Abstract
Transportation infrastructure funding is falling short at the federal and state level, in part because the fuel tax mechanism is outdated. The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB1)1 provides additional revenue for transportation infrastructure improvements by increasing California’s gasoline and diesel taxes, and introducing additional registration fees for vehicles. This includes a new $100 annual fee for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) because they do not use gasoline and therefore do not contribute towards the maintenance of California’s roadways. California is now one of 19 states that have assessed fees on Battery-Electric Vehicles (BEVs) or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).
To gain a better understanding of the trade-offs and implications of instituting a new fee on ZEVs, the California Legislature requested the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis to make “recommendations on potential methodologies to raise revenue from zero-emission and low-emission vehicle owners to achieve the state’s transportation electrification, clean air, and climate targets established under law while also ensuring those vehicle owners pay their fair share of any costs borne by motorists to fund improvements to the transportation system.” Key findings from this research are presented below with a full report available at: https://www.ucits.org/research-project/assessing-alternatives-to-californias-electric-vehicle-registration-fee/
