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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 3, 2023 04:52 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Wayne Langerholc, Jr. |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Alternative Fuels Vehicle Charge |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to ensure Electric Vehicles (EVs) are paying their fair share. Vehicle electrification is already impacting and will continue to affect the Commonwealth’s transportation system. There is a trend to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles, including hybrid, hybrid plug-in, and EVs. Nationally, there were record-breaking EV sales in the third quarter of 2022 with 233,000 EVs sold, representing 7.3 percent of the market share. In Pennsylvania, we have witnessed an extraordinary evolution in EV ownership, growing from nearly 9,800 in 2019 to over 31,000 in 2022. This spike in EV ownership is contributing more wear-and-tear on the road but not paying for it. As such, my legislation would establish a five-year pilot program limited to EV passenger cars and light-duty trucks, charging EV owners $0.03 per mile. Further, my legislation would provide a $380 opt-out for those EV owners who do not wish to participate in the program. For the last 10 years, the average Vehicle-Miles Traveled (VMT) in Pennsylvania has been 12,000 miles. PennDOT also confirmed the average driver contributes approximately $380 annually in federal gas tax ($0.18/gallon, 24 percent or $91) and state gas tax ($0.61/gallon, 76 percent or $289). To effectively capture the VMT, EV owners would provide the odometer reading during the annual safety inspection before PennDOT produces an invoice. PennDOT also advised a new monthly billing system for EV owners is feasible. Further, this pilot program would eliminate the long-standing, under-utilized requirement for at-home reporting of electric car charging, and it would maintain the annual vehicle registration fee. As a reminder, EVs are exempt from the costly emissions test. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation to ensure all road users pay their fair share. |