[homesteadelectric]

Went to renew my registration on my 2013 Volt yesterday only to be told that instead of normal $63 it would be $213!

Apparently Washington has an "electric vehicle" fee to compensate for not paying State gas taxes - which makes some sense for actual all-electric cars that never buy gas. Unfortunately they put the Volt on the same list as Teslas and Leafs, despite the fact that over 90% of my driving is on gas. (I get 30-35 miles on electric, everything after that is gas).

I drove about 12,000 miles last year, all over the State, so I calculate that I purchased about 380 gallons of gas and paid about $190 in gas tax (@0.494/gallon). Now on top of that I am being asked to pay another $150 per year, which could go up (it already has, from $100 to $150).

Had I known this I might not have bought the car, but I didn't know because they don't charge it the first year. Sneaky, unfair and very bad for Volt owners!

Yes I've written to my State Representative, no I have not had a reply.

 

[voganni]

Yes, they rewrote the bloody law just to target the Volt. It says a hybrid that can travel 30 miles on it's alternative fuel source must pay the tax. The Volt is currently the ONLY hybrid car that falls into that category. Got the same unpleasant surprise when I registered my 2013 last December. The kicker is they don't put it on the registration notice. Wait till you get in the office then say "oh, you owe us another $150." The agent thought it was a mistake and called Olympia!
Just finished reading the rest of your post! The law went into effect July 2016 I think. I didn't have to pay it the first year I had my car either.

 

[El Dobro]

Do you get any breaks or benefits purchasing a Volt in Washington that you would get purchasing a full EV?

 

[homesteadelectric]

All Washington State Volt owners please contact your Reps to request that the Volt be removed from the "electric car" list.

Easy to do at leg.wa.gov.

 

[trm2]

Don't Volts benefit by a sales tax exemption? Isn't that like over a decade of the electric vehicle fee?

 

[viking79]

Registration is only $200 for the Volt there for a year? I wish it was that low here, I pay over $400 for the Volt (1% MSRP plus some for GVWR)

 

[Just_Jon]

...Had I known this I might not have bought the car, ...

So what other car did you like just as much but was less than $150 a year more expensive?

Or do you mean you would not have bought a car you enjoy and that makes economic sense just to spite the state gov'mint?

 

[SteveSeattle]

I am in the same boat. There was no sales tax exemption for Volts until 2016. When they introduced the exemption they also included the car tab fee. Give with one hand an take with the other. Older Volts like my 2014 on which I paid >$3,000 in sales tax now get hit every year. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so high. Their logic was to base it on the typical gas tax paid by ICE owners, but I suspect most Volt owners previous cars were efficient and never paid as much gas tax per year. I didn't.

 

[homesteadelectric]

Only on new cars, not used sales is what I was told.

You will need a lawyer: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=82.08.

I think all hybrids should be off the list - they have gas engines and use them most of the time.

It is the all-electric pioneers who should be punished? No, they should pay that reasonable fee in lieu of road maintenance gas taxes, but hybrids with gas engines are not primarily powered by electricity.

If you only used it as an under 15 mile commuter car ... but that is not reality for the Volt, to it's credit.

Volt owners should not be punished with double taxation, they should be rewarded for their small contribution to fuel efficiency.

 

[homesteadelectric]

So what other car did you like just as much but was less than $150 a year more expensive?

Or do you mean you would not have bought a car you enjoy and that makes economic sense just to spite the state gov'mint?

Well it makes less economic sense when you add an additional $150 fee, considering that most of my miles are gas.

I expected it's running costs to be less expensive, not more. In my case at least I doubt I save over $150 a year by being a hybrid.

Love the idea but its going to be for sale this Spring, zip 99201.

 

[Dakster]

Well it makes less economic sense when you add an additional $150 fee, considering that most of my miles are gas.

I expected it's running costs to be less expensive, not more. In my case at least I doubt I save over $150 a year by being a hybrid.

Love the idea but its going to be for sale this Spring, zip 99201.

Get ready to take a bath on depreciation... I agree it isn't fair for a hybrid. How do you charge your Volt? Because I bet your are paying taxes on the electricity you use too.

 

[Just_Jon]

Get ready to take a bath on depreciation... I agree it isn't fair for a hybrid. How do you charge your Volt? Because I bet your are paying taxes on the electricity you use too.

Exactly. I agree the new fee/tax is "wrong" on many levels and I would not be happy about it either.

But... you have a car you presumably liked enough to buy. It is one of, if not, the least costly to run available. And just to express your displeasure, you are going to spend many thousands on something else. That will show "them".

 

[alfon]

More states, liberal ones just like Washington, will probably do the same. The states that encourage those to save the planet and the moon will always stab you in the back eventually.

