Reconsider Minnesota’s new EV registration surcharge

I’m writing as a constituent and an EV owner. Our household drives a 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E and a 2026 Rivian R1T. The recent changes to the EV registration surcharge — now scaling to $200 or more annually based on MSRP — have me concerned about both the math and the policy direction, and I’d like to share a few specific points. The surcharge dramatically overshoots what an equivalent gas driver pays. At Minnesota’s current state gas tax of 32.6¢ per gallon, a driver of a 30 MPG vehicle would need to purchase roughly 614 gallons of gasoline per year — equivalent to about 18,400 miles of driving — to contribute $200 in state gas tax. That’s well above the average Minnesotan, who drives closer to 12,000–13,500 miles annually and would contribute only about $130–$150 at the same 30 MPG. The new EV surcharge isn’t a parity fix; for most drivers it’s a penalty on top of parity. Tying the surcharge to vehicle MSRP is the wrong mechanism. Roads don’t care what a car cost. Linking the fee to value penalizes the people doing exactly what the state’s electrification goals ask of them — buying new, more efficient vehicles — and effectively rewards keeping older, less efficient vehicles on the road. That’s a perverse outcome for a policy whose stated purpose is funding infrastructure. A flat annual fee bracketed by vehicle weight would be far better. Road wear correlates with vehicle weight, not sticker price. A simple tiered fee based on curb weight would be transparent, predictable, and actually proportional to the cost a vehicle imposes on the roads. It would also give buyers and dealers a number they can plan around, which the current MSRP-linked formula does not. Please don’t pursue per-mile auditing as the next step. A mileage tax sounds elegant but is a fool’s errand in practice — too easy to game with self-reported odometers, too invasive if it requires telematics or GPS tracking, and fundamentally unfair when Minnesotans take road trips out of state. I shouldn’t be paying Minnesota road tax on the miles I drive in Wisconsin or on a vacation to Colorado. I’m happy to pay my fair share for the roads I use. What I’m not willing to support is a regime that punishes newer, cleaner vehicles, contradicts the state’s own climate commitments, and asks EV owners to pay a meaningful multiple of what comparable gas drivers contribute. I’d appreciate knowing your position on this issue and whether you’d support revisiting the fee structure — particularly a shift to a flat, weight-based fee — in the next session. Thank you for your time and your service.