Electric vehicle owners soon will pay fee for infrastructure, charging stations
MONTGOMERY, AL: Electric and hybrid cars have been growing in popularity across the country, and in the state, but soon the owners of those vehicles in Alabama will need to pay an annual fee.
Gov. Kay Ivey signed her Rebuild Alabama plan into law Wednesday. It includes a 10-cent gas tax increase that would phase in over the next three years. The money from the gas tax increase would go toward roads, bridges, and the port of Mobile.
Electric vehicle owners will soon pay a $200 annual fee and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners will pay a $100 annual fee.
Charles Woernle owns an electric vehicle in Montgomery.
“It’s smooth,” Woernle said. “It’s quiet and it’s quick.”
He said he would not mind paying the fee.
“We use the roads so we probably have an obligation to help support that,” he said. “So I can live with a $200 a year tax fee for the vehicle.”
Steven Strickland is a hybrid owner. He does not have to pay the $100 fee, but still said the fee is unfair. Strickland said people already pay a tax for their electricity to charge their vehicles.
“You’re getting hit with sales tax on your fuel, which is electricity, and then the state comes along and double-taxing you by adding a $200 bill every year because you don’t use the gas,” he said. “But you’re using fuel, and you’re paying for it.”
Source: wsfa
