HEV transportation electrification fee in WA state

[Cherokee]

If you allow yourself to be ripped off you will be robbed.

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[Naranjita]

I just registered my 2025 Ford Maverick Lariat AWD Hybrid. I'm in Thurston County. I don't see an electrification fee or Hybrid fee or the like down here. We are outside the Sound Transit collection area, so I don't know if it's collected outside King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

Title $19.00 (one-time fee)
Plate $104 (one-time fee)
Administration $33.75
Other $3.00
Registration $83.00
TOTAL $242.75

On my renewal next year, it should be approx $119.75 (won't have to pay the plate and title again). Which is about the same as my previous '22 Maverick EcoBoost and my wife's '21 Kia minivan. So there appears not to be any extra fees for a Hybrid registered in Thurston County, Washington. At least not in my situation.

 

[Prickly Pear]

Ignorance is bliss - theirs is yours!


Here is mine from Island County - the fee is a state requirement, so they must think you have an EB, not a hybrid.
This is from the email receipt I got when I paid online. I'll try to remember to look at my registration (it's out in the truck) to see if it says hybrid on it anywhere.


Fees and Donations
Hybrid Vehicle Electrification Transportation $75.00
Registration Filing $4.50
Registration Service Fee $8.00
License Plate Technology $0.25
Department of Licensing Service $0.50
State Parks Donation $5.00
Gross Weight $53.00
Additional Truck Weight Fee $10.00
Total $156.25

Edit - my title says Hybrid under "fuel type". Does your title say the same?

 

[mikeps1]

Has anyone in WA pursued this issue? And received a cogent explanation for the fee being charged? Before I take a running charge at this wall...

I'm in WA and I'd be interested in following up on this.

I have the 25 AWD Hybrid and one pays a substantial cost for the hybrid system and agreed, it should not be assessed the fee under that RCW. If anything we should be rewarded for paying a premium for buying a higher efficiency vehicle, not be penalized for benefiting from that efficiency.

I doubt I'll ever drive enough (or live long enough) to break even on the extra cost of the hybrid vs the increased mpg.

 

[Prickly Pear]

I hear you guys and have done a little digging myself. The electrification fee levied on us Washingtonians by RCW 46.17.324 isn't going away (might go higher) until an alternate funding mechanism is found to replace waning gas tax revenues. Originally the fee only applied to all electric and or hybrids that could go 35 miles on battery power. In 2019 they added wording to say if you can't go 35 miles on battery suck it up and pay anyway!

Our legislature did introduce a bill in 2023 to create a Road Usage Charge (per mile charge) like a few other states have done and I think they even had a pilot program for a while. There is a link below to the bill. I tried but have not been able to see who voted for/against the bill but it did not pass into law.
Last night I sent a letter to my local state senator and representative urging them to take another run at getting a road usage charge implemented. I think there were too many people whining about not wanting "the man" to know how many miles they drive that may have helped scuttle the bill. I liked the plan they had - you could keep things going the way they are - pay gas tax and or electrification fees, or volunteer for the program where you pay a set amount for every 1000 miles you drive. Fair for everyone! I'll include a link to the RUC page for those interested.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1832&Year=2023
https://waroadusagecharge.org/

 

[donMiguel]

I hear you guys and have done a little digging myself. The electrification fee levied on us Washingtonians by RCW 46.17.324 isn't going away (might go higher) until an alternate funding mechanism is found to replace waning gas tax revenues. <snip>

Last night I sent a letter to my local state senator and representative urging them to take another run at getting a road usage charge implemented. I think there were too many people whining about not wanting "the man" to know how many miles they drive that may have helped scuttle the bill. I liked the plan they had - you could keep things going the way they are - pay gas tax and or electrification fees, or volunteer for the program where you pay a set amount for every 1000 miles you drive. Fair for everyone! I'll include a link to the RUC page for those interested.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1832&Year=2023
https://waroadusagecharge.org/

I am more irritated with the (apparent) inconsistency between the RCW and the DOL implementation, than the actual fee. I understand the purpose of the fee for plug-ins.

