New Texas legislation will require electric vehicle owners to pay a $200 annual fee, a move lawmakers say will offset losses in gas taxes but critics say is unfair. The US House of Representatives passed the bill 145-0 on Thursday, and it was sent to Governor Greg Abbott for his signature.
The bill calls for EV owners to pay $200 annually in registration and renewal fees for their vehicles. At the time of purchase, the fee will be $400. Texas lawmakers say they have developed a bill to get electric vehicle owners to contribute to the gas tax, which funds maintenance of Texas highways.
“Every time an all-electric vehicle takes to the road and displaces a gas-powered vehicle, the state highway fund loses money,” Senator Robert Nichols, the bill’s author, told Spectrum News. “This cost adjustment is equivalent to the road usage consumption between electric vehicles and gas-powered vehicles.”
But critics of the legislation said it imposes a greater financial burden on EV owners and fails to address the challenges facing Texas road financing. Gas-powered vehicle drivers pay an average of $71 per year in Texas, according to a Consumer Reports study last year.
“High, flat fees on electric vehicles may seem to some to be a politically expedient solution, but it is not an effective or equitable solution,” Chris Harto, senior policy, transportation and energy analyst, Consumer Reports, said in a news release. When the study came out.
If the law is signed, it will go into effect on September 1. Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Electric vehicle sales are surging thanks in part to the electric vehicle tax credit and the Biden administration’s push to electrify infrastructure through the Inflation Reduction Act.
Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new emissions standard that, if adopted, could increase electric vehicle sales nearly tenfold by 2032.
For more information on electric vehicles, here’s how to claim the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit and what you need to know about electric vehicle charging stations in the United States.