Oregon is exploring a mileage-based fee replacing a gas tax to compensate for an expected influx of electric vehicles.
Oregon is considering a mileage-based fee rather than a gas tax to compensate for the rise in hybrids and electric vehicles.
With a mileage-based fee, which would replace a gas tax, drivers would be charged for every mile traveled within the state of Oregon. Vehicles would have GPS and mileage tracking devices installed. When the Oregon Department of Transportation tested such a fee in 2006, it found that the largest barrier to adoption was the tracking device itself; drivers had privacy concerns about aftermarket GPS devices being installed in their vehicles.
Because electric vehicles are designed as rolling computers, they are well suited to track data, said John MacArthur, sustainable transportation program manager for the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium. Oregon has already built strong relationships with auto manufacturers Nissan and Toyota as it works to install electric vehicle charging stations across the state, and MacArthur thinks they would be receptive to such testing.
Read more at the Daily Journal of Commerce.
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