Remember no good deed goes unpunished.......

 

[hellsop]

Went to renew my registration on my 2013 Volt yesterday only to be told that instead of normal $63 it would be $213!

Apparently Washington has an "electric vehicle" fee to compensate for not paying State gas taxes - which makes some sense for actual all-electric cars that never buy gas. Unfortunately they put the Volt on the same list as Teslas and Leafs, despite the fact that over 90% of my driving is on gas. (I get 30-35 miles on electric, everything after that is gas).

I drove about 12,000 miles last year, all over the State, so I calculate that I purchased about 380 gallons of gas and paid about $190 in gas tax (@0.494/gallon). Now on top of that I am being asked to pay another $150 per year, which could go up (it already has, from $100 to $150).

The fact that you drive 90% on gas is special to you. Volt owners, in general, drive about 25% of their miles on gas. So the injustice being done to Volt owners in general amounts to about $37 (25% of the $150 increase).

 

[homesteadelectric]

The fact that you drive 90% on gas is special to you. Volt owners, in general, drive about 25% of their miles on gas. So the injustice being done to Volt owners in general amounts to about $37 (25% of the $150 increase).

Curious, where you get the 75% on electric number? That would limit it to being a commuter car, essentially. It is a big State, 300 miles to Seattle and where I live its 30 miles to downtown Spokane, so I can make it one way and burn gas on the way back unless I have the time and an available charge location.

It was silly to list the Volt with Teslas and Leafs, they should have made a hybrid classification with an intermediate fee.

 

[Off Oil]

Curious, where you get the 75% on electric number? That would limit it to being a commuter car, essentially. It is a big State, 300 miles to Seattle and where I live its 30 miles to downtown Spokane, so I can make it one way and burn gas on the way back unless I have the time and an available charge location.

It was silly to list the Volt with Teslas and Leafs, they should have made a hybrid classification with an intermediate fee.

VoltStats has the current median at 75.7% EV, which includes data from the Gen1 with it's less range. This said, these taxes are a solution in search of a problem. EVs are such a tiny percentage of vehicles at this point it's irrelevant to the State revenues. I'm all for people paying their fair share, however these measures aren't worthy of a law change at this time.

 

[Murrcar]

Last year Michigan also added an electric vehicle tax. To get money to pay for road maintenance, Michigan raised all vehicle registrations 20% and tacked an additional $50 per year on plug in vehicles. In addition registrations used to drop each year for 10 years now it remains constant for those years! on the Volt mine went from $134 (14 LT) to about $275 (17 Premiere). Luckily I was able to use a loophole in the regulations and renew my 14 early and then transferring my plates to the 17. So I will not be hit until 2018. I still love my volt and would not trade it for anything. This winter I have been averaging 57 miles per charge, low of 42 and high of 63. Looking forward to 70 in the Spring.

 

[quirkySquirt]

Don't Volts benefit by a sales tax exemption? Isn't that like over a decade of the electric vehicle fee?

This was is how I tolerate the annual fee, though I don't see it on my purchase and registration paperwork and I bought in July 2016, right when the sales tax exemption laws changed. My $3k of taxes will be paying my registration fee for the next 12+ years assuming current $150 EV fee.

 

[rmay635703]

The fact that you drive 90% on gas is special to you. Volt owners, in general, drive about 25% of their miles on gas. So the injustice being done to Volt owners in general amounts to about $37 (25% of the $150 increase).

Yes but for me at least $150 of gas tax on my gas car is around 30,000 miles of driving!

These laws will only serve to punish and remove efficient cars from the road.

Hell my gas car can easily drive 5,000 miles on $150 of gas.

Moronic idiots should at least base the tax on the MPGe and normal miles driven to get to the tax amount.

 

[Nixon]

I live in the Seattle area and this happened to me also. I went to pay my tabs yesterday...the cost of which, in our state, has gone way up for all cars this year...and when I clicked on 'pay now' the amount I owed was $150 more than the amount on the notice I received in the mail! It listed an 'electric car charge' that was not on the original notice. I think that if there is going to be an extra charge added to this fee it should be charged to cars that use more gasoline, get poor gas mileage and/or weigh more, i.e. cars that cause more damage to the environment and the roadway rather than cars that pollute much less and are not nearly so dependent on oil. This just seems backwards. And presenting the extra fee as a last minute surprise seems deceptive and beneath the way a state agency should be doing business. If there is a bright spot to this it is that I now have a larger amount for the year's itemized deductions.
P.S.--if they're going to penalize people for spending less money on gasoline then shouldn't they penalize the grocery stores that give out 'fuel reward points' for allowing all their customers to spend less on fuel?