Thinking of buying a Tesla?

Here some great reasons to buy and some important disclaimer for folks in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  It is my belief as an already electric car driver it behooves me to write the caveats in hopes that Tesla and I, once we get those papers filed and service center in Fairfax Country, Virginia on Tyco Blvd., can work together to break the backs of the hybrid lobby and show Richmond and Fairfax that Electric Cars are the future.

	The US government offers a $7,500 federal tax credit when you purchase a new Tesla.
Yes, the tax credit is helpful, but only if you pay at least $7,500 in taxes.  As this would typically be someone earning $40,000 per year or more, I don't think it needs a caveat since no-one earning only $40,000 per year could *every* *dream* of owning a Model S at the equivalent of 2 years salary.
	Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) displaying the Virginia Clean Special Fuel license plate may use Virginia HOV lanes, regardless of the number of occupants.
Clean Fuel plates are grandfathered, meaning the hybrid drivers ate up all the good ones and all that's left are third-generation access that only allows HOV access on a toll road in Northern Virginia.  We need to work to wrest those first-generation Clean Fuel plates attached to dirty priuses and civic hybrids from those smelly, polluting, dirty cars and reissue them to the proper, truly clean, 100% cars like the Tesla Model S and the car I drive which I won't bother mentioning because I'm just here to promote Tesla and the Model S, even while I can't afford one.  But maybe this point is moot since most of the HOV lanes in Virginia are being replaced by toll-based HOT lanes where the Clean Fuel plates don't even qualify.
	Local governments may reduce personal property taxes paid on electric vehicles.
Some local governments reduce your property tax burden by as much as 50%.  For example Prince William County, Arlington County and the richest county in the nation, Loudoun County, all provide property tax discounts.  However, the most populous and third richest county nationally, Fairfax, provides *no* property tax discounts what-so-ever, not for hybrids, not for electrics.  And the property tax on a Model S can be as high as $2,500 per year.  Though I suppose if you can afford a Model S, you can afford a property tax bill which represents your approximate fuel savings.  And let's not forget, Fairfax County is where the Tesla Showroom and future Service Center are located.
	Virginia Dominion Power offers reduced residential rates for electric vehicle charging.
Dominion's rates are why I used to pay $2,500 on fuel before getting an EV and now pay less than $300 per year for fuel.  The electric cost per kWh out of pocket (including tax, generation, distribution and all riders) can be as low as about 6¢/kWh.  But there is a caveat for this too, since Dominion now requires you to put your whole house on Time of Use for this rate, meaning if you have a stay-at-home parent and kids you'll be running the air conditioner and if you have a heat pump the heater seasonally at peak rates, though the rates fall into 4 tiers so the evenings aren't too bad and the overnights are dirt cheap.  They used to offer a two-meter solution but having gone this route I will say for me it's hard to consider it worth it.  While the whole house solution has effectively no cost to the customer to install, the two meter solution added perhaps $1,000 more installation costs after EVSE tax credits, which would take years to realize in saving relative to the whole-house option.  Then again, I calculated this based on the fact that I don't have a stay-at-home parent in my house.
	Electric vehicles are exempt from biannual emissions inspections.
True, but safety inspections are still required.  Let's not let drivers forget this lest they wish to get a ticket for failing to get their car inspected annually.
	Most importantly… NEVER PAY FOR GAS AGAIN!
Again, true, but what anti-EV Richmond did, secretly in the dark of the Hybrid Lobby highly public excision of a $64 surtax is leave that surtax on Electric Vehicles, in addition to a $50 per year tax already imposed on Electric Vehicles.  So effectively, Electric Vehicles are taxed $114 annually for use of the Virginia Roads (fuel taxes) which is, as far as I can tell, the highest fuel tax in the nation on EVs.  Compare this to a 50 mpg Hybrid driving the average 15,000 mi per year.  This represents only $48.60 in taxes for fuel at the rate of 16.2¢⁄gal as of 1 January 2015.  Thus, for 15,000 mi traveled per year an EV pays more than twice that of a hybrid in Virginia.  This is something which we need to fix.  Never should a hybrid be taxed less than an EV.  It's wrong for Tesla, and wrong for all of Teslas EV-driving supporters.

Thank you for reading

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International Plug-In Day! Bring out your Plugs!

Generous readers, I'm happy to announce it's that time of year again!  Time to show your friends, neighbors and general passers by our shared love for Electric Vehicles.  Yes, it's International Plug-In Day, the day we all go out and display our love for cars powered by the ubiquitous plug.

