Residents who own an electric car and live south of the Oklahoma state line are facing new fees. As of September 1, Texas electric car owners will have to pay more to register their vehicles.
Residents who own an electric car and live south of the Oklahoma state line are facing new fees. As of September 1, Texas electric car owners will have to pay more to register their vehicles.
Texas lawmakers approved a $200 annual charge for all electric vehicles. This fee will be added to the annual registration fee.
The new fee is to offset the loss of revenue from gasoline taxes. Texas Department of Transportation receive a portion of gasoline taxes to maintain roads and other projects. TxDOT is losing revenue from gasoline taxes because electric vehicles don’t use it to run.
Tesla driver Matthew Satterfield said he understands the fee.
“I save a lot on fuel driving an electric,” Satterfield said in an interview with KTen. “So, paying some on taxes for registration... I don't have a problem with that.”
“We still have to maintain the roads,” he continued, “and they're already bad enough as it is — so if we continue to take money away from that, it's only going to get worse."
Even though his car is registered in Oklahoma, he said he understands.
“If you were paying for gas, you’d be paying taxes on that to cover the roads,” Satterfield said. “It’s no different either way.”
Some residents are already feeling the sting of the new fee.
Avani Baght just moved to Texas from Chicago. She said she wasn’t aware of the fee till she registered her car.
“Texas charged $200, and I’m surprised,” Baght said. “We didn’t have to pay that in Chicago.”
The current population in Texas is approximately 32 million. There are only 200,000 electric cars registered in Texas. That means that less than one percent own electric cars.
The Department of Energy reported that there are approximately 16000 electric cars in Oklahoma and over four million residents. This makes the average of electric car owners in Oklahoma less than half of a percent.