Utah is the latest US
state to begin a road
user charging pilot. The
new project, which goes live
on January 1, 2020, is aimed
specifically at the owners of
electric and hybrid vehicles. In
Utah pure-EV drivers must pay
flat fee – set at US$90 for 2020.
The justification for the EV
fee is that it is significantly
less than the amount drivers
of traditionally fuelled vehicles
must pay in gas taxes every
year – estimated at around
US$187 in 2019 for the average
Utah driver.
The new RUC project does
away with the flat fee for EV
owners, but instead replaces it
with a charge of 1.5 cents for
every mile driven. So, many EV
owners will end up paying less
than the US$90 annual fee. And,
to make it even more attractive,
the per-mile charge is capped
at US$90 in 2020 so no one
volunteering taking part in the
pilot will end up paying more
than they would otherwise.
Utah DOT is aiming to get
500 EV drivers to take part in
the scheme out of the
2.5 million vehicles that
currently use its roads.
Participants of the scheme
will sign up with Emovis, who
are operating the scheme on
behalf of UDOT, who will collect
and report miles driven via
embedded telematics, or via a
smartphone app can be used
by drivers to capture odometer
info, with a yearly ‘true-up’
photo to verify readings.
Work began on Utah’s
RUC scheme in 2018, when
US$755,000 was allocated
by the state legislature for
its launch. And additional
US$115,000 is available to
maintain it annually. The
state also received a US$1.25
million grant for a study of the
program’s success over the
next five years.
“This project points the
way to a possible new way for
drivers to pay for road use,”
UDOT director Carlos Braceras
| Road User Charging
told Traffic Technology
International. “EVs are a great
place to start as they pay no
gas tax at all. And, because
drivers are guaranteed to save
money in the pilot, we hope this
scheme will be popular.”
“This project constitutes
a major milestone in the
transformation of the road
mobility landscape,” says
Anthony Alicastro, Emovis CEO.
“I am pleased that our company
plays a leading role in this
new market.”
Utah’s current thinking
Utah DOT is piloting RUC in an innovative way, by aiming its new 2020
scheme at electric vehicle drivers who pay no gas tax
49% The annual growth
in registrations of EVs
in Utah between
2015 and 2019
IMAGES: UTAH DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTAION, S QUINTANS, HELIVIDEO/STOCK.ADOBE.COM
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