Comment by mousethatroared
Comment by mousethatroared 8 days ago
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?
Comment by mousethatroared 8 days ago
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?
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.
Obviously the higher mass and torque of the EV causes more microplastics. This is basic materials science and the reason why EVs need tougher tires.
I dont get why we're comparing F150s to the Model Y. When Im looking to buy a truck, Im not considering the Model Y (although In peeved the Ranger isnt hybrid). I have never considered a Tesla (Im not in the market for another sedan) but if I were my comparison would be something like the Accord.
But sure let's compare the F150 to the model Y: back in 2021 - a base F150 weighed about 4000lb, less than a base Model Y and an F150 supercab V6 F150 was <4500 lb. [1] A long range model Y weighs about a little bit less, but the difference is less than 100 lb.
Sure, I can configure the F150 to weigh 5500, but few need to and few do. So the point stands:
The Model Y weighs as much as a half ton truck.
Meanwhile a Ford Maverick, a truck Ford can't make enough to meet demand, weighs 3700 lb
[1] https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North%20America...
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.
You're not covering for the loss of the gas tax with $100/year registration.
Nowhere close.
In my corner of America the gas tax comes out to be $0.96/gal, or $480/year if you only drive 15k miles and average 30 mpg.
That's because, I assume, you are adding in state gas tax, then comparing state registration to the proposed federal registration? Or some other combination. Somehow you are mixing and matching. We're all talking about federal taxes only. Obviously it's all different for every state.
Federal gas tax is $0.18. Gas registration is $0. New EV registration is $250. Or actually, it's looking like $500 now. That's like you driving your 30 mpg gas car 83,000 miles a year.
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.
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.