Electric vehicle owners would pay $250 registration fee under legislation passed in Pa. House

An EV charges at the 10-port charging station at JFK airport in New York, part of a joint initiative by the New York Power Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

New license plates may not be the only big change for some Pennsylvania drivers next year. The state House on Wednesday passed a bill that would require electric vehicle owners to pay a road user fee in lieu of the gasoline tax that other motorists pay.

The owners of EVs would pay a $200 fee when registering or renewing their registration next year. The fee would increase to $250 in 2026. Owners of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles would pay $50 next year and $63 in 2026, under the version of Senate Bill 656 passed by the House in a 190-12 vote.

The legislation now returns to the state Senate for lawmakers to approve a House amendment adjusting the fee amounts. If Senate lawmakers sign off on the change it will go to Gov. Josh Shapiro for his signature.

House Transportation Committee Ed Nielson (D-Philadelphia) said in debate on the House floor Wednesday that the legislature has been working to establish a way for electric vehicle users to pay their fair share of highway costs for years.

“Both sides of the aisle are in support of doing this,” Nielson said. “A lot of people are calling it tax — a tax it is not. It is a fee to use our roadways, a fair and equitable fee.”

The EV fee legislation passed in the upper chamber more than a year ago with strong bipartisan support but faced Republican opposition in the House Transportation Committee because members said the maximum fee of $285 was too high.

That’s roughly equivalent to the $285 in gasoline tax drivers paid on average in 2021, according to the state Independent Fiscal Office.

Pennsylvania relies on its liquid fuels tax to pay for highway and bridge maintenance, state police, and other transportation-related costs. Shapiro’s 2024-25 budget proposal includes more than $1.7 billion in tax revenue from gas and diesel fuel purchases.

At 57.6 cents per gallon, Pennsylvania’s gas tax is the second highest in the nation – just a fraction of a cent less than California, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration .

And while Pennsylvania has an alternative fuels tax that includes electricity for electric vehicles, the state relies on users to self-report and remit any taxes that are due. Last year, the state collected less than $778,000 in alternative fuel tax revenue, which includes tax paid on other forms of alternative fuel such as hydrogen and compressed natural gas.

An analysis by the House Appropriations Committee projects that the fees on EVs and plug-in hybrids would generate more than $16 million next year.

Rep. Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre) noted that while he generally opposes new fees on consumers, the burden of highway maintenance and highway safety is falling mainly on traditional fossil fuel vehicle drivers while EV drivers benefit..

“We all have a responsibility to fund these roads, fund our bridges, and safety,” Benninghoff said. “These vehicles have a lot of weight to them, and their impact is significant.”

But House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Chairman Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) noted the fee would be the second-highest in the nation and could turn some consumers away from EVs. Texas charges a $400 fee in the first year that a new EV is registered and $250.75 a year thereafter.

“We should be encouraging the use of EV vehicles, not discouraging it,” Vitali said, noting that many EV owners pay a premium for their vehicles because they want to do the right thing. “As far as the environment goes, they are concerned with climate change. They are concerned with air pollution. They are concerned with our dependency on foreign oil.”

Vitali was one of six Democrats who voted against the bill.

Rep. Joseph Hohenstein (D-Philadelphia) said that while the legislation is not an answer to climate change, it does address a pressing issue for the state.

“This is a fantastic bill that does move everything forward, but it also has a lot of elements that kick the can down the road, and we will need to address these issues in the future of both our energy usage and our basic fundamental transportation funding. And this is one element of it, but it is not where we end,” Hohenstein said.

The post Electric vehicle owners would pay $250 registration fee under legislation passed in Pa. House appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star .