Congress Weighs a $130 Annual Federal Fee on Electric Vehicles, and Florida EV Owners Pay No State Fee Today

Florida's electric vehicle owners, who pay no special state fee today, could soon owe Washington $130 a year under a transportation bill pending in Congress that would charge EV drivers a new federal fee to help fill the Highway Trust Fund.

The fee is part of the BUILD America 250 Act, H.R. 8870, a five-year, $580 billion surface transportation package that funds roads, bridges, transit, rail and highway safety programs. Under the bill, the annual fee would start at $130 for battery electric vehicles and could eventually rise to $150, while plug-in hybrid owners would pay $35, Scripps News reported this week. The fees could take effect as soon as December if Congress approves the bill, according to the report.

For Florida, which has one of the largest EV fleets in the country and whose outgoing governor has already called the plan unconstitutional, the proposal would add a federal charge to every EV registration renewal processed by the state's motor vehicle agency.

What the bill would do

Supporters say the fee is about fairness: EV drivers buy no gasoline, so they pay none of the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax that has long financed the Highway Trust Fund. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee says the bill "injects the Highway Trust Fund with its first new stream of revenue for infrastructure in over three decades."

The fee would not be collected directly by the federal government. As drafted, state motor vehicle departments, which in Florida means the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, would collect it during vehicle registration and renewal, ClickOrlando reported after reviewing the bill text in May. Starting in 2029, the fees would increase by $5 every two years until reaching caps of $150 for EVs and $50 for plug-in hybrids, according to that report.

The committee approved the bill on May 22 by a vote of 62 to 2, according to the committee's website. The bill now awaits action on the House floor before it would move to the Senate.

A bipartisan compromise, and its critics

The $130 figure is a negotiated number. Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington, the committee's top Democrat, said it reflects a compromise after Republicans proposed a $250 fee the year before, according to a May news report on the committee vote. "To date, electric vehicles have been exempt from contributing any money to the Highway Trust Fund," Larsen said. "I don't think a $130 registration fee on EVs is going to stop someone from buying an electric vehicle who really wants it."

Environmental groups disagree. The Natural Resources Defense Council called the fee a "punch in the gut to the millions of Americans struggling to pay higher prices at the pump," according to the same report. Critics also argue that $130 exceeds what the average gasoline driver pays in federal fuel tax each year.

Scripps News noted that, based on current gas prices, an EV driven 12,000 miles a year would take less than six years to cost less than a comparable gas-powered vehicle, though other expenses could change that math. EV buyers also lost the $7,500 federal tax credit last year.

DeSantis: "Just say no"

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaves office in January, attacked the proposal shortly after it was filed, focusing on the requirement that states collect the money. "Commandeering state DMVs into federal tax collectors is not constitutional," DeSantis wrote on social media, according to ClickOrlando. "The proposed tax is bad on its own, but this aspect is an attempt at usurping state sovereignty. And, yes, the tax would be extended to all cars in no time. Just say no!"

Within Florida's congressional delegation, Rep. Jimmy Patronis, a Panhandle Republican, sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and praised its passage of the bill. "This is a huge win for the people of Northwest Florida," Patronis said in a statement, which put the committee vote at 61 to 2. His release highlighted an amendment of his that loosens weight limits for auto haulers. "Vehicles are heavier today due to EV and hybrid technologies, but weight limits haven't kept up," he said. His statement did not address the EV fee.

Florida has no state EV fee

Unlike many states, Florida does not charge electric vehicle owners an extra registration fee to make up for lost gas tax revenue. Lawmakers have tried. In the 2026 session, Sen. Keith Truenow filed Senate Bill 804, which would have required owners of battery electric vehicles to pay an annual fee of $250 at initial registration and each renewal, with the money going to the State Transportation Trust Fund. The bill died in the Senate Transportation Committee on March 13, 2026, according to the Florida Senate's bill history. Similar proposals in earlier sessions also did not become law.

That means a federal fee would be the first dedicated road-use charge most Florida EV owners have paid. The state's EV market is large: Florida had about 254,900 registered electric vehicles at the end of 2023, second only to California, according to Department of Energy figures compiled by the research firm Recurrent.

Florida's other EV fight

The federal debate comes as Florida has wrestled with how to spend its share of federal EV charging money. The Florida Press reported Nov. 1 that the state backed off a plan to spend $197 million in federal EV charger funding on landing pads for electric air taxis, sometimes called flying cars.

What's next

The timing is uncertain. Federal highway programs authorized under the 2021 infrastructure law expired Sept. 30, and Congress extended them through Dec. 11, according to the Congressional Research Service, putting another deadline in front of lawmakers during the lame-duck session. No House floor vote on H.R. 8870 had been reported as of this week, and the Senate would still have to pass its own version or the House bill.

If the bill does not pass before the current Congress ends in early January, it would have to start over in a new Congress in which Democrats will control both chambers. For now, Florida EV owners face no new charge, state or federal.