Got my 2009 EV sticker today, 3 cool things!

[ted.lowe]

1) Only cost $35 for 2 years! 

2) The SoS guy remembered me from two years ago and asked "how's that vehicle working for you"?

3) The sticker matches my truck (finally) 

[howard.hansen]

So Ted, regarding cool thing #2, you have an SoS guy?  I called Diana McAfee at the Vehicle Services Department and she explained that even though I’ve seen 4-door Cadillacs, Lincolns, Avalanches and Explorer Sport Tracks with pickup truck beds and automobile license plates, the pickup truck bed on my Ranger Electric Vehicle makes it a Second Division Vehicle and disqualifies it from getting “A” prefix Electric Vehicle license plates.  (an excerpt from a letter to my representative I'm working on)
Howard

[lawrence.miller]

Ted, your registration cost is 22.4% of mine at $ 78/year. Help me to understand. The state of Illinois gives $ 4,000.00 for buying/building/converting an electric car. The state of Illinois reduces the registration cost for an electric car. Do you have to report to an Illinois air quality center with your car? Do you pay any taxes to Illinois state or local governments for the roads? (If no, what's wrong with this picture?)

[howard.hansen]

It's taken me seven years to reply but here it is. I get it that the roads are being torn up by all the Leafs and the Teslas and the Volts and the Energis and the Zeros. It's wonderful that the states are cracking down on this serious problem. it's important that everyone pays their fair share for things that affect everyone else. That being said, people who use petroleum as a motor fuel should probably pitch in a little extra to pay for the pollution from extracting, refining and using petroleum, the billions of dollars, the deaths and injuries resulting from wars that are involved, the health consequences from pollution and global warming. The list goes on. EV users should definitely pay their fair share of road use taxes just as soon as the full cost of petroleum use is paid at the gas pump.

[jeffrey.miller]

The reality is that cars and light trucks running 30 to 40 psi in their tires are probably doing more to help maintain the roads than damage to the roads.  That 18 wheeler with about 100 psi in it's tires does all the damage.  Our lowly vehicles run over the weeds.  Trucks displace the asphalt and crack the concrete.  So to be fair even though they are buying more fuel they aren't paying anywhere near their share of road tax.  This is also true of damage to tollways vs tolls collected.   

[ted.lowe]

Better later than never Howard    Agreed 100%.  EVs should get a refund imo.  The "EVs getting away with a crime" mentality is from the fossil-fuel-centric pols that deny we're doing anything bad to the Earth while promoting their profit-motive-based industries. 

100% agreeing with you too Jeff!  The cargo-heavy 18 wheels driving all the time cause massive amounts more damage than my EV ever will.  Nobody wants to pay more for shipping costs though, so all consumers are part of the problem.  Grow local, eat local is one of my attempts at reducing my impact.  And bike riding.