This year, Plug-In Day is a two day event, and here in the greater Washington, D.C. area, we're taking it to the neighborhoods!  So mark your calendars, 28 September 2013!

View Plug In Day 2013 in a larger map

Because we have 2 days of events, we've decided to have regional events on Saturday and one huge event in downtown DC on Sunday.  We hope everyone can show their support at their local Saturday event and then everyone come down to Washington for the regional event Sunday on the steps of the U.S. Capital.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Herndon, VA

Hello from your Herndon Event team captain!  As the organizer of this event, I hope it to be the biggest of all the regional events.  This is the only gathering scheduled for Northern Virginia.  As such, I hope folks from Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, Prince William, Manassas and even Stafford Counties and Cities can make it out to western Fairfax to join us in sharing our love for EVs.  Come and commiserate over our failed attempt for equal taxation regardless of propultion and the $64 tax we now have to pay for as both hybrid and electric vehicle owners.  We're planning to have LEAFs, Volts and Tesla Model S a plenty to show, as well as all kinds of electric vehicles.  Learn about Dominion Virginia Power's Time-of-Use Rate Schedules and the Green Option for energy credits.  And teach folks about the around 50% Personal Property Tax discount for Electric Vehicles in Arlington, Prince William and Loudoun Counties.  (Sorry fellow Farfaxians, we still have to pay full price for our tax in our unprogressive county.)

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Waldorf, MD

Overall Waldorf event organizer and my friend Mark Czajka from MDVolt (the current source for LEAF Meetup events).  Ironcially, Mark doesn't own a Volt—he has a Ford Fusion Energi—but is an amazing event organizer and without him this year's Plug In Day wouldn't be nearly as amazing as it's turning out to be.  The MOMs in Waldorf is in a beautiful, new building and will be an amazing place to discuss all the exciting things going on for EVs in Southern Maryland.  This is a must-see event for anyone in the area, I guarantee.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: College Park, MD

The College Park event in suburban Maryland, just on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., is at one of my favourite MOM's Organic Markets, being about half-way between work and the normal EVA/DC meeting in Silver Spring, MD.  Word of warning that the EVSE (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) stations at this location, two out-of-the-way units around the left side of the building, are often either broken or occupied by a completely occupied by an often full electric vehicle.  However, anyone needing a charge just contact my friend and Team Captain Lanny Hartmann who will help you find a unit that's available and working as well as work to make sure these units are function come Plug-In Day and beyond.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Timonium, MD and Baltimore

The Timonium event is our closest planned event in the greater Baltimore Suburbs.  Located in Central Maryland, the event is just north of the Baltimore Beltway and just off of I85.  As such, I've never personally been there since getting my LEAF, which was before MOM's in Timonium opened.  However, my friend Barry Larkin is hosting this event and I've every confidence he's going to do an amazing job so please show your support Baltimore and bring out your EVs!

Sunday, 29 September 2013, 10:00–16:00: Washington, D.C.

For the regional Sunday event, we're extremely fortunate to be getting permission to have our display right in front of the U.S. Capital building, on Third Street SW, in front of the Reflecting Pool and near the US Botanical Gardens.  This is thanks in no small part to the work of Maryland's Senior Senator Barbara Mulkulski (D).  This website would therefore like to express their personal thanks to Senator Mulkulski.  We're working on sixty spots to display our EVs so that visitors to the Capital can see just how affordable, obtainable and ubiquitous Electric Cars have finally become!

Everyone Welcome

At each event, we hope to have opportunities to test drive our electric cars including, in Herndon and Washington, CO2Fre, yours truly's very own Nissan LEAF.  So come one, come all, see how easy it is to plug in your car at the 2013 International Plug-In Day events!  And if you'd like to show off your car, just click on the link at the start of each event to register with the Plug-In Website.  Hope to see you there, and thank you!

Open Letter: Eliminating the Gasoline Tax for the Commonwealth

McDonnell proposes eliminating Virginia’s gas tax

In a recent Washington Post article, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell called for an elimination of the 17.5¢ per gallon of fuel Gasoline Tax and an increase in the annual registration fees payed by EVs to $100 per year—I personally just paid a little under $400 in registration fees for CO2 Fre Nissan LEAF up through 2015 with a $150 penalty for driving an EV for three more years.  While he also proposes a $15 increase in the annual registration fees for traditional cars, he plans to make up the rest of the Commonwealth Transportation Fund's decreasing income—due to fuel taxes that are not indexed to inflation—through sales taxes.  In effect, what the Governor is asking is for everyone to pay for Virginia's roads but for EVs and other alternative fuel vehicles to pay more on top of a general sales tax.