I contacted DOL twice. (BTW, there automated phone system is trash. Incredibly frustrating and almost random responses.) First time I spoke to representative identifying as Alisha, and explained that the Maverick did not plug in, and could not make 30 miles on a charge as specified in the legislation. She consulted folks in the office, and advised me that it was due to information from Ford indicating that the Maverick Hybrid met the requirements in the legislation (plug-in and 30+ miles on a charge).

Tried contacting Ford corporate to inquire, and failed in my initial attempts. May repeat the attempt later.

Called DOL back, and spoke to Donna, who assured me that everything was accurate. She thought there may have been revisions to the RCW late in the process, and DOL conformed to the updates. I explained I was using the RCW online as source. She postulated it may not be current. Right.
So next step is to contact local legislators. I am collecting / structuring my position to be as self contained and self explanatory as possible. Should get it out this week. Will advise if anything useful (or entertaining) happens.

 

[Prickly Pear]

Below are the current wording from the RCW. The original text (section 1) would have gotten us off as we can't go 30 miles on battery alone, as you were trying to argue with DOL. Section 2 is where they stipulate even if you don't meet the requirements of section 1 and 4 you still have to pay your fee.
You can argue the law isn't fair or equitable, which it isn't, but I am not sure you can argue that it does not require Hybrid Mavericks to pay an extra $75. Get the RUC passed and we can get the fee waived and only pay for the miles we put on the roads.



(1) A vehicle that both (a) uses at least one method of propulsion that is capable of being reenergized by an external source of electricity and (b) is capable of traveling at least thirty miles using only battery power, is subject to an annual seventy-five dollar transportation electrification fee to be collected by the department, county auditor, or other agent or subagent appointed by the director, in addition to any other fees and taxes required by law. For administrative efficiencies, the transportation electrification fee must be collected at the same time as vehicle registration renewals and may only be collected for vehicles that are renewing an annual vehicle registration.
(2) Beginning October 1, 2019, in lieu of the fee in subsection (1) of this section for a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle that is not required to pay the fees established in RCW 46.17.323 (1) and (4), the department, county auditor, or other agent or subagent appointed by the director must require that the applicant for the annual vehicle registration renewal of such hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle pay a seventy-five dollar hybrid vehicle transportation electrification fee, in addition to any other fees and taxes required by law.
(3) The fees required under this section must be deposited in the electric vehicle account created in RCW 82.44.200, until July 1, 2025, when the fee must be deposited in the motor vehicle account [fund].
(4) This section only applies to a vehicle that is designed to have the capability to drive at a speed of more than thirty-five miles per hour.

 

[Triangle6887]

Here in Oregon we are currently battling it over a bunch of tax increases that were meant to fund transportation. The original proposed plan was nuts.

- 50% increase in gas tax (40 cents to 60 cents/gal) and then tied it to inflation rate going forward.
- 3% sales tax on tires.
- Increased the "privilege" [sales] tax on cars from .3% to .8%. If it was a brand new car there would be an additional 1% tax on that.
- Increase car registration fees by $66 (which is already between $101 and $192 depending on the mpg of the vehicle).
- Double the titling fee on a new car from $90 to $180.
- Increased the transportation payroll tax from .08% to .18%.
- 16.9% increase in weight-mile tax.

Understandably, people were angry because this amounted to $1.9 billion in new taxes on Oregonians. The bill died in the legislature but it was critical as part of funding our state department of transportation. They wound up passing a watered down version of the bill that still increased everything but only generated enough to revenue to "keep the lights on" at ODOT. People were still upset by the tax increase and collected enough signatures to put the tax increase on the ballot. Now the governor is calling for the whole thing to be repealed!

I'm very lucky that because I'm a disabled veteran, I pay a one-time registration fee to register my vehicle for life in Oregon. The only part of the proposed increases that will effect me will be gas taxes, payroll taxes, and tire taxes. Of course we still have to pay all those fees on my wife's car.

 

[Prickly Pear]

Didn't Oregon start a OReGO program to tax by the mile, or was it like the one in Washington that died on the vine?

