Congress proposes $130 annual fee on EVs. 41 states collect their own EV fees. I hope these taxes go toward new power plants instead of data centers.

Photo above – the Natrium® electric plant in Wyoming, under construction since 2024 by Bechtel. First phase completion is targeted for 2028. Fully operational by 2030, hopefully.

I’m so old, I can remember when the Obama administration gave everyone a $7,500 rebate just for buying a Tesla. I specify Tesla because at the time there weren’t any other EV choices. The tax rebate was expanded after other automakers jumped in with their own expensive, unprofitable electric vehicles. Then rebates became huge and unsustainable, and EV sales fell off a cliff.

Here we are in 2026, where there are now federal, state and local fees (beyond the usual ones) if you want to push the START button on your battery powered car. (see link below)

I’m not going to point out the obvious – that the new fees are an attempt to claw-back the absurd rebates of olden days. Or that these new taxes are also picking the pockets of anyone brave enough to buy an EV without a rebate. If you bought your Tesla or Kia in 2025 the new fee is amortizing your neighbors' past rebates.

Of course, that’s not the story which congress and states like California are telling.

Politicians insist the new fees and taxes are to “offset the loss of gasoline taxes” because so many drivers are now behind the wheel of plug-ins. If you believe that either the gasoline tax or EV tax is earmarked for roads, then you don’t understand how this works: that gas tax money has been spent for decades on everything imaginable. There never was a requirement to reserve those taxes for road use. If you doubt this, Google the Obama era “shovel ready infrastructure” grants to states. Billions and billions, because the states ignored their obligation to maintain roads and bridges for decades. The states also ignored the "shovel ready" rules of the infrastructure grants. In some cases the subsidies went immediately to keep state pension funds from going bankrupt. Relieved government workers made their gratitude known at the polls.

The cost of topping off at a public charger is now 2X-3X the cost of home electricity. None of THAT money is going to maintain roads and bridges either. It’s going into the pockets of public charging companies who first got billions in (Biden era) federal subsidies to build the charging stations that are now ripping us off.

America has an electricity crisis. It’s expensive and scarce. Someone will immediately shout "we need more subsidies for rooftop solar and wind turbines". As if they didn't read or understand the previous paragraphs about what happens with subsidies.

America’s current electricity problem is too many data centers. Immense mega-hives of chips and cooling fans, which are intended to displace human workers. While job losses accelerate those data centers will siphon up all the available electrons.

It's much faster to build a Google or META data center than to bring a new power plant online, whether it's using solar, coal, natural gas, wind, nuclear, geothermal, tidal, green helium, or Unobtanium. Take another look at the Natrium power plant at top, which will take at least 6 years to finish.

When governments subsidize something, we get more of it. We’re getting more data centers because states, counties, and municipalities are waving years of property taxes in order to lure data centers to every conceivable vacant lot.

When governments tax something, we get less of it. With new Federal, state, and local EV taxes – on top of existing sales taxes and registration fees – there will likely be fewer EVs sold. And the cost per KwH will continue to soar anyway, because data centers are the fastest growing users of power.

The rest of us are just trying to scrimp by with LED bulbs and setting our thermostats to 78 this summer. Are we getting played by politicians and corporate America?

I’m just sayin’ . . .



House highway bill advances with first national EV fee

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/house-highway-bill-advances-with-first-national-ev-fee/ss-AA23z3pl?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=6a0ed0b387da4d4d94cc47bb4b5c9bf4&ei=67#interstitial=1