The New Federal Fee That Could Wipe Out Your EV Gas Savings

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Welcome on back. We're getting close to 6:44 this Wednesday morning and has high guy, excuse me, high gas prices tied to Iran could last until next year. That might make you want to buy an electric vehicle, but Scripps News Group national correspondent Joe Saint George explains how new fees in Congress could wipe out your savings. If you ever look under the hood of an electric vehicle, you'll often find that there's not much there, just another compartment to keep a bag.

[00:00:24]And if you look under the hood of America's electric vehicle policies, there's not much there either as of late. Limited tax incentives and even a new proposal for a national electric vehicle fee.

[00:00:38]Have you thought about trading in the sound of a gas pump for the sound of an EV charging port?

[00:00:45]With gas prices soaring this year, you might have at least had the thought.

[00:00:49]Searches for electric vehicles surged 25% last month according to cars.com with the EV savings index estimating that EV drivers are saving around 14 cents a mile right now. That's over $1,300 a year in savings, but Congress may soon be cutting into that. In the latest bipartisan multi-year transportation bill in the US House, lawmakers have proposed a new national fee on EVs and plug-in hybrids. The proposal right now calls for a $130 fee for EV vehicles and a $35 fee for plug-in hybrids. It currently has the support of both the leading Republican and leading Democrat on the House Transportation Committee. We think the number's too high. Ben Prochaska is with the Electrification Coalition, a group that lobbies for expanding the number of EVs in the US. He says EV drivers know they aren't paying gas taxes despite driving on the same roads as everyone else, so a discussion of a new fee is appropriate, but he believes the current proposal is way too penalizing. His group is advocating for something under $100 a year. We're going to do everything possible to ensure that any fees assessed on an EV, whether at the state level or at the federal level, is about EVs paying their fair share and not more than their fair share. Any new national fee would be in addition to state EV fees already in place. Around 40 states currently have enacted such laws with Michigan EV drivers paying the most at over $260 a year. While the debate in Washington over this national fee is expected to heat up over the summer, it also marks a dramatic shift in American politics from tax incentives to buying an electric vehicle during the Biden administration to repealing those incentives under President Trump and now potentially a new fee. Joe Saint George, Scripps News Group, Washington.