Lawmakers introduced the BUILD America 250 bill proposing annual EV fees of $130 for fully electric vehicles and $35 for plug-in hybrids. The legislation includes automatic $5 yearly increases up to $150 and $50 caps respectively. Sponsored by Sam Graves and Rick Larsen, the measure aims to address transportation funding through 2030.

The federal gas tax remains frozen at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993, creating decades of highway underfunding. Average gas vehicles pay approximately $80 annually in federal taxes, making the proposed EV fees disproportionately higher. The bill arrives amid global fuel shortages that EVs could help solve, while some Republicans push to eliminate gas taxes entirely.

Representative Graves, who received $163,300 from oil and gas interests, previously floated a $200 annual EV fee that failed due to implementation complexity. The current proposal would raise roughly $700 million yearly from 5.3 million EVs, representing less than 0.2% of total US transportation spending.

State-level EV taxes already exceed what conventional vehicles pay, with multiple states imposing dual charges for road use and charging infrastructure. Large commercial trucks cause thousands of times more road damage than passenger EVs, yet face no equivalent weight-indexed fees.