Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! Global plugin vehicle registrations were up 45% in August 2023 compared to August 2022, rising to 1,238,00 units. In the end, plugins represented 18% share of the overall auto market (with a 13% BEV share alone). This means that […]
I don’t think that will ever happen. It would be political suicide for a legislature/governor/president to pass major gas tax increases.
Almost every adult American owns a car. Our public transportation exists in major cities but is very poor. Our housing densities are also pretty bad because most families want to live in a big, American house. Most suburbs in the US are terrible for even walking because they have few sidewalks and you have to walk in the road.
As an example, when I worked in the office my drive in a car was about 30 minutes each way. If I wanted to take bus / train that would have at least doubled IF I made the 2 connections perfectly (which would probably never happen). Good chance it would take 1.5 hours most of the time. And I would not have been able to pick up my son from school to have time with him because I’d have to take public transportation 5 cities over, about 21 miles (35 km) which would take hours on public transportation so I’d have to leave work at lunchtime.
The path away from ICE in the US is EVs or similar (hyrdogen, etc.). And improving infrastructure to lessen the need for cars. Few politicians would try to boost the gas taxes much at all. Even small increases in the gas tax are unpopular.
Yeah, that’s quite unfortunate: increasing gas taxes could be a useful tool for encouraging more efficient choices, including BEVs. But yeah, people go crazy over even a few cents, or trying to keep the same percentage instead f a fixed rate per gallon
I don’t think that will ever happen. It would be political suicide for a legislature/governor/president to pass major gas tax increases.
Almost every adult American owns a car. Our public transportation exists in major cities but is very poor. Our housing densities are also pretty bad because most families want to live in a big, American house. Most suburbs in the US are terrible for even walking because they have few sidewalks and you have to walk in the road.
As an example, when I worked in the office my drive in a car was about 30 minutes each way. If I wanted to take bus / train that would have at least doubled IF I made the 2 connections perfectly (which would probably never happen). Good chance it would take 1.5 hours most of the time. And I would not have been able to pick up my son from school to have time with him because I’d have to take public transportation 5 cities over, about 21 miles (35 km) which would take hours on public transportation so I’d have to leave work at lunchtime.
The path away from ICE in the US is EVs or similar (hyrdogen, etc.). And improving infrastructure to lessen the need for cars. Few politicians would try to boost the gas taxes much at all. Even small increases in the gas tax are unpopular.
Yeah, that’s quite unfortunate: increasing gas taxes could be a useful tool for encouraging more efficient choices, including BEVs. But yeah, people go crazy over even a few cents, or trying to keep the same percentage instead f a fixed rate per gallon
At current car prices, it’s starting to look like fewer people will actually be able to afford a car in the future.