Environmental Advocates Say Proposed Registration Fee Would Deter Switch to Electric Vehicles
March 3, 2025
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PROVIDENCE — In an electric vehicle world, what happens to the gas tax?
Every time Rhode Islanders go to fill their cars, they’re taxed 37 cents for every gallon of gas purchased, with proceeds from that tax going toward maintaining paved roads, with a smaller portion set aside for public transit.
But the Act on Climate law envisions a world without fossil fuel infrastructure to reduce emissions, including the everyday gas-guzzling cars that clog up Interstate 95 every morning and afternoon. What’s going to replace that revenue stream for roads and transit in a shiny new gas-less future?
If you’re Gov. Dan Mckee, who took his first ever stab at answering that question this year, the answer is an additional registration fee charged for electric plug-in and hybrid vehicles. But the move has been criticized by some environmental groups that are worried such a fee would stunt the transition away from gas-powered cars.
“We’re concerned about the impacts it will have on people making decisions about what vehicles they’re going to switch to in the future, especially when Rhode Island really needs to ramp up its electric vehicle adoption rates to decarbonize our transportation sector,” said Tina Munter, Rhode Island policy advocate at the Green Energy Consumers Alliance, which has come out against the new registration fee.
Under the governor’s proposal, battery electric vehicles (BEV) would pay an additional $150 annually, with plug-in hybrids paying an additional $75 per year, when owners acquire or renew their state registration.
State budget officials said they calibrated the fee structure to make up for the assumed gas tax proceeds that electric vehicle owners would pay if they were driving gas-guzzling cars instead. McKee’s proposal, however, doesn’t include any additional funds for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority; instead, all proceeds from the EV fees go toward the state’s highway maintenance fund.
The proposed fee would align Rhode Island with 39 other states that already impose similar fees on EVs, according to budget officials, with another 32 having similar fees on plug-in hybrids.
“This is something that is meant to equitably distribute the costs of highway maintenance and transportation infrastructure on all users of the road,” state budget officer Joseph Codega said at a recent House Finance Committee meeting. “Right now, the share of battery electric and plug-in vehicles is relatively small … but by the Department of Revenue’s projection, battery electric vehicles share will grow to 12.1% of all cars by 2030.”
Right now, Rhode Island has 11,264 battery electric vehicles registered, according to data from the state Office of Management and Budget. Another 9,181 plug-in hybrid vehicles are registered in Rhode Island. By 2030, OMB estimates there will be 86,442 battery electric vehicles registered in Rhode Island.
OMB estimates that gas-powered cars drive around 11,000 miles a year and account for around $150 in gas taxes on average. With the $110 a registered passenger vehicle is likely to pay in fees every other year, the total amount of cost for a gas-powered car is around $260.
Under the governor’s EV fee plan, EV owners would end up ponying up $410 every two years, with only fees for the plug-in hybrids becoming equitable with what gas-powered vehicles pay now. Advocates like Munter argue that’s not fair.
“There’s no nuance between how much you’re driving and how much wear and tear you’re causing on the roads, which is reflected in the gas tax,” said Anna Vanderspek, electric vehicle program director for the Green Energy Consumers Alliance. “If you’re filling up more, you’re driving and using the roads more. Where if you’re only someone that drives a couple miles a month, you only use your car to commute from a train station where you work, you’re still paying the same money into that fee as somebody who drives every single day all around Rhode Island.”
Munter and Vanderspek acknowledge the gas tax will need to be replaced. They note proceeds from the state gas tax have been slowly declining over the past 25 years. In 2005, the state collected nearly $4.8 million in gas proceeds. Last year, the state collected just over $4.3 million.
So what should the state be prioritizing for replacement instead? Munter and Vanderspek said the state should explore a suite of different options, ranging from mileage-based user fees, to basing excise taxes and registration around the weight and size of cars.
EVs often weigh hundreds or thousands of pounds more than their gas-powered equivalents. On average the battery in an EV is going to add another 1,000 pounds to the weight of the vehicle, and brands like Teslas can have batteries ranging from 1,200 to 1,700 pounds.
“A Chevy Silverado, for example, that drives 10,000 miles a year and gets 25 miles per gallon is only paying $148 in gas taxes a year,” Vanderspek said. “And that vehicle is causing way more damage to our roads than a Toyota Prius Prime, but would be paying less than the transportation costs that are being proposed.”
The governor’s EV fee proposal is far from becoming law. The General Assembly is expected to produce its final state budget for a vote in June.
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The data indicates electric vehicles weigh 2,000 pounds or greater than their ICE counterpart. Thus, electric vehicles cause greater wear and tear on road infrastructure. Road taxes need to be charged to electric vehicles. The 10,000 mile comparison in this article is very generous toward electric vehicles. Everyone who travels on the roads must pay for the roads. Based on the data in this article, the only fair way to collect road tax is to remove the RI state tax from gasoline sales and implement an across the board road toll tax system.
