Consumer Reports (CR) urged Republican lawmakers in June to drop a plan to impose a $250 annual fee on electric vehicles (EVs) meant to pay for road repairs. The influential consumer organization says the fees would charge consumers anywhere from three to seven times as much as owners of similar conventional gasoline vehicles in federal gas taxes. Chris Harto, senior policy analyst at CR, called the EV fees “punitive taxes designed to confiscate fuel savings from consumers who just want to save money for their families.”
The U.S. House bill would also end a $7,500 tax credit for new EVs for most automakers by Dec. 31, end a $4,000 used car EV tax credit, repeal vehicle emissions rules and kill an Energy Department loan program that supports green advanced technology. It would also phase out EV battery production tax credits.
Ford Motor Company said the bill’s provision to eliminate EV battery production using Chinese technology threatens the automaker’s projected $3 billion investment in a Michigan plant that is 60% complete and slated to employ 1,700 workers.
Source: Reuters
