Re: Electric Cars at the American International Auto Show


Question: How do we pay for highway infrastructure - both maintenance
and new construction if cars will be powered by electricity rather than
gasoline?

FHWA is already studying ways to replace the lost revenue with new
collection methods.

One idea is a GPS-based "mileage tax" that would invoice drivers on a
monthly basis depending on the length of their travel, not their fuel
usage. The system could be tweaked to track movements and apportion
collections across state lines and other taxing boundaries. Critics
contend it's too "Big Brother"-ish, and don't like the idea of the
government tracking motorist's every move, however benign. There is a
pilot study going on in Oregon, I think.

If electric power became a widely used power source, a certain % of it
could be taxed to provide for highway construction and maintenance.
Non-users would rightly complain that they are being taxed for
something that they don't use and doesn't directly benefit them. Of
course, batteries could be taxed. If a removable battery pack ever
became standardized, they could be swapped out at service stations
instead of waiting 6-7 hours for a recharge...with a tax on each
transaction.

If hydrogen ever became the dominant energy storage medium, it could be
taxed at the pump just as gasoline is now.

It's an interesting issue that will probably not be solved before it
becomes a problem- just like all the lost state sales tax revenue on
non-taxed internet transactions.

RP

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