PS, Thank You for your service!

 

[Naranjita]

Below are the current wording from the RCW. The original text (section 1) would have gotten us off as we can't go 30 miles on battery alone, as you were trying to argue with DOL. Section 2 is where they stipulate even if you don't meet the requirements of section 1 and 4 you still have to pay your fee.
You can argue the law isn't fair or equitable, which it isn't, but I am not sure you can argue that it does not require Hybrid Mavericks to pay an extra $75. Get the RUC passed and we can get the fee waived and only pay for the miles we put on the roads.



(1) A vehicle that both (a) uses at least one method of propulsion that is capable of being reenergized by an external source of electricity and (b) is capable of traveling at least thirty miles using only battery power, is subject to an annual seventy-five dollar transportation electrification fee to be collected by the department, county auditor, or other agent or subagent appointed by the director, in addition to any other fees and taxes required by law. For administrative efficiencies, the transportation electrification fee must be collected at the same time as vehicle registration renewals and may only be collected for vehicles that are renewing an annual vehicle registration.
(2) Beginning October 1, 2019, in lieu of the fee in subsection (1) of this section for a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle that is not required to pay the fees established in RCW 46.17.323 (1) and (4), the department, county auditor, or other agent or subagent appointed by the director must require that the applicant for the annual vehicle registration renewal of such hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle pay a seventy-five dollar hybrid vehicle transportation electrification fee, in addition to any other fees and taxes required by law.
(3) The fees required under this section must be deposited in the electric vehicle account created in RCW 82.44.200, until July 1, 2025, when the fee must be deposited in the motor vehicle account [fund].
(4) This section only applies to a vehicle that is designed to have the capability to drive at a speed of more than thirty-five miles per hour.

Thanks for this. I believe this wording explains my situation why I did not pay the $75 Electrification Fee. It says it is paid on renewals. This was my initial registration, not a renewal. I probably can expect the fee when I renew December 2026.

 

[Prickly Pear]

Good catch I just figured I paid when I did my initial registration, but if I dig in a little I probably didn't!

 

[Triangle6887]

Didn't Oregon start a OReGO program to tax by the mile, or was it like the one in Washington that died on the vine?

I think OReGo was voluntary for hybrid and electric vehicles, with reduced registration fees in exchange to encourage people to use the program. Seeing as how hybrid and electric vehicles can have registration fees near $400, it can be a decent discount by using the program. The ODOT website estimates between $35 and $115 in savings for the average hybrid or electric vehicle owner.

 

[LSchicago]

I just payed for the tab renewal for my Mav. The price for renewal was pretty significant. There are some interesting fees included in this price.

Can somebody explain me what's the transportation electrification fee and why owner of the hybrid vehicle has to pay for the electrification.
Gross weight fee is kind of interesting as well. Is this small truck that heavy?

What a rip off. No exist tax or extra hybrid fee in my state. But we do have the second highest property taxes in the country.

 

[zen_]

I just registered my 2025 Ford Maverick Lariat AWD Hybrid. I'm in Thurston County. I don't see an electrification fee or Hybrid fee or the like down here. We are outside the Sound Transit collection area, so I don't know if it's collected outside King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

Title $19.00 (one-time fee)
Plate $104 (one-time fee)
Administration $33.75
Other $3.00
Registration $83.00
TOTAL $242.75

On my renewal next year, it should be approx $119.75 (won't have to pay the plate and title again). Which is about the same as my previous '22 Maverick EcoBoost and my wife's '21 Kia minivan. So there appears not to be any extra fees for a Hybrid registered in Thurston County, Washington. At least not in my situation.

I paid nearly $600 to register my $28,000 vehicle the first year (+ ~7% sales tax), and $540 this year in Nebraska. They have been working hard to keep our taxes low...lol.

 

[Naranjita]

I paid nearly $600 to register my $28,000 vehicle the first year (+ ~7% sales tax), and $540 this year in Nebraska. They have been working hard to keep our taxes low...lol.

Yeah, I guess even with a $75 Electrification fee, our registration fees are not extremely high compared to some other states. All things are relative.

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