Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
Under a bill (S-4090) up for consideration this week in the Legislature, a new seven-member commission would come up with a new system of taxing motor vehicles including, but not limited to, electric cars and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
For the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Transportation Financing Commission, there may not be much reason to hurry. By most estimates, only 25,000 electric vehicles are on the road in New Jersey today. Even clean-car advocates concede it will be tough to meet a target of upping that number to 330,000 by 2025.
But they hope to push a bill (S-2252) in the lame-duck Legislature that would provide incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles; it also would establish aggressive targets to build charging stations — a step advocates say is necessary to convince consumers to buy the electric vehicles.
The state’s draft energy master plan and New Jersey’s participation in the Transportation Climate Alliance all recommend the electrification of the transportation sector, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Most climate activists say New Jersey will never achieve its goals without significantly electrifying vehicles, not only light-duty cars, but commercial vehicles and buses, too.
But replacing the gas tax — a conventional way of financing transportation improvements — is proving to be a tough choice for states as consumers switch to vehicles no longer fueled by petroleum. Some, like Oregon, and other western states, have tried pilot programs that tax motorists on vehicles per mile traveled.
A different way to tax drivers
The bill, up before the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday, does not specify any way to raise the needed funds but gives the commission 180 days from its formation to provide recommendations to the Legislature.
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