So spot-checking it seems taxing by vehicle weight would impact oversized vehicles more than it would impact BEVs. Particularly if it was structured as “vehicles over 4,000 lbs, vehicles over 5,000 lbs and vehicles over 6,000 lbs” or even better something exponential beyond 4,000 lbs.
Combine this with a tire diameter registration fee (combined diameter of all tires on the vehicle, so dualies cost 50% more on top of the extra cost of 20"+ tires) and we should start getting somewhere with financially incentivizing smaller vehicles
My point was that BEVs can weigh significantly more than their equivalent ICE car. The goal should be to get rid of ICE completely and use BEVs where personal transportation makes more sense than mass transit. There is already too much of a push to make ICE cars more desirable than BEVs. I have serious doubts that taxing vehicles by weight would do a better job of keeping these monstrosities off the road than their own cost plus the price of gas does, but putting our legislative thumb on the scale yet again to discourage someone considering a small BEV versus a small ICE car seems shortsighted.
Taxing by weight also encourages weight efficieny in BEV. Reduces weight also supports other sustainable practices, like reducing tire wear, rare earth metal usage, pedestrian safety and vehicle cost.
For towing or very long range use, the correct solution is probably some form of optional range extender in the form of a battery pack, or even better, a fuel based APU, since they are much lighter. Bonus points if it can be external or removable.
BEVs would weigh less than most of these oversized trucks and SUVs, especially with the added lift kits, dualies and oversized wheels
Chevy Bolt weighs about 3600lbs
Ford F150 starts at over 4500 lbs going up to 5500lbs for the gasoline models. (Another source says that the Lightning is around 6000lbs)
Chevy Tahoe starts at just under 5500lbs and goes up to nearly 5900lbs
Kia Sportage (a below-average sized ICE crossover) weighs 3300-3800lbs depending on the configuration
So spot-checking it seems taxing by vehicle weight would impact oversized vehicles more than it would impact BEVs. Particularly if it was structured as “vehicles over 4,000 lbs, vehicles over 5,000 lbs and vehicles over 6,000 lbs” or even better something exponential beyond 4,000 lbs.
Combine this with a tire diameter registration fee (combined diameter of all tires on the vehicle, so dualies cost 50% more on top of the extra cost of 20"+ tires) and we should start getting somewhere with financially incentivizing smaller vehicles
My point was that BEVs can weigh significantly more than their equivalent ICE car. The goal should be to get rid of ICE completely and use BEVs where personal transportation makes more sense than mass transit. There is already too much of a push to make ICE cars more desirable than BEVs. I have serious doubts that taxing vehicles by weight would do a better job of keeping these monstrosities off the road than their own cost plus the price of gas does, but putting our legislative thumb on the scale yet again to discourage someone considering a small BEV versus a small ICE car seems shortsighted.
Remember that you still tax fuel purchases.
Taxing by weight also encourages weight efficieny in BEV. Reduces weight also supports other sustainable practices, like reducing tire wear, rare earth metal usage, pedestrian safety and vehicle cost.
For towing or very long range use, the correct solution is probably some form of optional range extender in the form of a battery pack, or even better, a fuel based APU, since they are much lighter. Bonus points if it can be external or removable.