Electric Cars Can Explain Our Highway Funding Fiasco - Wired
America needs billions to fix its crumbling, crappy roads . But no one’s got that kind of money and the Highway Trust Fund—Uncle Sam’s primary means for paying for road construction and repairs—teeters on insolvency. That’s because it’s funded largely by a federal fuel tax that’s been parked at 18. 3 cents per gallon since 1993, even as cars use less gas than ever. Oh, and the current funding bill expires May 31. Meanwhile, electric vehicles are slowly gaining in popularity, in no small part because the federal government and many states offer tax breaks and other incentives. This is good—anything that weans us from gas has long-term benefits—but comes with a downside: a Tesla Model S, for example, exacts as much wear and tear on our roads as a BMW 5-Series, but the guy driving it isn’t kicking in any gas taxes to help... And the amount these drivers would otherwise pay into the Highway Trust Fund is minuscule—reaching perhaps $200 million a year by 2024, even assuming aggressive EV adoption—according to a recent study from Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Climate and... So EVs on are roads aren’t the problem, but they point to the essence of our current quagmire: At a time when we are working harder than ever to consume less gasoline, using a gas tax to finance the roads and bridges that literally keep us moving... Source: www.wired.com
