Charging by the Mile

[Ulu]

(This is NOT a political discussion, though it might only affect people in my state at first. It’s a technology issue. Please take care what names you drop.)

 

I’m paying DMV fees etc on 7 vehicles. One (my boat) is electric. Only 2 are new enough to have OBD2, so four are theoretically unaffected.

 

Also I am long retired from business, & I don’t drive even 5000 miles a year, but I’m still coughing up all the taxes & fees.

 

Now “they” want all car owners (not drivers, per se)  to pay a mileage tax as well. So there is a plan to bug everyone’s OBD with a new GPS device to report mileage to the DMV,  as you drive.

 

Isn’t this silly? Every modern IC car gets scanned by the state, every two years, thru OBD2. It reports the mileage to the DMV already so far as I can tell.

 

Also the tech writes the mileage down on the paperwork, so they can check for odometer tampering.

 

If you change the computer, it sees the new hardware “address”. The system will know. It’s pretty hard to cheat.

 

This whole Idea is promoted to recover lost gas tax revenue due to  electric car drivers, by putting OBD devices on (perhaps just) IC cars.

Teslas (and some of the comparatively teeny tiny population of other electrics) don’t have any OBD2.

 

I am struggling with the idea of how they will be taxed. Do not Teslas report to the state already? By wi-fi or Starlink?

 

The whole business seems odd on the face of it.

 

 

 

 

 

[TodFitch]

Since you only drive 5K miles a year, if the gas tax was entirely replaced by a mileage tax you would likely come out about the same. If your vehicles get less than the modern fleet average MPG you might come out ahead.

 

I recall reading that the gas tax was picked as a way to fund roads because there wasn’t a good way back in the early 1900s to implement a mileage tax. They figured that gas use was a proxy for miles driven. With EVs that relationship between gas used and miles driven no longer exists.

 

That said, I don’t think using an ODB2 monitoring device is a good idea. Mileage can be recorded at periodic vehicle safety checks.

 

With respect to Tesla model Y and 3 cars, I was not aware that they lacked a traditional ODB port. But it looks like they do have some sort of port that an adapter can be plugged into. One site I found about that is https://ohptools.com/blogs/news/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-tesla-model-3-y-diagnostic-tools-apps

[Ulu]

My wife drives about the same or a bit more so I expect to pay another $1000 a year.

Nothing was said about removing the gas tax either.

 

Just adding mileage charges.

 

Edited Thursday at 03:50 AM by Ulu

[Dan Hiebert]

Every time a Tesla is charged, all of its data, including mileage, is reported to Tesla's mainframe.  If there is an issue with the car, it gets reported back to the owner.  Technically no OBD necessary with Big Brother Tesla monitoring.  Every EV that is charged at a commercial charging station has its data reported to a mainframe somewhere, too, which still makes its way back to the manufacturer.  Many residential charging stations do that as well, that is why folks generally have to install proprietary charging stations, even at home.  It would be easy for the State to access that information.  In New Mexico, every home sold, even existing ones, now has to have an EV charging station installed - it has to be approved by the State - so you know monitoring is probably included.  In my mind, that means EVs can be taxed per mile, while leaving gas vehicles to the gas tax.  What's irritating is that I already know that won't happen.  Most State and Federal legislators only see through rose colored dollar sign glasses.  If taxed mileage comes to pass, gas vehicles would be double taxed for road use.  Here in Maine, we have to record mileage every year when we register our vehicles, and when we get them inspected (which don't have to coincide).  Both of those go into a State database, so that data is accessible to the State as well.  We also have to consider both the State and the Fed tax gas, so both would most likely tax mileage.  "Death and Taxes", as they say, but it's still not fair.  But to paraphrase a favorite movie quote - "Fair's got nothing to do with it."        

[Sniper]

The problem with an annual inspection reporting your mileage and basing taxes on that is people will get a big tax bill once a year and raise Kane about it. Kind of like how the income tax morphed into a payroll withholding situation. What the states ought to do and most likely will end up doing is you pay the tax as you charge your EV much like you pay the tax as you fuel your gas vehicles. That way they bite you a little bit at a time instead of a big chunk all at once

[Ulu]

That’s what we get now. A big DMV bill once a year, per vehicle.

 

BTW, Our governor already plans to raise the gas tax again.

 

We will pay mileage plus gas tax plus increases.

 

He plans to continue paying expiring federal subsidies to new EV buyers, by raising the gas\diesel taxes.