The Expert Podcast

So electric vehicles only represent about one percent of all the vehicles on the road and already states are starting to add on taxes and fees which might make owning electric vehicle not even as appealing as it is even right now it's hard to do the math and know when you're going to get payback on electric vehicle electric vehicle may cost 10 to 15 000 more than a gas version and even if you saved you know 40 50 a month it can take you you know eight nine ten years for that to be a break even and most people don't want to keep a car that long even with that there's still people buying electric vehicles.
Well there's already new taxes coming on board according to this article 30 states have an additional tax on hybrid and electric car vehicles 30 states and a dozen more have proposals in the legislature that sounds to me like 30 plus 12 equals 42. that's almost all the states have a tax on electric vehicles because electric vehicles don't buy gas which has a fuel tax that pays for road maintenance in the gas price great okay that makes sense but adding a tax on electric vehicle might have a reverse effect of incentivizing them if the powers that be want these electric vehicles to be on the road putting a tax on it is not going to help that process.
How would it feel to buy an electric vehicle think you're doing something good for the environment you're going to save money by not buying gas and then get hit with a tax and state governments everywhere are starting to tax owners according to the article because they claim their drivers don't pay enough taxes who feels like they don't pay enough taxes one of the items is an increase in registration fees they're having surcharges well right now it's 70 70 annual surcharge um some tesla owners have a 150 annual fee and it may not seem like much but as you know with taxes it's usually kind of like sticking your foot in the door and then increasing it from there.
If they're already having to hit owners with 70 or 150 annually on these electric vehicles and there's only one percent of vehicles in the market that are electric what happens when it's 20 30 40 percent and they get even less gas taxes they're already having to start hitting people up when there's only one percent one out of 100 cars is on the road they should give you a pass on that it's only one out of 100 cars not paying a gas tax and hybrid vehicles they pay a gas tax because they buy some gas electric vehicles don't right but here's a hybrid toyota camry he gets 35 miles per gallon but he has to pay 75 surcharge look if you want these vehicles on the road near the government you should encourage it don't hit them up for taxes this is something where in the long run the net cost of electric vehicle might be more than a gas vehicle but that's where they want to go.
Some states are adding more than just an extra extra fee at renewal but also adding a small tax to the electric fee so when you charge up at the at the recharge station then you have an excise tax on the electricity because they want to pay for the road use up until this point if you're driving an ev or hybrid and not using gasoline you are not helping support the system on which you depend no that's debatable.
It gets worse for electric vehicle owners and the future of electric vehicles in california they found that electric vehicle charging stations are more common but a lot of them don't even work they found in california that 25 percent of public charging stations don't even work they're they're inoperable so what it would be like if you went around the gas station sure every once in a while you go to a gas station and have the little yellow bag over the gas pump how often does that happen very rarely and usually it's a one pump out of nine or ten but all the time right now in the bay area of california which is the highest use area of electric vehicles a quarter one out of four of the electric vehicle charging stations do not work how's that going to work out and why is it are they technical problems is it power grid problems is it maintenance problems or is it just to try to reduce the amount of draw because they're not enough electricity to go around we did a video last week is there enough electricity in the grid to go around they're already talking about rolling blackouts this year so these are some of the uphill battle factors for electric vehicle adoption in the marketplace.
Let us know what you think put your comments below about what you think about the future of electric vehicles do you want one do you think they're gonna take off do you think they're going to become a fad and eventually go away do you think there needs to be more done for the infrastructure to support these vehicles do you think they're too expensive dealers are now looking at transitioning their operations to support only electric vehicle sales in the ford dealership business the dealer group network ford is forcing the dealers to decide right here and now within the next year are you going to sell electric vehicles or gas vehicles you can't sell both you got to pick one or the other so they're forcing dealers to have to draw a line in the sand what do you think about that would you like to go to a ford dealer and not have any gas vehicles or would you like to go to ford dealer that only sells gas vehicles what's your preference if you have an electric vehicle have you had problems with finding charging stations did your state issue you a tax on your renewal or on your electric bill at your home you want to see what's going on in different parts of the country thanks for watching we'll see you next time.