Electric vehicle owners in Texas, such as myself, will now have to pay $200 every year when we renew our registration. We all should pay our fair share of taxes, we use the roads like everyone else. Per the Texas subreddit, the TxDOT Study on Imposing Fees on Alternatively Fueled Vehicles document provided some interesting data, and makes me wish the fee was closer to $100:
Most states already have annual flat fees in place for hybrids and EVs. (Page 35)
TxDOT considered different approaches to making up for the lost state fuel tax (ex. mileage-based) but settled on a flat fee. (Page 36)
Based on their assumptions, an equivalent conventional gas light duty vehicle produces $103 in state fuel taxes per year. (Page 27)
Instead of imposing a $100 annual fee based on those assumptions, Texas decided to double the fee to $200. This was probably chosen simply because it was the most common highest fee imposed by other states.
California and Illinois only charge an additional $100, Colorado $50, Oregon $150, and Washington $150.
One thing I have to do for my employer is ensure that our websites and products are 508 compliant. Basically, making sure our product is accessible to people with disabilities. So, I have to test them using the following tools:
ZoomText – for the vision impaired
JAWS (Job Access With Speech), also for vision impairment
Dragon Naturally Speaking – speech recognition software for those with physical impairments, so you control things with your voice.