Guide · 12 min read · Updated October 26, 2026

EV registration fees by state (2026)

Forty-one states charge an electric car an extra fee each year. Ten do not. This is the whole table, a map you can click, and the arithmetic that explains why the number exists at all.

The short answer

In 2026, 41 of 51 US jurisdictions add an annual EV fee to registration, from $50 in Hawaii to $273.59 in Georgia. The median is $140 a year, about $11.67 a month. Nine states and DC charge nothing. It sits on top of ordinary registration, and a $0 means no EV-specific charge — never a free car.

Charge a fee: 41
No fee: 10
Median: $140
Highest: $273.59

The map · 51 jurisdictions

Click a state to see its bill

NJ · $270/yr

No EV fee10
Under $1004
$100–$14917
$150–$1996
$200–$24910
$250 and up4

The reason

Why an electric car pays a fee at all

Roads in the United States are paid for mostly by the people who drive on them, and the mechanism is a tax on fuel: 18.4¢ a gallon federal, plus a state rate that averaged 32.6¢ in 2026. Drive more, buy more petrol, pay more. It is a rough but workable proxy for how much road you used.

An electric car buys no petrol, so it pays none of that, while wearing out exactly the same asphalt. Two things then happened at once: EV sales climbed, and fuel revenue stayed flat. States looked for the missing money and found the registration desk, which already sends every owner a bill once a year.

That is the whole idea. It is not a tax on being electric — it is a fuel tax collected differently. Which is also why the fee and the purchase rebate can coexist in the same state without anyone thinking it is strange: one policy is about emissions, the other is about pavement.

State road tax per year, same mileage

Petrol car · 25 mpg · 12,000 miles$156

480 gallons at 32.6¢

Electric car · median state fee$140

41 states charge one

Federal fuel tax (18.4¢) is excluded: it goes to Washington, not to the state that set the EV fee. Include it and the petrol car pays $245.

So is it fair?

For an average driver, roughly. At 12,000 miles a year a 25 mpg car hands over about $156 in state fuel tax. The median EV fee is $140. Those two numbers are close enough that the policy is doing roughly what it says on the tin.

The problem is the shape, not the size. A flat fee charges the same whether the car drove 3,000 miles or 30,000. A low-mileage EV owner overpays; a high-mileage one underpays. That is the case for the per-mile charges now running in four states, and it is why the argument about EVs and road funding is really an argument about flat fees in general.

One number to hold on to

A 25 mpg car driving 12,000 miles burns 480 gallons and pays about $156 in state fuel tax. The median EV fee is $140. Same road, roughly the same contribution — by design.

Your numbers

A flat fee is a rate once you divide by miles

The table says what a state charges. This says what that is worth per mile, which is the only version of the number that can be compared with a fuel tax. Move the mileage and the ranking of “fair” and “unfair” changes.

Try it

What the fee works out to per mile

A flat fee is a rate. Pick a state and a yearly mileage and the rate appears, next to what a petrol car of the same mileage pays in state fuel tax.

State

Miles a year12,000

4k30k

The petrol car you would have driven

EV road charge

2.08¢/ mile

$250 a year

Petrol state fuel tax

1.30¢/ mile

$156.48 a year

Electric2.08¢/mi

Petrol · 25 mpg · 480 gallons1.30¢/mi

An EV pays 0.78¢ a mile more than a 25 mpg car's state fuel tax — about $93.52 a year at this mileage.

Fuel tax uses the EIA average state rate of 32.6¢ a gallon; the federal 18.4¢ is left out because it never reaches a state road fund. Charging the same miles at home would cost about $617.14 at 0.18/kWh and 3.5 mi/kWh — the fee is on top of that.

How they are built

Four ways to charge the same idea

“Annual fee” hides four different mechanisms. They produce similar numbers today and behave very differently when anything changes.

