UVM recommends 1.4¢ per mile mileage fee for light‑duty EVs; Senate committee to fold suggestion into T bill

The Senate Transportation committee heard a UVM Transportation Research Center presentation that recommended a mileage‑based user fee of 1.4¢ per mile for battery electric light‑duty passenger cars as a step toward retaining state transportation revenue. Patrick Murphy, state policy director, BHC of Transportation, told the committee the agency contracted UVM to produce an easily explainable, defendable rate to incorporate into statutory language the committee expects to propose in the upcoming T bill.

Claire Nelson, research analyst at the University of Illinois Transportation Research Center, said the 1.4¢ figure was calculated by converting the state gas tax to a per‑mile basis using a five‑year average gas tax and distance‑weighted average fleet fuel economy. "Our fee that we recommend is a 1.4¢ per mile rate for BEVs electric cars," Nelson said, noting the team used Vermont registration and inspection records and estimated the light‑duty fleet average fuel economy at 23 miles per gallon for 2023.

UVM officials emphasized methodological differences from a 2024 legislative report. They used recent vehicle and odometer records rather than older fuel‑economy assumptions and explained that indexing the fee to inflation preserves purchasing power. "We do recommend indexing the fee to inflation," a presenter said, adding the team modeled indexing tied to the National Highway Construction Cost Index in examples.

On administrative costs, UVM recommended not increasing the per‑mile rate to cover program administration. Instead, presenters suggested a per‑vehicle flat fee at registration or inspection to cover administration because such costs scale with the number of enrolled vehicles rather than miles driven. The presenters also used EPA's MOVES model with Vermont‑specific county projections to forecast revenue under different implementation scopes, including an interim program applying only to BEVs and a hypothetical statewide program covering all light‑duty vehicles.

The analysis shows distributional effects across vehicle types and geographies. Using a 10,000‑mile‑per‑year example, Nelson said many BEV and PHEV owners would see increases of roughly $50–$80 annually under the proposed rate, while some less efficient gas and diesel vehicles could see modest decreases. Presenters displayed maps aggregated to hexagons (minimum ~50 vehicles per hex) to illustrate urban/rural variation in per‑mile costs under the current structure.

Committee members asked how the recommended rate compares with other states and how federal gas taxes factor into household comparisons. Presenters said direct comparisons vary because state fuel taxes differ; they noted Virginia's computed rate is similar (~1.3–1.4¢) and that UVM's analysis focused on the state portion of taxes. Presenters agreed to return for more technical briefings; committee staff said the agency will incorporate the recommendation into T‑bill language and expects further work around March or April before floor action.