re: Louisiana now charges road usage fee for electric and hybrid vehicles

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I think we need to take them at their word and start charging tax based on vehicle weight. What's another $60 on top of the $780/month note for Peighslynn's Tahoe?

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My car weighs about 3,300 lbs, so I'm all for it

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Obviously depends on where I am. I can say that for trips to the panhandle, I fill up in BR and that gets me to the condo, all of the driving around during the trip, and about halfway back (if I wanted to). Instead of driving halfway back and waiting until I'm empty, I drive back up to the interstate, usually with about a quarter of a tank left, and fill back up so I can make the drive back home and still have about half a tank for the work week.

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So 10,000 miles a year. With 2/3rds of that in Louisiana.

6,666 miles in Louisiana at 45 miles per gallon is 148 gallons.

148 gallons at .20 cents of tax per gallon is around $30 a year. Plus your state fee of $60 comes out to $90.

If I do that same math on a truck for 6,666 miles that gets 20 MPG it comes out to around $67.

Congrats on having to pay a measly $23 more a year.

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I don’t know that they “cause more damage” but electric vehicles do have to replace tires earlier.

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They do. Heavier weight in motion accelerates wear and tear on roadways. Also, few have considered the additional live load in parking decks if the time comes where a majority of the vehicles parked in said decks are 25%+ heavier, nor have they considered the fire protection required to extinguish a battery fire in those same decks. An EV owner is ultimately going to pay more to park in a deck too, or park on the street.

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How much more does a Tesla weigh than an 18 wheeler?!

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That's why 18 wheelers go through weigh stations, to tax them more.

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Joshjrn

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A few things:

1. Your out-of-state mileage is irrelevant to a discussion about a system based on an annual fee. You don’t pay an EV/hybrid fee in Texas or Florida for the miles you drive in those states, just as TX/FL drivers don’t pay a fee for miles they drive in LA.

It only becomes relevant if different states adopt drastically different models for collecting road taxes on EV’s, in a way that causes you to be double-taxed. Until then, it all comes out in the wash. No tax system is perfect.

2. You’re whining over peanuts that largely come down to a margin of error. If an “average” driver drives 15k miles per year and an “average” vehicle gets 20 mpg, that’s 750 gallons per year. 750 gallons x $0.20/gal excise tax is $150/year.

You say your hybrid gets 45 mpg. 15k miles at 45 mph is 333 gallons per year. That’s $67/year in excise tax - $83 less than the conventional ICE driver. With the $60 tax you come out ahead by $23/year.

“But I don’t drive 15k miles!” OK - do the math at 12k miles. The conventional ICE driver is paying $120/year in excise tax while you pay $53. A $67/year difference. You still come out ahead by $7/year.

“But vehicles get more than 20 mpg!” ..Do they? OK, sure, let’s say the average conventional ICE gets 22 mpg in actual driving conditions. AND they only drive 12k miles per year. Now the conventional ICE driver is paying $109 in excise tax compared to your $53. So you pay $56/year less than them. Congrats, you found a scenario where you’re being overtaxed - by a whopping $4 per year.

3. The entire conversation is silly because we are comparing a new tax to a gasoline excise tax that hasn’t been increased since 1990. That $0.20/gallon excise tax in 1990 would be $0.48/gallon today if it were adjusted for inflation alone (without even looking at fuel economy increases). But it’s not, and our roads are woefully underfunded as a result. We shouldn’t be using the 1990 gas tax as a measuring stick in the first place because they all need to increase. But here we are.

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Drive about 10k miles, roughly 2/3 in state, or about 6,600

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You need to get out more, Gramps.

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3. The entire conversation is silly because we are comparing a new tax to a gasoline excise tax that hasn’t been increased since 1990. That $0.20/gallon excise tax in 1990 would be $0.48/gallon today if it were adjusted for inflation alone (without even looking at fuel economy increases). But it’s not, and our roads are woefully underfunded as a result. We shouldn’t be using the 1990 gas tax as a measuring stick in the first place because they all need to increase. But here we are.

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Addressing this, as the rest of your post has mostly been addressed already, I imagine while you were typing it out

But as to this bit, I don't disagree with you. Well, frick taxes in general, but yes in that the gas tax hasn't kept up.

Now go have a politician raise the gas tax so much as five cents and listen to all of these "conservatives" wail and gnash their teeth.

And that's the whole point of this thread. Again, I don't actually give a shite about the $60. This was just to have a bit of fun while enjoying my Saturday morning coffee while listening to the birds sing for the first time in days after all of this fricking rain

Good. You’re using the road