Three Reasons EVs Will Make Your Life Better (And Three Reasons They Won?t)

[Philip1]

There is one more thing to think about. As morE and more efficient vehicles are introduced to the market... The government will get less and less tax from fuel. The government doesn't like reduced revenues so they will tax miles driven thus negating any savings from ditching gasoline.

[imzjustplayin]

I hope they don't think they're going to get away with the whole GPS tracking just to charge by the mile thing. That **** is ridiculous and it unfairly taxes cars like it does suvs even though heavier vehicles (and hence those with poor fuel economy) do more wear and tear on the roads than light weight cars. The gas tax is the perfect solution and is most equitable in terms of those who use more and do more damage pay more.

[theholycow]

There's absolutely no reason to use GPS tracking. If taxing fuel or tires wouldn't work, they could track miles by odometers. Sure, they'd have to require odometers to be tested and repaired, but that will only bother a few people...far fewer than Big Brother's GPS would. Sure, people could still tamper with odometers, but they can also tamper with GPS (or just block/jam its signal).

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by theholycow

There's absolutely no reason to use GPS tracking. If taxing fuel or tires wouldn't work, they could track miles by odometers. Sure, they'd have to require odometers to be tested and repaired, but that will only bother a few people...far fewer than Big Brother's GPS would. Sure, people could still tamper with odometers, but they can also tamper with GPS (or just block/jam its signal).

Yeah, well the proposals in Washington and California say otherwise.. Anyway the current fuel tax is fair and should be raised slightly to take care of caltrans thanks to inflation.. When they first institutionalize these taxes, they should make them tied to the inflation index, that way noone could accuse the government of raising taxes because of their out of control spending but instead because of inflation. The age of eligibility for social security also should have been tied to the life expectancy age as well. (Life expectancy in 1930s was 65, the original age of eligibility for SS)..

[Jay2TheRescue]

One thing is certain, the gov't will eventually have to find another way to collect road taxes, as taxing gasoline & diesel don't work for electric cars. Currently, not paying road taxes will help make electric cheaper, and more likely to be adopted, but once the gov't realizes there's a significant amount of vehicles on the roads not paying road taxes, some sort of solution will be devised.

[GasSavers_Erik]

It seems that rather than installing GPS or radio transmitting odometers on 100% of vehicles that are currently on the road (many of them being old cheap cars), they could simply have the electric car manufacturers install this technology on the electric cars at the factory and let the rest of us continue to pay tax on gasoline.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by tjts1

Even the dirtiest coal plant is cleaner than thousands of cars trying to transport their own individual internal combustion engine and emissions equipment. EVs are a win win no matter how you look at it. I'm more interested in the $1/gallon gas I'll be buying 10 years from now. Let all the other suckers pay up for EVs.

alright consider the coal plant in my town, a 4 engine freight train of coal gets burned a day, thats 4+ deisel locos pulling 100 some cars, those cars didnt mine, excavate, load, and come from around the corner to the power plant. I for one hate paying what i already to for my power bill

not to mention all their batteries and whatnot that need to be manufactured, those raw materials don't go poof into the factory.

nothing is ever win win, everything has a downside. bearings still need grease transmissions still need oil, plastic still needs to be made...

BUT yes ill be waiting for gas to go back down to a buck and then be still driving my gas slurping smoke choking machines haha or just run my model A off pretty much anything that burns (kerosene, moonshine, etc )

[dieselbenz]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

One thing is certain, the gov't will eventually have to find another way to collect road taxes, as taxing gasoline & diesel don't work for electric cars. Currently, not paying road taxes will help make electric cheaper, and more likely to be adopted, but once the gov't realizes there's a significant amount of vehicles on the roads not paying road taxes, some sort of solution will be devised.

WA state was trying to pass a blanket $100/yeah charge on all EVs regardless of how many miles they are driven. It seems short sighted and I don't think its going to pass. A per mile tax would be more appropriate.
You don't need GPS, just have the car report its odometer reading once a year. A lot of new cars can already send and receive data off the cellular network. Anything with onstar for example.

[imzjustplayin]

They could asses road taxes via electricity usage on your utility bill. Motor vehicle tax, or a variety of other ways that shouldn't be an invasion of privacy.

[theholycow]

^That's a good idea; they could just put a meter on the charging stations (and make it illegal to charge on non-metered power just like it's illegal to put farm fuel in a truck).

Why would odometers need to use radio or cellular? Why not do it the way it's done now in states that have safety/emissions inspections: Someone looks at the odometer and types it in to the inspection system.

The State Of Rhode Island already knows exactly how many miles I drive.