NJ – what are you trying to do? Discourage people from buying EVs? I guess if you can afford an EV (not me BTW) then a measly $1060 (the first 4 years are payable up front) on top of the regular registration fee is nothing. But is this really the message you want to send?

CHARGEVC.org comments: “…the whole EV incentive programs [are] a “hot mess … while there are also federal tax incentives for some vehicles that can save buyers up to $7,500, that program doesn’t cover all the EVs on the market….The state program is on-again, off-again. The federal program applies to less than half of the electric vehicles in the marketplace. So consumers are terribly confused and uncertain about it.”

Just another reason for Environmental Organizations to unite and present a clear picture of what is happening – and influence the drafting of these budgets and rules.

It would be understandable if this extra revenue were to go toward building the charging infrastructure needed for the transition to EVs. But no, this money will go to standard repair and maintenance. And who causes the most wear and tear? Hint: Not EVs!

I see that a number of other US states charge similar fees. But that’s not good news. Why copy bad policy?

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The “on-again, off-again” comment also wakes some not so pleasant memories. Changes in the NJ residential energy retrofit programs caused some companies in that field to either go out of business or drastically scale back their operations – and stopped many others from ever participating.