Most common

A flat annual charge

One number, added to the registration bill, the same whether the car drove 3,000 miles or 30,000. Ohio's $200 and Illinois's $100 are this shape. Simple to administer, crude as a road-use price.

Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, West Virginia

By weight

Tiers that rise with the car

A heavier vehicle wears the asphalt faster, so the charge steps up with unladen weight. Delaware starts at $110 and reaches $900; Oklahoma runs from $110 to $2,250.

Delaware, Michigan, Montana, Oklahoma

By formula

Indexed, so it moves on its own

The law names a formula, not a number, so the fee rises with inflation or a highway-cost index without a new vote. This is why last year's figure is often wrong.

California, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi

By mile

A road usage charge

Pay for the miles actually driven, read from the odometer or a plug-in device: 0.8¢ to 2.3¢ a mile, capped at roughly the flat fee. The fairest of the four, and the hardest to sell.

Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Hawaii

The fifth option is to charge nothing, which ten jurisdictions currently do. It is a real policy choice, not an oversight: a state with a large EV rebate and a small road-funding gap can decide the fee is not worth the argument yet.

The fine print

Eight things the headline number hides

Every one of these has caught someone at a counter. If your state is here, the table above is still right — it is just not the whole bill.

Prepaid, four years at once

$270 a year, but it is collected at first registration for four years — about $1,080 before the car has moved. Moving out does not refund the rest.

$400 for a new car

A new EV pays two registration years up front, so the first bill is $400. Renewals are $200. The table shows the renewal figure.

Billed every two years

$120 at a time, shown as $60 a year here so the rows compare. The same is true of Alaska's registration cycle, though it charges no EV fee.

The plate fee inflates the top spot

$273.59 includes a $35 alternative-fuel plate fee. Strip it out and Georgia is $238.59 — below New Jersey's $270, which is why rankings disagree.

It replaces registration

Kansas folded the charge into the registration fee instead of adding a line. Sources list $100 to $165 depending on weight and year; there is no single number to quote.

The one that went down

Cut from $200 to $100 in July 2026, to treat electric and petrol cars the same way. Almost every other change this year was upward.

Nothing yet, then $70

No charge in 2026. A phased fee starts January 2027 at $70 and reaches $90 by 2029 — the only state on this list that is about to join rather than adjust.

The flat fee is ending

Vermont replaces its $89 fee with a mandatory per-mile charge in 2027, at 1.4¢ a mile and capped near $178. Oregon and Utah already offer the per-mile version as an option.

All of it

The full table, sortable

Sort by any column, filter to the states that charge nothing or the ones that charge by weight, or search for yours. The figure is the EV-specific charge only — ordinary registration sits underneath it in every row.

