Legislators review draft mileage-based user fee for electric vehicles, agency proposes 1.4¢/mile

A legislative committee heard detailed proposals Wednesday for a mileage-based user fee that would charge battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) roughly 1.4¢ per mile to help replace revenue lost as vehicles become more fuel efficient and electrified.

Patrick Murphy, state policy director for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, told the committee the rate — recommended by the agency and its contractor, the UVM Transportation Research Center — is intended to “approximate what a gas vehicle is paying in fuel tax” and landed at 1.4¢ per mile after accounting for fleet efficiency and regional comparisons. Murphy said UVM’s earlier analysis had produced a different figure (1.78¢), and the agency adjusted parameters before adopting the 1.4¢ recommendation.

The proposal is aimed at addressing a multi-part funding gap Murphy described as driven by inflation, rising fuel efficiency and electrification. He provided an example showing a 2013 Ford F-150 paid roughly $271 per year in fuel taxes (about 2.5¢ per mile at that time) while a later, more efficient model pays about $185 (about 1.7¢ per mile), and an EV the agency used for comparison pays about $154 per year under the existing infrastructure-fee approach. Murphy said the per-mile design more…