Just sharing the news that Florida seems to be moving along the lines of what other states have imposed. Florida uses gas tax revenues which the state is starting to lose with these vehicles now bypassing the pump. SB28 which filed for consideration for the 2024 legislative session, looks to impose a $200 annual registration fee on electric vehicles, going up to $250 in 2029. Plug-in hybrids would also see a $50 annual fee.
I know somebody involved NEVI here and it seems like distribution of funds is not likely the happen. Lots of stalling. I don’t think any bidding has started. My feeling is the governor + state are waiting it out until there is a new federal administration.
The market is naturally headed in the direction of more DCFC, the problem is when fed government tries to force the issue without first curtailing the red tape and incentivizing investors to counter the poor initial revenue for the investment needed.
Add in the fact that there is not enough electricity being generated at a reasonable price point to address widespread EV adoption and you begin to see the ugly future well beyond these registration fees.
Yeah there multiple problems. The core problem is handing it over to the states to distribute the funds which some non-EV friendly ones will stall as long as possible.
The second problem is some states are just incompetent (maybe all are lol). The i-4 ultimate project is a clusterfudge here. A foreman friend who works on maintaining the i-4 ultimate tells me it’s just lawsuits after lawsuits between contractors over botched work. The toll system electronics glitch in heavy rain and it seems FDOT has never fined a single vehicle for not paying (FDOT loses millions after waiving I-4 fines for 21 months).
He worked on building many of the new roads around Disney in the last 10 years that had zero red tape and those were built quickly and within budget.
Telsa has built 8-10 new Supercharger locations in the Orlando area in the past 1.5 years and I think Ford and others were smart to hitch onto the NACS wagon and not rely on NEVI or CCS1.
You don’t arrive at a successful “here and now” without first having pilot programs, early adopters, and a maturation lifecycle to eventually arrive at that better outcome. The trends around renewable and cleaner energy are headed in a positive direction. Naturally the old firms that want their profits resist this change.
But, maybe someone out there is not a stodgy corporation hellbent on profits… and instead that person wants to use less fossil fuels. They could do so very easily right here and now. And with a BEV, people can significantly minimize that charging impact to the grid by simply installing solar and batteries. There are big subsidies to enable low-interest financing and rebates.
That’s not fiction. It’s not a long way off. It’s here and now.
You use the lack of a successful wide-spread BEV compatible “here and now” infrastructure to explain how BEV will result in a dire/bleak future for all of us. Instead of being so negative; try taking on a positive attitude to try to affect positive change. Challenges with excise tax, registration, fees, blah blah are not roadblocks… addressing challenges successfully is part of the journey.
Thanks for the lecture on the ridiculously obvious, but my point still stands: the realistic infrastructure and reasonable cost for electricity when widespread EV adoption happens is a long way off.