Annual electric vehicle registration fees by state, 2026, with the plug-in hybrid charge and how each charge is built.
			How it works	What to know
GeorgiaGA	$273.59	$273.59	Indexed	The highest in the country once the $35 alternative-fuel plate is included; indexed yearly.
New JerseyNJ	$270	$270	Flat	The highest in the country, and it is prepaid: four years — about $1,080 — at first registration.
MichiganMI	$267	$113	By weight	Tied to the fuel tax; over 8,000 lb the charge rises to $367. Second highest in the country.
PennsylvaniaPA	$250	$62.50	Indexed	Rose to $250 in 2026 and is inflation-adjusted; a monthly payment plan exists.
IndianaIN	$242	$81	Indexed	Indexed to inflation every five years, so the figure moves without a new law.
WashingtonWA	$225	$225	Flat	Two lines: a $150 annual fee and a $75 transport-electrification fee.
North CarolinaNC	$214.50	$107.25	Indexed	Adjusted every four years; 85% to the highway fund, 15% to the trust fund.
AlabamaAL	$203	$103	Flat	Rises $3 every four years; the next step is 2027.
West VirginiaWV	$200	$100	Flat	Applies to electric, natural gas and hydrogen vehicles alike.
TexasTX	$200	—	Flat	A new EV pays $400 up front for two registration years; renewals are $200.
TennesseeTN	$200	$100	Flat	Rises to $274 in 2027, then follows inflation.
Rhode IslandRI	$200	$100	Flat“Highway maintenance fee”	New in 2026. Unusually, the money goes to the general fund, not to roads.
OhioOH	$200	$150	Flat	Plain hybrids pay $100 on the same schedule.
ArkansasAR	$200	$100	Flat	Plain hybrids pay $50 on the same schedule.
UtahUT	$180	$71.50	Per-mile	Flat $180, or 1.25¢ a mile capped at the fee. Rises to $240 in 2027.
WisconsinWI	$175	$75	Flat	Collected with the ordinary registration; charging electricity is also taxed.
NebraskaNE	$150	$75	Flat“Alternative fuel fee”	Collected at registration; motorcycles and plug-in hybrids pay $75.
MissouriMO	$150	$75	Flat“Special fuel decal”	A decal rather than a registration line item, plus a $9 processing fee.
MississippiMS	$150	$75	Indexed	Adjusted every July against the consumer price index.
MinnesotaMN	$150	$75	Indexed	New in 2026 and MSRP-based, with these floors until mid-2027.
IdahoID	$140	$75	Flat	Fixed annual charge; 40% stays local, 60% goes to the state highway account.
VirginiaVA	$135.63	$103.48	Per-mile“Highway use fee”	Set at 85% of the gas-tax equivalent, or 1.17¢ a mile. Plug-in hybrids pay a share.
KansasKS	$135	$70	Flat	Replaces the ordinary registration fee rather than adding to it — sources list $100 to $165 by weight and year.
MontanaMT	$130	$70	By weight	By unladen weight: $130 under 6,000 lb, up to $1,100 for the heaviest classes.
IowaIA	$130	$65	Flat	Fixed annual charge. Charging electricity also carries an excise tax.
KentuckyKY	$126	$126	Indexed	Moves with a highway-construction cost index; plug-in hybrids pay the same.
MarylandMD	$125	$100	Indexed	Inflation-adjusted since mid-2025, and it can be collected on the registration cycle.
CaliforniaCA	$121	—	Indexed“Road Improvement Fee”	Model year 2020 and newer zero-emission cars only; indexed every year.
North DakotaND	$120	$50	Flat	Electric motorcycles pay $20.
OregonOR	$115	$35	Per-mile	A $30 supplement in 2026 takes it to about $145, or 2.3¢ a mile through OReGO.
OklahomaOK	$110	$82	By weight	The $110 is the lightest tier; heavier vehicles pay up to $2,250.
LouisianaLA	$110	$60	Flat	70% to state construction, 30% to the parish where the car is registered.
DelawareDE	$110	$85	By weight	New in 2026. Weight tiers: $110 under 6,000 lb, up to $900 for the heaviest EVs.
WyomingWY	$100	$50	Flat	Cut from $200 in July 2026 to treat electric and petrol cars the same way.
South DakotaSD	$100	—	Flat	Doubled from $50 in July 2026, and it applies to battery-electric cars only.
New HampshireNH	$100	$50	Flat	Surcharge on the registration, paid into the highway fund.
IllinoisIL	$100	—	Flat	Fixed annual charge. A $1,500 rebate has offset it for some buyers.
ColoradoCO	$89.05	$76.05	Indexed	A $50 base plus an equivalent-fee formula; the road-use part steps up through 2031.
VermontVT	$89	$44.50	Indexed“EV infrastructure fee”	A per-mile charge replaces it from 2027, capped at about $178.
South CarolinaSC	$60	$30	Flat	Collected every two years: $120 at a time, shown here as a yearly figure.
HawaiiHI	$50	—	Per-mile	$50 flat, or 0.8¢ a mile instead. The per-mile charge becomes mandatory in 2028.
New YorkNY	$0	—	—	No EV charge. Registration is by weight, and New York City adds its own fees.
New MexicoNM	$0	—	—	No charge in 2026. A phased fee starts January 2027 at $70 and reaches $90 in 2029.
NevadaNV	$0	—	—	No EV charge. A depreciated-value tax and county supplements still apply.
MassachusettsMA	$0	—	—	No EV charge. Excise tax is based on value, and a rebate programme runs alongside.
MaineME	$0	—	—	No EV charge, but one of the largest purchase rebates in the country.
FloridaFL	$0	—	—	No EV charge. A 2026 bill that would have added one died in committee.
District of ColumbiaDC	$0	—	—	No EV charge. The district raised its registration fee for heavy vehicles instead.
ConnecticutCT	$0	—	—	No EV charge. A purchase rebate sits alongside the ordinary registration fee.
ArizonaAZ	$0	—	—	No EV charge. The vehicle licence tax is based on MSRP instead.
AlaskaAK	$0	—	—	No EV charge. Registration is biennial, and some boroughs add a local tax.

