COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio lawmakers are considering legislation to eliminate an extra registration fee for hybrid vehicle owners in the state.
House Bill 389, introduced by Rep. Joseph Miller, D-Amherst, and Rep. David Thomas, R-Jefferson, aims to remove the $100 additional registration fee currently imposed on hybrid vehicle drivers. Several other legislators, including Rep. Anita Somani, D-Dublin, Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus, Rep. Meredith Lawson-Rowe, D-Reynoldsburg, and Rep. Ismail Mohamed, D-Columbus, have also signed on in support of the bill.
Presently, Ohio drivers registering a hybrid vehicle must pay this extra fee in addition to standard registration costs.
“This is a taxpayer fairness idea,” Thomas said in a statement to NBC4. “We should be treating folks as fairly as possible. Just because you have a hybrid or plug-in doesn’t mean you use less gas, and I don’t think you should pay much higher fees for it.”
The proposed legislation does not address the additional fees for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, which are $150 and $200, respectively.
Most states impose extra registration fees on hybrid and electric vehicles because these vehicles use less or no gasoline and consequently contribute less in fuel taxes that fund road maintenance. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, as of July, at least 41 states charge additional fees for electric vehicles, and more than two dozen states also charge fees for hybrids.
Critics argue that these fees are disproportionately high compared to what drivers would pay in fuel taxes if they drove gasoline-powered vehicles the same distance.
“This is an excessive tax, making Ohio taxes among the highest in the nation and offering little benefit to Ohio,” Tom Bullock, president of the Clean Fuels Ohio Board, said in a statement. “Clean Fuels Ohio agrees that electric vehicle owners should pay their fair share of road taxes, but $200 isn’t fair: it’s excessive, collected up-front, and one-size-fits-all, meaning vehicles that drive lower mileage are charged as if they’ve driven much further. And no credit is given for taxes already paid on electricity. A sticker fee of $50 would be much closer to a fair amount.”
Ohio’s state fuel tax, excluding the federal fuel tax, is 38.5 cents per gallon. A driver traveling 12,000 miles at 30 miles per gallon would pay approximately $154 in state fuel tax. In comparison, an EV driver covering the same distance incurs a $200 additional registration fee.
The flat $200 annual registration fee for electric vehicles can be more economical than paying the fuel tax for high-mileage drivers or those in less efficient gasoline cars. For instance, a less efficient car traveling 18,000 miles at 25 miles per gallon would pay about $277 in fuel tax, while an EV driver would still only pay $200.
This has led some states to consider implementing mileage-based fees so that drivers who use the roads more will pay more, according to the NCSL.
Additional fees for hybrid vehicles are generally considered more inequitable than those for electric vehicles. Hybrid vehicles primarily use fuel, and their smaller batteries are not externally charged, so drivers still pay fuel taxes in addition to the registration fee.
“The current fee structure is inequitable and unfair,” Miller said in a statement to NBC4. “Maintaining Ohio’s roads is a top priority for all, but the mechanism in which we do it places an undue burden on those with a non-plug-in hybrid vehicle.”
A hybrid vehicle achieving 40 miles per gallon would incur about $115 in fuel taxes for 12,000 miles, plus the additional $100 fee lawmakers aim to eliminate, totaling $215. A plug-in hybrid with similar efficiency would cost the same $115 in fuel tax plus the $150 additional registration fee, which HB 389 does not eliminate, totaling $265.
“Although they may improve fuel economy, the gas tax combined with the elevated registration fee puts an undue and unfair burden on the owners of these vehicles,” Miller said. “This bill is about leveling the playing field and ensuring an equitable fee structure.”
Clean Fuels Ohio has previously advocated for the state to charge $25 for plug-in hybrids and $50 for electric vehicles.
“This would represent an important symbolic precedent of ensuring EV owners paid road taxes,” Clean Fuels Ohio wrote in an undated two-page fact sheet shared with NBC4. “In our view, this level would not unduly harm the fledgling EV market, important to encourage for Ohio’s consumers and economy.”
Miller was a co-sponsor of House Bill 546 in 2020, which sought to halve the additional registration fee, but that bill did not advance out of committee.
