Indiana's annual vehicle registration penalty on EVs and clean energy is unfair, shortsighted, and punishes Hoosiers trying to protect our planet.

To the Editor,

Every year at renewal, electric EV owners must pay a steep $242 "supplemental fee" on top of standard registration costs. This punishing rate gives Indiana the 5th highest EV registration fee in the entire country. And it helps explain why EVs account for only 0.25% to 0.3% of vehicle registrations in Indiana and rank the state 34th in the country in EV registrations.

The Republican supermajority in the legislature claims this flat tax replaces the gasoline tax used to maintain roads that EV drivers don't pay. In reality, the EV tax disproportionately costs many EV drivers more than what a driver of a reasonably efficient gasoline vehicle would pay in fuel taxes over an entire year.

Worse, this policy ignores the true cost of fossil fuel-burning vehicles. Gas-guzzling, carbon-belching SUVs, trucks and sedans pay absolutely nothing at the BMV for the immense environmental and public health damage they inflict on our state and world. Such vehicles do not remotely pay their fair share for poisoning the air we all breathe.

Instead of penalizing clean technology, Indiana should be encouraging EV adoption to secure a healthier future. The EV tax should be repealed or substantially reduced and a new "air poisoning" tax on the grotesque harm that gasoline-powered vehicles actually cause to the planet, should be considered. This would be the smart way to fairly address the damage these vehicles cause our community.

Jim Mellowitz

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