Editor’s note: This commentary is by David Ellenbogen, who is a member of the Vermont Sierra Club’s executive committee and serves on its energy committee. In 2014 he completed a certificate of graduate study in ecological economics at UVM’s Gund Institute.
For the third year in a row, there are proposals from elected officials that would attach new fees to electric vehicle ownership. Electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are an important part of Vermont’s transition to a 90 percent renewable energy future, and are the main part of making our transportation clean and green. For reasons outlined below, it is premature to use EVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to finance our transportation infrastructure.
• Vermont’s electricity is among the cleanest in our nation – about 55 percent of our electricity came from fossil fuel in 2017, and that percentage shrinks to 25 percent by 2032 (source: Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan). Utilities like Washington Electric, are already 100 percent powered by renewables, making the use of EVs close to pollution-free. In order to reach the state’s goal of having 10 percent of all Vermont vehicles be EVs by 2025, we need to encourage, not discourage, sales of EVs.
• The typical 2018 EV is a compact vehicle that costs in excess of $30,000. A comparably sized gas-burning car, such as a Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3, Volkswagen Golf, Hyundai Accent, Ford Fiesta or Toyota Yaris, sells for $15,000 to $22,000 (source: Car and Driver “Small Cars 2017-18, The Best and the Rest”). This is why even the federal government recognizes the need for incentives to EV ownership. Why would Vermont choose to fly in the opposite direction?
• The public — and our governor, in particular — seems unaware of the true cost of driving gasoline-powered vehicles. A recent Scott administration proposal would, according to testimony from Scott’s senior environmental analyst for the Agency of Transportation, not only add a surcharge to electricity used at public EV charging stations, but would add a surcharge to the cost of electricity used at one’s own home, if that electricity is used for EV charging. That’s right — our “no new taxes” governor wants both a new fee (read “tax”) on certain uses of electricity and for the government to stick its nose into our homes and determine how exactly we are using electricity. If it is used for EV charging, Mr. Scott would make EV owners pay more for that electricity than if that same electricity were used for any other household use. Big brother Scott wants to inspect your use of electricity and charge more for it if he and his administration disapprove of how it is used.
In the meantime, health care costs related to air pollution from gas-burning vehicles are currently $93 to $360 per Vermont household per year (source: Who Pays for Roads? How the “Users Pay” Myth gets in the Way of Solving America’s Transportation Problems, U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund 2015). An American Lung Association study concludes that when environmental degradation and health care costs are combined, the cost to Vermonters from burning a 16 gallon tank of gasoline in the average car is $18.37. Vermonters are currently subsidizing the cost of gasoline-powered vehicles by absorbing these hidden costs. Until we begin charging gas-powered vehicle owners for the true cost of their driving, it makes no sense to target EV owners with new fees. Indeed, EV owners are the one group of drivers who are not polluting our air or damaging our health, thereby saving us millions in averted costs.
• EV owners, like all taxpayers (including many Americans who don’t even own cars), are already paying for more than half of the cost of our roads, since federal taxes earmarked for roads far exceed the money raised from gas taxes. So it is incorrect to say that EV owners are not currently paying for roads. They are.
When EVs becomes common, EV owners will need to pay for road use (beyond what they currently pay for in income tax). At the same time, strong disincentives will be needed for burning fossil fuel. Research done in collaboration between UVM’s Transportation Research Center and VTRANS recommends waiting until at least 15 percent of Vermont vehicles are EVs before creating fees for EV ownership. The federal government, which provides a $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases, recognizes the current need to encourage EV ownership. For Vermont to actively discourage EV ownership seems not just out of character, it would be the wrong policy to pursue. Rather than discouraging EV ownership, our elected leaders should be encouraging the electrification of our transportation.
