Penalizing electric cars - way to go, WA State!!!

[bae]

I'm not sure they've really thought things through....


A year or so ago, right before the pandemic, I bought a little used Fiat 500E, for ~$9000. Works great, pretty zippy, all electric. I use it for almost all my random on-island car trips now. It has a range of ~90 miles, and is driven exclusively on island roads, never on the mainland. Island roads are entirely County, or private.
Went to renew the tabs for this today....

All my other sedans and sports cars are $68.75 each to renew in WA. This cheap little electric car though comes to $293.25! There's a $150 charge for "Electric Vehicle Registration" atop the regular fees, and an additional $75 charge for "Transportation Electrification", which I'm guessing is to subsidize electric buses for Seattle.

These add-on fees are presumably to make up for the fact that they aren't getting gasoline tax from me. Now, mind you, the vehicle is never driven on any roads that those tax funds are designated for....

So basically, if I'd bought the gas version of the Fiat 500, it'd be ~1/4 the car tab fees...

And for further contrast, the fee for my 9800 lb diesel-burning Hummer H1 came to only $108 (1/3 the cost of the teeny Fiat), because it gets hit with an extra weight charge...

[bae]

Well, I tracked down what the "Transportation Electrification" surcharge is for - it funds charging stations around the state.

Now, there are none of those on the island, of course, and won't likely be. We do have charging stations, that have been installed by our rural electrical cooperative, and that are free to use. Because, well, for island use, there's not much need.

I didn't even bother to put a charging setup at my house, I just plug the little beast into a regular outlet if it is getting low, it recharges reasonably quickly for my needs just from a 120v outlet.

Go team!

[ToomuchStuff]

Too bad you all can't set up something where you don't need/get a state license for just island use, kind of the way they do with farm vehicles.

[razz]

As I have thought about this, I wondered how you would handle this differently? Whatever is devised to develop the electric charging stations for any part of the state including paying for them has to apply to everyone just as any legislation that governs any resident took resources to develop. Your island coop simply developed the stations earlier and it now feels that island residents are being penalized.
I completely empathize with your situation on an island but not sure that any precedent can be set without consequences that should be avoided.
Aside from that, I have wondered about paying for the electricity used. A local community college has a charging station. I have seen different electric vehicles stopping to charge including Teslas, spoken to one but hesitated to ask if he was paying for the power as it was just casual chat. So someone has to pay for it somehow. Who?