Comment by tomcam
Comment by tomcam 8 days ago
Can you explain to me about the near outlaw of EVs?
Comment by tomcam 8 days ago
Can you explain to me about the near outlaw of EVs?
The new budget that passed the house has registration fees on EVs that will only match gas cars if you drive well over 25,000 miles a year. Maybe "outlaw" was hyperbolic, but you tax what you want less of. I would imagine that these taxes will only increase. Especially compared to the _incentives_ offered in every other country.
We don't "outlaw" cigarettes, for example, but I would call the current taxes on them a "near" outlaw.
You tax to finance government services. EV use roads but don't pay fuel taxes.
We can debate how much EVs should be taxed, but they're using the bloody roads, aren't they?
My point is that there's no reason to tax them more than gas cars. Gas cars create FAR more negative externalities. I'm not saying they shouldn't be taxed at all; sorry if you got that impression.
EVs tend to weigh more and cause a higher degree of microplastic emission and road wear.
HN is usually happy to remind everyone that the damage a vehicle causes to a road scales with the fourth power of its weight. A Tesla model 3 is about triple the wear on the road surface compared to a Toyota Camry.
Are they being taxed more? Or is it that with gas cars, most of the tax is paid outside of registration, when they're refueled, whereas EVs only pay the taxes at registration time, and thus end up paying their share up front instead of over time?
ICEs aren't taxed to punish their externalities, but to finance roads.
Suffice it to say that if all cars magically became EVs something in the tax code would have to change to pay for road maintence.
If you're gathering the resources and you still have bad roads, then that's a problem of Virginians inability to govern well.
Which, as an American largely being governed by Virginians, I cant say Im surprised.
In short, the Republican Party is in bed with oil producers and many elected politicians are heavily invested in oil or oil-adjacent companies. The same party is anti-Science in a way that is nearly impossible to comprehend and, as such, scoffs at global warming and you can work the rest out from there. The Republicans have the majority in the House, the Senate and the Oval Office. The Supreme Court is conservative. Right now, we're probably the modern equivalent of Germany in 193x.
I think that about covers it. All of the above means an EV-hostile environment here.
Oh, and our biggest EV maker is a Neo-Nazi supporter.
I should also mention that a large percentage of the population is in love with ICE-mobiles. They transport the ever-shrinking middle class and lower classes that can't afford to completely replace their vehicles with EVs and, likely, never will be. Even the world's ugliest electric truck is beyond the reach of a large portion of the middle class. Removing gas stations and adding charging stations is not going to do anything except cause more panic.
NGL, I drive a gas-powered Jetta (I wish it was diesel, but oh well) and if I can't get gas, I can't drive. While I'm lucky enough to live where there's some sort of public transit, that's not a thing in a lot of cities. Without the political will or the budget to start adding public transportation RIGHT THE HELL NOW, if ICE goes away, our economy is screwed.