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As the West surges toward EVs, here’s where the unwanted gas guzzlers go
- toomuchtodo 3y agoWest Africa
- pstuart 3y agoThe next question is: how to pay for roads when the fuel tax is no longer significant?
- bombcar 3y agoTire tax. And bigger vehicles have more tires and wear them down faster.
- hooloovoo_zoo 3y agoIt’s not a good idea to discourage keeping tires in good shape though.
- reducesuffering 3y agoHow? Won't raising the price of tires incentivize utilizing them longer and taking better care of their longevity?
- narism 3y ago> incentivize utilizing them longer This is the problem. More people will use them when they are in an unsafe state (low tread depth/bald/cords showing)
- londons_explore 3y agoIt's fairly easy to set a legal limit on tread depth, issue tread depth measurement tools to police, and seize any car caught on the road with tyres not meeting regulations.
- narism 3y agoTrue, although effectiveness may vary wildly depending on the local implementation. Exhibit A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_Unit...
- phantom784 3y agoDoesn't work if you want to keep the tax revenue in the state whose roads you used. Gas tax mostly does this (albeit imperfectly).
- bombcar 3y agoThe biggest case of that would be over the road trucking, which is mostly on federal highways anyway. Most other people rarely leave their home state unless they live near a border.
- nine_zeros 3y agoSimple. EV charger tax.
- olyjohn 3y agoWhat if I charge at home?
- nine_zeros 3y agoThey'll likely spread it out over all houses in the state.
- TheLoafOfBread 3y agoLittle black box talking to the government, how much you charge so you can pay your share.
- kspacewalk2 3y agoA vehicle tax that's a function of purchase price, age, height and weight of the car.
- leetcrew 3y agothree out of four of those things aren't related to road wear and tear though? how about annual miles * k * (weight/axles)^4? adjust k until the roads are paid for.
- supertrope 3y agoMy opinion is a odometer reading tax or 100% toll roads would be the fairest replacement for fuel taxes. The reality is certain states have already added flat rate registration fee surcharges for EVs, plug-in hybrids, and even regular hybrids. Like $200. These are often punitively high such that the "replaced" fuel tax is equivalent to a gas guzzler driving 20,000 miles per year.
- londons_explore 3y agoMany states and countries already have annual car inspections. Reading the odometer at those and levying a tax of a few cents a mile replaces fuel taxes pretty effectively.