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Comment by PostOnce | Hacker News Reader

At some point, the tax structure for cars has to be changed to account for electric vehicles wearing the roads and not yet paying to maintain them? I'm not sure, but I think that's what fuel tax pays for? So, the cost will go up at some point in that sense.

Then, on the other hand, $3/gal is a US-only phenomenon among countries that can really afford electric cars, everywhere else it is ~2x that? Europe, japan/korea/australia? I could be wrong here too but I think that's how it is. So there electric may already be quite a bit cheaper, depending on generation cost.

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The vast majority of road wear is caused by heavy trucks. Passenger cars including electric models have very little impact on existing roads. But it would certainly make sense to shift road infrastructure funding more toward vehicle registration fees.

I don't have a source for this handy and I can't look at the moment, so I could be misinformed, but I'm pretty sure I've heard in many different places that the current fuel taxes in the US don't even come close to covering road maintenance costs.

I wonder if some kind of weight + mileage tax would work better?

States already rely on a variety of revenue sources, such as vehicle registration fees and tolls, in addition to gasoline taxes.

Ultimately I don't see how one could institute a fair system without converting all roads to toll roads (perhaps with variable pricing to manage demand).

Gasoline taxes are a reasonable proxy for "usage", so heavy users contribute more.

Registration fees treat everyone of the same make and model the same, be it a livery vehicle with six-digit annual mileage or a proverbial old-lady whose car is being driven around town twice a week. And one can't exactly levy a tax on kWh.

Fixed fees are much worse than gasoline taxes, because they lower the marginal cost of driving, making the already fixed-cost biased cost structure even worse.

(This is bad because it makes driving more very cheap for people who already have cars, the exact opposite what's good for extracting maximal utility out of minimal fuel use)

> I'm not sure, but I think that's what fuel tax pays for?

The high taxes on cars and gasoline usually goes to improve public transport.

your smart meter will take care of that... (if you charge a car at your home, they will know and charge accordingly)

I'm just fine with gas taxes covering EVs until a carbon tax can be imposed.

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