Part of the issue is Governor McDonnell trying to stay true to his Norquist pledge to never raise taxes and to only derive revenue-neutral income sources.  However, a fee is technically not a tax and certainly not based on income so I do feel even if the Norquist pledge is ludicrous that it can be satisfied by moving to a gross weight and miles driven fee assessed at ones annual safety inspection as a part of road certification.  This would in effect bring the fuel tax back in line with its original goal: keeping the Virginia Transportation Fund solvent by assessing fees most harshly on the heaviest vehicles and the vehicles that drive the most, which are just the vehicles that cost the Commonwealth the most in terms of maintenance, repair and infrastructure.  I thus submitted this opened letter to the Governor's office last night:

Dear Governor McDonnell,

I couldn't agree more with that goal Mr. Governor, but I think you've not provided a logical way to solve the revenue shortfall caused by more hybrid and fuel efficient vehicles on the Commonwealth's roads.  Adding an increase to sales tax may have the potential of being revenue neutral but it doesn't balance the cost of repair with those who do the most damage.

Basically, from a civil engineering point of view, the main cost to Virginia of cars on our roads is the gross weight of the vehicles and the number of miles driven every year.  As such, the best way to charge an infrastructure tax is simply to base it on those two variables.  And enough of this tying it to registration!  Do not charge alternative fuel vehicles a more expensive registration surcharge when gasoline fuel cars would end up paying no taxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't say that strongly enough because again it's about road damage and that's about number of miles driven and the weight of the car.  It has nothing to do with its means of propulsion!  Don't charge any registration penalty on a vehicle just because it doesn't use gasoline, especially if you're going to forsake any revenue you'd be taxing on that gasoline.  Don't tax the alternative fuel vehicles something if your going to tax the gasoline cars nothing!  That's bad for the commonwealth because the alternative fuel vehicles mean, for instance, with electric cars or methane (natural gas) vehicles, that that energy to drive them could be coming right from here in Virginia, very domestic and local energy and not from refineries in Mississippi for oil from the North Sea and Venezuela or Saudi Arabia.  We need to encourage the money spent on car fuel to stay in Virginia and that's why if anything EVs and CNG vehicle should never pay *more* tax than gasoline vehicles and probably should pay less because they help encourage Virginia businesses and create Virginia jobs!!!

So again, the best approach is to simply apply a scaled fee as a part of a vehicle's annual safety inspection.  At the safety inspection the Commonwealth has all the information it needs to make the correct taxation assessment.  The mileage driven in a year is already logged with the Safety Inspection and the Gross Weight is already defined for any original equipment manufactured vehicle and must be registered for any conversion or custom vehicle.  Even trucks could be taxed this way based their weight!

Please, Mr. Governor, this is how you can balance the Commonwealth's transportation needs.  It means the heaver cars, like EV and SUVs, will indeed pay more, but the Prius will pay its fair share too because it's about weight, not how fuel efficient you are because the roads don't care about fuel efficiency.  They just care about Weight and Miles.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Jeffrey C. Jacobs

The Gas Tax

A friend of mine and I were debating the other day what is more egregiousness, being taxed at double the rate of the adjacent county for a car that is expensive only by virtue of it being transitional technology or that electric vehicles won't be paying gasoline taxes.

To be fair, these two taxes are at completely different levels.  The gasoline tax, currently at 18.4¢ per gallon, is used exclusively to pay for transportation and infrastructure at the federal level; the personal property tax however is a tax that is collected by the county/city and then sent to Richmond for further distribution within the Commonwealth.  Of course, Maryland and the District of Columbia don't have personal property taxes on motor vehicles so this argument doesn't even pertain to those regions.

In any case, it's easy to calculate how much federal revenue is lost by a consumer switching to an electric vehicle.  It simply depends on the amount of miles per gallon the consumer's car achieves and the number of miles driven in a given amount of time, say for a year.

Thus, for these purposes, I'll use my 2001 Toyota Avalon XLS as the example Gasoline car and compare it to the 2012 Nissan LEAF as its potential replacement.

The Avalon gets about 28½ mpg on average for my mainly highway commute.  I also estimate I drive about 24,000 miles a year in the Avalon and would drive a near equivalent amount in the LEAF since I don't take many long trips in the car either way.