51 of 51 rows shown. Sorted by electric vehicle charge, descending. Every figure is the EV-specific charge only — ordinary registration, title and local fees are on top.

Learn by guessing

You will remember the outliers

Nine rounds of this and the shape of the table sticks: the north-east is expensive, the mountain west is cheap, and the states with no fee at all are the ones with the biggest rebates.

Two minutes of practice

Higher or lower?

Two states, one question: which one charges an electric car more?

Streak: 0
Best: 0

Texas or Vermont — pick the dearer one.

No score yet

Plain English

The words in the table

Fuel tax: The per-gallon tax on petrol and diesel, 18.4¢ federal plus a state rate that averaged 32.6¢ in 2026. It is the main way US roads are funded, and an electric car pays none of it.
EV registration fee: An annual charge added to a battery-electric car's registration to replace some of the fuel tax it does not pay. It is a flat sum, not a rate, so it does not change with how far the car is driven.
Road usage charge: A per-mile charge, usually 0.8¢ to 2.3¢ a mile, collected from an odometer reading or a plug-in device. Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Hawaii offer one as an alternative to the flat fee; Vermont makes it mandatory in 2027.
Weight tier: A fee that rises with the vehicle's weight, on the logic that a heavier car damages a road faster. Delaware, Michigan, Montana and Oklahoma charge this way.
Indexing: Writing a fee into law as a formula rather than a number, so it rises with inflation without a new vote. Seventeen states index the charge, which is why a figure quoted last year can be wrong this year.
Plug-in hybrid (PHEV): A car with both a battery and a petrol engine. It buys some fuel, so most states charge it less than a battery-electric car — often half — but Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey and Washington charge the same.

Where this comes from

Sources, and why the numbers differ

The spine of the table is the Tax Foundation's July 2026 survey of state EV taxes, cross-checked row by row against the National Conference of State Legislatures' July 2026 table and the state DMV schedules behind the Alternative Fuels Data Center. Where those three disagree, the note in the row says so.

They disagree more often than you would hope, and for four ordinary reasons: a fee that changed mid-year, a plate or processing fee bundled into one total and not another, a weight tier quoted at its lightest step, and a biennial charge annualised by one source and not the other. A single dollar figure for a moving target is a convenience, not a fact. Before you renew, check your state's DMV page — the link is in the map panel.

What this page does not cover

Ordinary registration, title, excise, property and county taxes — these vary by vehicle value and weight and sit under every figure here.
Purchase incentives and rebates. Fifteen states offer one; several are exhausted. They are a separate question from the annual charge.
Commercial vehicles and fleets, which often pay a different rate — Georgia's commercial EV charge is about $352, Michigan's up to $367.
Charging taxes: Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Wyoming also tax electricity sold at a public charger, which is a second charge on the same car.

