Haugen asks owners of electric cars to help pay

A small registration fee for electric cars is necessary to keep the state’s transportation funds from eroding, said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen in a hearing of the Senate Transportation Committee.

“We all use the public roads, and here in Washington the major source of road funding is the gas tax,” Haugen said. “Electric vehicles don’t use gas, so they don’t contribute to the gas tax — but they still put wear and tear on our roads.”

Haugen’s Senate Bill 6377 would impose a $100 registration and annual renewal fee that would bring annual electric car fees in line with those paid by owners of hybrid and compact cars.

“While we want to continue to encourage the use of green vehicles, we also need to maintain our roads,” Haugen said. “This can maintain our funding without costing electric car owners any more than they’d pay in gas taxes. All we ask is that they pay their fair share to maintain the roads they use along with the rest of us.”

The $100 fee, on top of the $77 annual fees already paid by owners of electric cars, would result in an annual fee of $177. That compares to $197 for a compact car and $151 for a hybrid.

“Car dealers tell us these cars are selling faster than they can build them,” Haugen said. “That means we can expect to see more and more of them on the roads as production ramps up to meet demand, and it means we don’t have to worry that this small fee might discourage people from buying them. Nobody on a waiting list to buy a $30,000 vehicle is going to change their mind because of a $100 fee.”