Delaware Democrats are gung-ho for electric vehicles when they’re legislating. They sing a different tune when the rubber meets the road.
DelDOT is worried about revenue, so it’s imposing new registration fees for EVs. This solution makes owning an electric vehicle more costly, thereby disincentivizing EV ownership – while at the same time incentivizing their purchase with tax breaks. Think about that for a minute, because they obviously haven’t.
EV owners should shell out, DelDOT says, because EVs don’t pay any fuel tax, and fuel taxes supply 20% of DelDOT’s revenue.
A study of the impact of fuel-efficient and electric vehicles on the state budget published last year by the University of Delaware found that, if current adoption rates continued, the state could lose an estimated $1 billion in revenue from the motor fuel tax between 2030 and 2050.
That’s a big, scary number, $1 billion. Much scarier than $50 million per year, which is the annual average. In reality, though, it would start out lower five years from now, and grow through 2050, when most of the people running DelDOT will be retired on their state pensions. And that’s not even taking into account inflation. An unknown variable that significant makes a 25-year projection something between a guess and a fantasy.
Granted, DelDOT will need to raise revenue somehow. They’ve already increased tolls, which is easy because a large percentage is paid by vehicles traveling through, mainly on the interstate but also on the beach road.
What else might they do instead of adding to the financial burden of owning an EV? The obvious answer: Raise the tax on gasoline. But that would be harder for lawmakers, because right now Delawareans are enjoying a 25-cent-a-gallon tax break, as they learn when they go to the pumps in neighboring states.
DelDOT’s justification for raising tolls was that surrounding states already have. But when those states raised their fuel taxes a few years ago, Delaware left theirs unchanged at around half their rates.
Delaware: 23 cents
Maryland: 45 cents
New Jersey: 42 cents
Pennsylvania: 58 cents
In short, Delawareans don’t cross state lines to get cheaper gas, and wouldn’t even if the state doubled its tax rate. Delaware’s gasoline tax brought in $137 million in FY2025. By doubling its rate Delaware could raise $274 million a year. They would never raise the tax so much so fast, but they wouldn’t have to.
DelDOT says EV registrations are growing by 1,000 a month, another number that sounds scarier out of context. The number of electric vehicles in Delaware, by category, as of 2023:
8,400 full EVs
3,800 plug-in hybrids (PHEV)
22,900 hybrid EVs
Keep in mind that the latter two categories still use some fuel, but even if they didn’t we’re talking about 35,000 vehicles. Add another 25,000 for the past two years and you’re up to 60,000. Compare that to the number of fossil fuel vehicles:
791,300 gasoline
14,200 diesel
Taxing EVs at $100 to $150 apiece, depending on weight, DelDOT will raise about $6 million a year. Raising the gasoline tax by a penny would raise the same amount, and who would notice? As EV ownership rises year by year, the tax would have to increase year by year as well, but if we’re trying to incentivize EV ownership, that’s exactly what we should want. The higher the cost of gas, the greater the incentive to switch over.
Last time I checked, getting people into EVs was the Democrats’ proclaimed goal. Remember, there’s a state mandate to boost EV new car sales to 43% for the 2027 model year and 82% by 2032 – mandates Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer says he will scrap.
Meyer, nominally a Democrat, says he doesn’t like government mandates, which is par for the Castle Republican course. The alternative is incentives. Insurance, repairs and electricity are all more costly for EV owners – why would you add to the expense if you want people to buy them?
Given these facts, this registration fee can only be seen as punitive. The state’s justification: Most other states have one. Uh-huh. As long as we’re comparing, most other states also have higher gas taxes than Delaware, too.
The state doesn’t need to throw EV owners under their own vehicles, so why does it want to?