I think it is unreasonable for EV advocates to object to helping pay for the roads they use, as noted they are heavy and they already get a lot of breaks thru rebates and charging stations built for them by taxpayers.
Fees based on miles driven sound good but considering RI’s small size and the amount of out of state travel, and out of staters driving here, it doesn’t seem practical any time soon. So the registration fees are likely to be the long term gas tax replacement. The state already mandates all new cars sold eventually be EVs so they will come on no matter what
I think the reg fees should be based on weight. Heavier EVs do more damage to roads and bridges, use more hard to mine materials, make heavier demands on the already stressed grid, cause more pollution from tires, and are more dangerous to other road users. Indeed the Guardian reported a big EV can b worse for the environment than a compact gas car. It is only just that those who insist on a big heavy vehicle pay more and those who choose a smaller one pay less,
Also, RI supports the transit system, not with sales or property taxes as many states do, but from the gas tax. It is vital for RIPTA to get its share of any gas tax replacement, though the Governor ignored that in his proposal.
Finally, the report of the gas tax has decline from $4.8 million to $4.3 million should have said per penny of the tax, the total amount is more like $150 million
This proposal serves as a disincentive for people to purchase electric and hybrid vehicles, but more importantly it perpetuates the concept of car and roadway transportation instead of looking at improving a form of mass transportation.
The way public roads have been specified (construction standards from AASHTO and other professional groups) for decades, damage potential is not a concern until the vehicle reaches 10,000lbs, so there is no additional damage caused by passenger vehicle EVs. I agree the fairest approach is a per mile fee. This approach works best for folks with low MPG vehicles, people on the lower end of the economic spectrum driving older vehicles, or people on the higher end of the economic spectrum driving large and new SUVs.
Hello Barry. You’re missing a few things here. The fee as I’ve read it does not distinguish by weight, so a Chevy Bolt (curb weight: 3,600 to 3,700 lbs.) would have the same fee as an EV Hummer (8,500 – 9,000 lbs.). So much for the argument that this is about vehicle weight.
Also, let’s put the need for revenue here in perspective. As of the end of 2023, EVs and plug-in hybrids were only 1.4% of light-duty vehicles in the state of Rhode Island. So is it really time to be disincentivizing the vehicles that are an essential component of decarbonizing our transportation system to scrape in a few more dollars?
Also, the minerals argument is bogus. While it is true that *making* an EV requires more minerals, when you look at the life-cycle and include all of the extraction of petroleum to power internal combustion engine cars, there’s no comparison from an extraction standpoint.
Public transit is great and we should build more of it. But by pitting this as EVs versus transit, you’re making the un-attained perfect the enemy of a livable planet.
EVs will now be double taxed. They’re currently taxed 4.16% for the electricity they consume not including the renewable energy fees. Add another 12% if you include RE stuff. The cost of electricity in RI is high enough so that a 30mpg car is actually cheaper to run. Add the new fee and ICE cars win again.
A Chevy Bolt weighs about the same as a Honda CR-V, and has about the same interior space.
Next up, bikes to pay the new 150 fee.
John,
The taxes on electric bills do not go toward road infrastructure. We all pay taxes on our electric bills. Decrease your usage if you want to pay less taxes on your electric bill. To charge electric vehicle owners a road tax is only fair. Letting the registry of motor vehicles collect the tax is also fair. Maybe you can suggest a monthly payment plan for the electric vehicle road tax. Would that help ease your willingness to pay your fair share of road taxes?
responding to comments: sorry I wasn’t clear that the Gov did NOT propose a weight based EV registration fee, it was my opinion (and testimony) that EV fees should be based on weight for all the reasons I listed, and since bigger, heavier EVs do have more impact, I hope the environment community should join that effort.
The environmental impact of developing, shipping, refining oil nd gas is indeed worse than the EV mineral mining, but the latter is not bogus about the size of EVs. Lithium mining is water intensive and dry regions of Chile, Bolivia are adversely affected. Cobalt mining, a lot from the Congo, has serious pollution impacts, especially from sulfur. Of course that is not visible to RIers. And manufacturing an EV is said to have more impact than a gas car because of the heavy batteries. So smaller is better for all these reasons, and our community should advocate for incentivizing smaller vehicles – especially as the auto industry may promote the more profitable bigger ones.
And EVs vs RIPTA is not my doing, the state supports RIPTA thru the gas tax, and when a class of vehicles does not pay a gas tax or equivalent, like it r not RIPTA loses out (already impacting RIPTA’s budget)
Barry,
In my opinion charging EV vehicles by weight will not work. ICE vehicles pay gas tax for miles driven not the weight per vehicle. It maybe necessary for each EV vehicles to have some form of mile tracking system to actually pay the owed road tax to the state. ICE vehicles filling their tank at RI gas stations pay all their road tax to RI regardless of where they actually drive.
Just got my registration bill and pretty livid about this. Would have paid $80 in gas tax per year over the last 3 years for an equivalent weight gas car based on its MPG. Now paying $200 because I wanted to not be a free-rider and do my part to prevent air pollution.