$150 EV Registration Fee?? AWESOME!!

A lot of crying going on about Washington States Electric Vehicle registration fee and I don't blame WA from wa-wa-ing... What?? What do you mean its not the state crying? it the drivers?  No way! Can't be!

We EVers are getting over BIG TIME!! We should be celebrating!  After all, only $100 goes towards the highway fund. The other $50 will go towards putting in more chargers that will allow us to go to places like the Washington Coast or the Olympics or other currently ignored areas. It will also allow us to double up on the plugs in the most congested areas.  Sure its great to meet other EVers but if its a party of 5 at a single plug, it could be and usually is a problem!

But $100 bucks is $100 bucks so why am I so happy? Well because I know the alternatives and they aint pretty! Gas maybe cheap where you are but its never really that cheap here and taxes is why. Every gallon of gas sold in WA comes with a 62.9 cents tax bill.  44.5 cents from Wa, 18.4 cent from Uncle Sam.

So on the one hand we have $100 that ALL GOES TO WA verses $100 for gasoline tax of which WA gets only $70.74 with Uncle Sam getting the rest. Well you say  "Well ok, the more Uncle Sam gets from us, the more we get from him, so that $29.26 is a good thing, right?"

wrong Wrong, WRONG!!!  No matter how much we give Uncle Sam, we will get the same back.  If you think what the state puts in matters, look at Alaska or Montana and you will quickly realize some states put in very very very little and get a lot back...

Now some say the flat tax penalizes them and I say sure it does if you NEVER LEAVE TOWN!  Let me give you an example. My Corolla is driven for work only.  Last year, I drove it just 6700 miles... ya, 6700 miles, averaged 38 MPG and still paid $115.10 in gas taxes (well would have if the rate had been the same all year)

So if you drove your LEAF less than 6700 miles last year while your 38+ MPG gasser sat in the driveway, then and ONLY THEN you have something to say!

Sooooo, who has something to say!!!

Ya...yep.... that's what I thought.

So the next time you want to complain about the EV registration fee, take my advice and CLAM UP!!! Your words might actually get someone at the State to investigate the fees and you gotta know by now the results of that investigation is likely fees going up!

So yeah, I am very happy to pay my $150 EV registration fee!!

**Edit**  Ok apparently the original bill was supposed to earmark $50 of the fee for building up the infrastructure but that part was nixed.  What we ended up getting is funding for a "public-private" pilot program. Guessing its some sort of organized method to get businesses to host charging stations...

http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/07/20/22575310/how-washingtons-new-transportation-package-forces-electric-vehicle-owners-pay-more-for-not-using-gasoline