep the roads safe for its booming population growth.
Electric vehicles are already heavily subsidized by some state governments, but also by the federal government. Some states, like California, have even passed laws banning the manufacturing of new gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035.
Additionally, electric vehicles place a large toll on city and state electricity infrastructure, which, in a state like California that is dependent by choice on unreliable “green” energy sources, can be detrimental. The state has experienced rolling blackouts for years as a result of its commitment to climate activism. In 2021, shortly after signing into law the gas-powered vehicle ban, the state sent out a Flex alert, asking citizens to voluntarily refrain from charging their electric vehicles and using large sums of energy while the demand for electricity was up.
Electric vehicles are often regarded as better for the environment than gasoline-powered vehicles, but most have emitted more carbon dioxide than a standard gas-powered vehicle has after driving 2,500 miles.
The new fees associated with electric vehicle registration in Texas are a logical solution to ensure that the cost of road maintenance is evenly placed on both electric and gas-power car owners alike.
