Virginia Highway Use Fee for Hybrid/Electric Vehicles?

[Anonymous]

What is up with Virginia charging us $20+ for driving a hybrid car because we don't use pay enough taxes on gas? Can someone please explain to me what the hell this is about???

https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/#highwayuse_fee.asp

[Anonymous]

Gas taxes pay for road maintenance, correct? Hybrid cars use the roads. I think most municipalities have to find a way to make electric vehicle users pay for using the roads. The need is more as more consumers switch to electric.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gas taxes pay for road maintenance, correct? Hybrid cars use the roads. I think most municipalities have to find a way to make electric vehicle users pay for using the roads. The need is more as more consumers switch to electric.

But Virginia municipalities also have a personal property tax based on the value of your car, and electric cars are worth more, so taxes are higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gas taxes pay for road maintenance, correct? Hybrid cars use the roads. I think most municipalities have to find a way to make electric vehicle users pay for using the roads. The need is more as more consumers switch to electric.

But Virginia municipalities also have a personal property tax based on the value of your car, and electric cars are worth more, so taxes are higher.

Worth more than what? A base Tesla is what, 35k? Plenty of cars are more expense, and thus have a higher personal property tax.

[Anonymous]

It's a scam, electric and hybrid cars save money and environment, they should be paid by the county to be on the roads. The woke virginia needs to decide are they woke and eco push or low on money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a scam, electric and hybrid cars save money and environment, they should be paid by the county to be on the roads. The woke virginia needs to decide are they woke and eco push or low on money

Actually depends. Some electric cars use more fossil fuel than gas power cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a scam, electric and hybrid cars save money and environment, they should be paid by the county to be on the roads. The woke virginia needs to decide are they woke and eco push or low on money

Actually depends. Some electric cars use more fossil fuel than gas power cars.

this is just not true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a scam, electric and hybrid cars save money and environment, they should be paid by the county to be on the roads. The woke virginia needs to decide are they woke and eco push or low on money

Actually depends. Some electric cars use more fossil fuel than gas power cars.

this is just not true

birth to grave, its close, but electric comes out on top. my wifes old hybrid saturn vue, got about one MPG better than the gas powered model... but that was decades ago.

When comparing vehicle prices. if compare two vehicles same size/shape trim level. the hybrid/electric will be more. technology is expensive. and as fuel prices go up, demand goes up so will prices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a scam, electric and hybrid cars save money and environment, they should be paid by the county to be on the roads. The woke virginia needs to decide are they woke and eco push or low on money

Actually depends. Some electric cars use more fossil fuel than gas power cars.

this is just not true

Is true. An imported Japanese electric car has extra shipping. The battery and car often shipped two different locations. The fuel to ship cars is huge. And electric comes from oil, coal or natural gas.

By comparison my daughter’a Chevy Cruze was built in Ohio and shipped to Maryland the next state and gets 40mpg. The fuel used to ship a foreign car to the US is huge.

Also unless you crush the gas powered car you gave up that car is still on road polluting.

My favorite a guy in cash for clunkers traded in a gas guzzler for a Prius. Turns out never crushed car is still on road in Mexico

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a scam, electric and hybrid cars save money and environment, they should be paid by the county to be on the roads. The woke virginia needs to decide are they woke and eco push or low on money

Actually depends. Some electric cars use more fossil fuel than gas power cars.

this is just not true

Is true. An imported Japanese electric car has extra shipping. The battery and car often shipped two different locations. The fuel to ship cars is huge. And electric comes from oil, coal or natural gas.

By comparison my daughter’a Chevy Cruze was built in Ohio and shipped to Maryland the next state and gets 40mpg. The fuel used to ship a foreign car to the US is huge.

Also unless you crush the gas powered car you gave up that car is still on road polluting.

My favorite a guy in cash for clunkers traded in a gas guzzler for a Prius. Turns out never crushed car is still on road in Mexico

the cruz still imported components. But even if you assume that the electric car starts off consuming more fuel, the fuel your cruise uses requires extra fuel to arrive at the gas station. Whereas the electric, even if it's powered by coal, which is very doubtful, has that coal arrive at the plant via rail which is far more efficient that a fuel truck delivering to a gas station.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gas taxes pay for road maintenance, correct? Hybrid cars use the roads. I think most municipalities have to find a way to make electric vehicle users pay for using the roads. The need is more as more consumers switch to electric.

But Virginia municipalities also have a personal property tax based on the value of your car, and electric cars are worth more, so taxes are higher.

personal property tax is local and restricted to certain counties. The state maintains major roads though funds provided by the gas tax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a scam, electric and hybrid cars save money and environment, they should be paid by the county to be on the roads. The woke virginia needs to decide are they woke and eco push or low on money

Actually depends. Some electric cars use more fossil fuel than gas power cars.

this is just not true

Is true. An imported Japanese electric car has extra shipping. The battery and car often shipped two different locations. The fuel to ship cars is huge. And electric comes from oil, coal or natural gas.

By comparison my daughter’a Chevy Cruze was built in Ohio and shipped to Maryland the next state and gets 40mpg. The fuel used to ship a foreign car to the US is huge.

Also unless you crush the gas powered car you gave up that car is still on road polluting.

My favorite a guy in cash for clunkers traded in a gas guzzler for a Prius. Turns out never crushed car is still on road in Mexico

We're getting an EV and keeping the existing (reasonably efficient) gas-powered car as our second car, which means it'll be driven way less than it is now, and it's now only driven about 7,500 miles a year. So I'm not that worried about that car's continued emissions, which will go way down. And if we mostly charge the EV during the day, it'll get most of its electricity from our solar panels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The fuel to ship cars is huge.

actually shipping a car across the ocean is pretty cheap and fuel efficient when compared to other methods. rail being the closest.

assuming a fully load semi and a fulled loaded ship assume one car weighs 2 tons

a fully loaded ship can travel 576 miles per gallon of fuel per ton of cargo (8000 cars = 16000 tons)
so each car = 288 miles per gallon

a fully loaded tractor trailer can travel 140 miles per gallon of fuel per ton of cargo (9 cars = 18 tons)
so each car 70 miles per gallon

distance between LA and Japan is 5500 miles to ship a car via boat is 19 gallons to ship the car the same distance via truck 78 gallons.

[Anonymous]

So buying an eco friendly car such as an electric or hybrid car, we pay more on HUF. This is a scam !!!!! Maybe Virginia should explain???? Everything to improve the environment is now very expensive; our current system is totally useless inadequate and full of lies to the consumers….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So buying an eco friendly car such as an electric or hybrid car, we pay more on HUF. This is a scam !!!!! Maybe Virginia should explain???? Everything to improve the environment is now very expensive; our current system is totally useless inadequate and full of lies to the consumers….

Any vehicle that is rated for 25mpg or better pays some amount of a fee. It’s not just EVs and hybrids.

We drive our EV and PHEV each about 6k miles a year so we signed up for the Mileage Choice program. We don’t mind paying our fair share to replace lost revenue, but the fee was many times more than we would otherwise pay in state gas taxes driving an ICE vehicle. This at least let’s us pay a lower rate based on miles driven.