Primary sources for the 2026 EV registration fee table
Source	What it gave this page
Tax Foundation — state EV taxes, July 2026	The fee and PHEV figures, the 41-state count, the revenue-use split.
NCSL — special registration fees, July 2026	Enacting bills, weight tiers, phase-in dates and the per-mile programmes.
US DOE — Alternative Fuels Data Center	The statute behind each charge, and the states whose fee changed this year.
EIA — motor fuel taxes	The 32.6¢ average state fuel tax and the 18.4¢ federal rate used in the comparisons.

Last checked 26 October 2026. Fees change mid-year; a figure here can be superseded without this page changing.

Spot an error? Tell us and it gets fixed with the date noted.

Questions

How much is the EV registration fee in my state?

Use the map above, or the table further down. The short version: 41 of 51 jurisdictions charge a battery-electric car an extra yearly fee in 2026. The median among them is $140, the average $155.99, the lowest $50 in Hawaii and the highest $273.59 in Georgia.

Which state has the highest EV registration fee?

Georgia, at $273.59 a year — but that figure includes a $35 alternative-fuel plate fee. Take the plate out and New Jersey's $270 is the highest, and New Jersey is the bigger shock because it is prepaid: about $1,080 for four years at first registration. Michigan follows at $267, then Pennsylvania at $250.

Which states have no EV registration fee?

Nine states and the District of Columbia charge no EV-specific fee: Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and New York, plus DC. New Mexico is the one to watch — a $70 charge starts in January 2027 and rises to $90 by 2029. No fee does not mean no cost: ordinary registration, title, excise and county taxes all still apply.

Do plug-in hybrids pay the fee too?

36 of the 51 rows carry a plug-in hybrid charge, and the median is $75.53 — usually about half the electric figure, because a plug-in hybrid still buys some petrol. Four states charge a PHEV the same as an EV: Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey and Washington.

Is the fee on top of normal registration?

Almost always, yes. It is a line added to the ordinary registration bill, which varies by state, weight and vehicle value. Kansas is the exception: its charge replaced the standard registration fee rather than adding to it. A $0 in the table means no EV-specific charge, never a free car.

Why do EVs pay a fee at all?

Because roads are funded by fuel tax, and an electric car does not buy fuel. The fee is an attempt to make the car contribute to the road it uses. It is not a penalty for being electric — thirteen states both charge the fee and hand out a purchase rebate, which is the tension in one sentence.

Is the fee fair compared with a petrol car?

For an average driver, roughly. At 12,000 miles a year a 25 mpg car pays about $156 in state fuel tax. The median EV fee is $140. The mismatch is in the shape: a flat fee charges the same whether you drive 3,000 miles or 30,000, so a low-mileage EV owner overpays and a high-mileage one underpays. That is the argument for per-mile charging.

What happens to the fee if I move state?

You register in the new state and pay its fee from then on. What you usually cannot do is get a refund on a prepaid multi-year charge — New Jersey collects four years up front, and moving out does not return the remainder. Keep the receipt and ask the new state's DMV whether any credit transfers; most do not.

Will the fee go up next year?

In several states, without any new law. Seventeen states index the charge to inflation or to a construction-cost index, so it drifts upward annually. Named increases already legislated: Tennessee to $274 in 2027, Utah to $240 in 2027, New Mexico from $70 in January 2027, and Minnesota's floors drop in July 2027. Wyoming went the other way, halving its fee to $100 in July 2026.

Does the federal government charge an EV fee?

No. There is no federal EV registration fee, and the federal purchase tax credit ended in 2025. The 18.4¢ federal fuel tax is simply not collected from a car that buys no fuel, which is one reason states have acted on their own.

Keep reading

EV charging cost per mileWhat the electricity costs, with your car and your rate.How long does EV charging take?The car, the charger and the battery, in that order.EV charging glossarykW, kWh, taper and the rest, in plain English.Browse charging stationsConnectors, power and prices, state by state.

Updated 26 October 2026. Fee figures are the annual EV-specific charge for a battery-electric passenger car, excluding ordinary registration. How the site handles data is on the methodology page.