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EV drivers more than make this up by not having nearly as many externalities (pollution) as gas drivers. Gas drivers seem to always conveniently forget those r

EV drivers more than make this up by not having nearly as many externalities (pollution) as gas drivers. Gas drivers seem to always conveniently forget those real societal costs when they're trying to talk about "fairness".

luma 3y ago
That still doesn't pay for roads. I love EVs and think their use should be more broadly encouraged, but the gas tax made for a very simple use tax and it's not obvious how one would replace it to do the same thing for EVs. Simply saying EVs are so much better for the environment that they don't need to pay for roads at all seems a little short sighted.
- 34679 3y ago
  >it's not obvious how one would replace it to do the same thing for EVs. Taxing tires would work. Also, mileage is already recorded during vehicle inspections. That could be used to calculate tax but would be more open to fraud.
  - flavius29663 3y ago
    I don't want tires to be taxed, it would incentivize people to use tires more than they would do today, and that is bad news for traffic safety. Not only for themselves but for other people on the road too.
lm28469 3y ago
> by not having nearly as many externalities (pollution) as gas drivers Depend where you get your electricity from. Also most of car pollution comes from tires and brake dust, which EV create more of given their weight and torque https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/03/car-tyres-produce-more-particle-pollution-than-exhausts-tests-show https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/03/car-tyre... See, we can play this silly game all day long or just all chip in.
- etskinner 3y ago
  The article you linked is specifically talking about particle emissions, not anything gaseous. If it included the negative externalities of all emissions (CO2, NOx's too), it might paint a different picture.
bequanna 3y ago
That’s a very cute argument, but it doesn’t pay for the roads. Also, having lived in a city I can tell you that brake dust and tire wear is also a big part of car pollution. Unless you want 100% toll roads, we need to come up with fair-ish way to tax EV road use.

luma 3y ago

That still doesn't pay for roads. I love EVs and think their use should be more broadly encouraged, but the gas tax made for a very simple use tax and it's not obvious how one would replace it to do the same thing for EVs. Simply saying EVs are so much better for the environment that they don't need to pay for roads at all seems a little short sighted.

34679 3y ago
>it's not obvious how one would replace it to do the same thing for EVs. Taxing tires would work. Also, mileage is already recorded during vehicle inspections. That could be used to calculate tax but would be more open to fraud.
- flavius29663 3y ago
  I don't want tires to be taxed, it would incentivize people to use tires more than they would do today, and that is bad news for traffic safety. Not only for themselves but for other people on the road too.

lm28469 3y ago

> by not having nearly as many externalities (pollution) as gas drivers Depend where you get your electricity from. Also most of car pollution comes from tires and brake dust, which EV create more of given their weight and torque https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/03/car-tyres-produce-more-particle-pollution-than-exhausts-tests-show https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/03/car-tyre... See, we can play this silly game all day long or just all chip in.

etskinner 3y ago
The article you linked is specifically talking about particle emissions, not anything gaseous. If it included the negative externalities of all emissions (CO2, NOx's too), it might paint a different picture.

bequanna 3y ago

That’s a very cute argument, but it doesn’t pay for the roads. Also, having lived in a city I can tell you that brake dust and tire wear is also a big part of car pollution. Unless you want 100% toll roads, we need to come up with fair-ish way to tax EV road use.