LETTER: EV owners getting a free ride

In a Nov. 26 letter, electric vehicle owner Chris Boyd wanted us to know that he laughs every time he drives past a gas station and sees $5 per gallon gasoline. We should also know that he is laughing at the approximately $5 per fill-up in fuel taxes he doesn’t have to pay — taxes that go directly toward the reconstruction of the very roadways EVs share with gasoline-powered vehicles.

Every time a vehicle drives on a road, the car damages the road. Taxing a gallon of gasoline enables federal, state and local entities to collect the revenue to rebuild a given road as that road wears out. More accurately, the gasoline tax is a user fee. Electric vehicles damage roads as much as gasoline-powered vehicles — arguably even more given the increased weight of EVs — but they don’t pay the user fee.

So while Mr. Boyd is laughing at gasoline prices, he is also laughing at us suckers who pay for his roads. And he would be screaming if his registration went up hundreds of dollars per year to cover the user fee he evades.