Since the Gasoline Tax is 18.4¢ per gallon, at 28½ miles per gallon, that comes to about 0.645¢ per mile.  (We calculate this by dividing the cost per gallon by the American-style Fuel Efficiency; in a Metric system, we would multiply because in this system efficiency is measured in Liters per 100 km and fuel cost in cents per Liter.)  Finally, we multiply the cost per mile by the number of miles driven to get a total tax value of $154.95.

At first blush, one might assume, if I drive the same number of miles in an electric vehicle, I should be paying the same amount in Gasoline Tax that I did with my old car.  Since I can't be taxed via gasoline fuel, one approach would be to tax me through my corresponding vehicle fuel: electricity.  In this case, if I estimate 3⅓ miles per kWh as the efficiency of my electric vehicle, I use about 7.2 MWh (dividing 24,000 miles by 3⅓ miles per kWh where 1,000 kWh ≡ 1 MWh).  Dividing the target cost of $154.95 by the number of kWh used, we get 2.1520¢ per kWh.

Of course, not all the electricity I use would go to my electric vehicle.  In fact, after improving my home insulation last year, I now estimate around 21.6 MWh of household electricity usage per year, give or take a Megawatt.  Thus, my electric vehicle electricity usage is about ¼ that my total estimated household usage (7.2 MWh ÷ [21.6 MWh + 7.2 MWh]).  So if this Federal Transportation Rider were to be enacted at the household level, it would fairly be at ¼ the rate for the electric vehicle alone, or about 0.5380¢ per kWh.

Regressive Tax

The thing to note about the Gasoline Tax is that it's a regressive tax: the tax increases as the fuel efficiency of the vehicle driven decreases.  The less fuel-efficient a car, the more they're going to end up paying in Gasoline Taxes.  Generally more fuel efficient cars are more expense.  Thus the less fuel efficient cars are owned by the less affluent — for whom driving is a necessity — and by those who are least able to afford the additional taxation.

Thus, hybrid drivers, with their more fuel-efficient vehicles, pay less in gasoline taxes per mile and thus per year than people driving a car propelled solely by internal combustion.  Since an electric vehicle is even more fuel efficient than a hybrid electric vehicle — even more than a plugin hybrid electric   it would be more fair if the federal transportation fuel tax be levied at a rate that reflected the electric vehicle's inherent efficiency.  We can achieve this by calculating the tax based not on an absolute value like 18.4¢ per gallon, but rather a relative measure as a percent of total fuel cost.  Therefore, we need to compare it to the current price of gasoline.

Now, as far as gasoline prices, we seem to be piping along more or less as predicted.  And having updated the gasoline chart today, I can use the 26 September 2011 national gasoline average price of $3.56⁸⁄₁₀ ($3.38⁴⁄₁₀ before the tax) to compute the current gasoline tax rate of about 5.4374%.

On the other side, we need to figure out what the cost of electric fuel is in order to determine that percent cost increase.  This also varies across the country, with an average of about 11.58¢ per kWh nationally for the first 6 months of 2011 according to the U.S. Department of Energy.  However, as we're using me as an example, I would just assume use my current and potential new EV rates.  Using some complex Google spreadsheets, I've calculate my average cost per kWh including riders for 3 possible scenarios:

Schedule	Average Fuel Cost per kWh	Relative Gas Tax Rider per kWh	Cost per kWh for Household (¼)
DOE National Average	11.58¢	0.6296¢	0.1574¢
Schedule 1	9.61¢	0.5225¢	0.1306¢
Schedule EV	6.82¢	0.3708¢	0.0927¢
Schedule 1EV	6.45¢	0.3507¢	0.0877¢

Each value is based on total electric cost, including all applicable riders and taxes.

Thus, if the government is to recoup the revenue for the Gasoline Tax on electric vehicles, it should be fairly in the 0.35¢ - 0.63¢ range per kWh used by a car or 0.09¢ - 0.16¢ per kWh per single-EV household.  And if that be the law, I would not make much of a stink were it enacted.

Conclusion

Compare the lost gasoline tax revenue now to the cost of the Virginia Personal Property Tax in a county unfriendly to electric vehicles like my home of Fairfax County.  As discussed in a previous post, the cost to register a Nissan LEAF in Loudoun County is currently $497.53 cheaper than registering the same car in Fairfax County.

Therefore, the revenue we're talking about at the federal gasoline tax level is about 3¼ times smaller than the property tax increase above.  So again by my calculations I have the right to be about 3¼ times madder than all those Electric Vehicle naysayers who decry the lack of gasoline tax revenue.