The Florida legislature is considering a bill that would unfairly penalize electric vehicle (EV) owners. Republican Senator Ed Hooper has proposed legislation (SB28) imposing a $200/yr tax on EVs starting in 2024 that would increase to $250/yr. starting in 2029. As an EV owner I have no issue with paying my fair share equivalent to the Florida Road tax charged for gasoline fueled vehicles. The current Florida road tax is 35.225 cents/gallon. Just a little math here: on average Americans drive their vehicles 12,000 miles/yr and the current (since 2021) mandated fleet average fuel economy requirement for new vehicles is 36mpg. This means average gallons of gasoline used per year is 333.3 gallons for which the road tax would be $117 per year. So, if the EV owner puts 12,000 miles/yr on their vehicle they would on average be paying nearly twice as much road tax as owners of gasoline powered vehicles. For EV owners such as myself that only drive 6,000 miles per year, the road tax would be nearly 4 times as much. The current yearly road tax collected is based on gallons of gasoline consumed which directly relates to how many miles per year the vehicle is driven. Thus, if you drive more you end up buying more gasoline and in turn paying more road tax. If there were an EV road tax it should be based on the miles driven and this could be done with each vehicle registration renewal by including the odometer reading and charging perhaps 1 cent per mile driven since the previous renewal. For example, if you have driven 12,000 miles you would be charged $120 which is close to what you would have paid at the gas pump for the FL road tax for a typical recent vintage ICE vehicle.
ACTION: I suggest Florida EV owners contact their local state senator and ask that they oppose SB28 (2024) and perhaps also submit a letter/opinion to your local newspaper raising this issue.
ACTION: I suggest Florida EV owners contact their local state senator and ask that they oppose SB28 (2024) and perhaps also submit a letter/opinion to your local newspaper raising this issue.