Legislation in the House and Senate would make electric vehicles pay into the Highway Trust Fund.
One of the big questions about electric vehicles has been, how are we going to pay for highway infrastructure when they don’t pay any fuel tax?
Trucking organizations are praising legislation introduced in both the House and the Senate to address that concern where light-duty EVs are concerned.
Senator Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) and Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-South Dakota) introduced the ‘‘Fair Sharing of Highways and Roads for Electric Vehicles Act of 2025,” or the Fair Share Act of 2025 for short.
The bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a tax on the sale of electric vehicles and batteries.
The legislation would charge a one-time fee for light-duty electric vehicles to ensure that they are contributing to road maintenance.
The Highway Trust Fund makes up over 90% of federal funds used for transportation projects and primarily receives its funding through the federal fuel tax: 18.3 cents per gallon of gas and 24.3 cents per gallon of diesel.
The fuel tax hasn’t been raised since 1993, yet vehicle fuel efficiency has improved and the costs for building and maintaining highway infrastructure has soared.
Since 2008, over $275 billion has been shifted from the general fund to sustain the HTF.
How Would the Fair SHARE Act Work?
The Fair SHARE Act would require EVs to contribute to the HTF through a two-tier fee structure similar to and modeled after the current federal gas tax and the heavy vehicle use tax.
The bill would:
- Impose a one-time fee of $1,000 on all-electric vehicles at the manufacturer level
- Impose a one-time fee of $550 on each battery module with a weight greater than 1,000 pounds at the manufacturer level.
“EVs can weigh up to three times as much as gas-powered cars, creating more wear and tear on our roads and bridges,” said Senator Fischer. “It’s only fair that they pay into the Highway Trust Fund just like other cars do.”
The legislation was cosponsored by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) and Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska).
‘No One Should Get a Free Ride’ on Highway Funding
“When it comes to paying for the maintenance and expansion of our road network, no one should get a free ride,” said Henry Hanscom, American Trucking Associations’ senior vice president of legislative affairs.
“As fuel efficiency rises and adoption rates for alternative fuels accelerate, we must find long-term, sustainable, and equitable sources of revenue for the HTF,” Hanscom said.
ATA said the trucking industry is the leading payer into the Highway Trust Fund, contributing almost half of all revenues while representing just 4% of road users.
Heavy-duty electric trucks also contribute to the HTF through the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax, the tire tax, and the federal excise tax.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association also praised the bill.
Gasoline-powered cars pay into the HTF through the gas tax, but currently, EVs do not contribute to the HTF at all, OOIDA pointed out in a news release.
However, the average EV is significantly heavier than its gas-powered counterpart due to the weight of large EV batteries. The Fair SHARE Act would require additional investment in the HTF for EVs with heavier batteries to account for the road damage and increased maintenance costs they cause.
“Truckers are understandably frustrated that EVs currently pay nothing to the HTF despite having equal access to the roads and highways maintained by taxpayers,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer.
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