New fuel-economy standards, which President Trump said he finalized Saturday, would kill a federal effort to speed the transition to electric vehicles.

Electricification is the one thing that could make the price of gas irrelevant for Americans

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  • TonyOstrich@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    I could see a scenario where if we get to a point where a super majority of vehicles on the roadways are electric then the fuel tax is shifted over to a tax on electricity which does address some of the usage issues with a registration based tax. It also helps with location of usage a little more too since just because the vehicle was registered in one state doesn’t mean it was used the most in that state.

    I’m well aware we have the technology to determine exactly where and how much every vehicle is being used, but I’m not terribly interested in giving many, if any, of the current governments of the world that ability.

    • ExFed@programming.dev
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      1 day ago

      Bear with my ignorance, but what are the issues you see with registration-based usage taxes?

      Electric usage tax has the same problem as a gas tax in that it’s decoupled from actual public road usage.

      edit: hit “send” before actually done writing… Whoops.

      • Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        Are you registering miles per year on roads as well?

        Why would someone who drives 10 miles a day past the same massive registration cost as someone who drives 100 or 500 miles per day?

        That’s why it’s tied to gas atm. The higher usage the more you pay.

        • ExFed@programming.dev
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          1 day ago

          Sorry, I missed the point where registration includes odometer readings. Sure, it’s possible that someone could be driving 10k miles off-road and 100 miles on-road, thereby paying for more than they’re using, but it seems quite niche and less complicated a trade-off (and much less tied to fossil fuels) than gas tax.

          • Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            23 hours ago

            You said it should be tied to registration. But it’s tied to gas because that reflects miles/usage and wear better

            • ExFed@programming.dev
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              21 hours ago

              Did you read anything I wrote about electrification? The moment you add a battery it stops reflecting usage.

              • Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                19 hours ago

                How will registration only be fair to those who don’t drive much and still make those who drive constantly/ for work pay more?