What Tennessee drivers pay in state & federal gas taxes, state EV registration fees
2024 Update
Here are the key reasons why we are providing this update:
- We have found out since the original post, that 90% of the federal gas tax comes back to the state. The original 2022 post only included state taxes in the calculations.
- The registration renewal schedule for fee increases was published on January 1, 2024. We have included the full registration fee schedule below.
According to the Tennessee Department of Revenue, the registration fees for all-electric vehicles in the state of Tennessee as of January 1, 2024 is $200. The fee as of January 1, 2024 for Hybrid Electric and Plug-in Hybrid electric vehicles is $100. The fee schedule through 2028 is listed below as it appears on the TN Dept of Revenue website.
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Fee Schedule for All-Electric Vehicles
The registration fee for all-electric vehicles is as follows:
- For registration renewals on or after January 1, 2024, and prior to January 1, 2027: $200.
- For registration renewals on or after January 1, 2027, and prior to January 1, 2028: $274.
- For registration renewals on or after January 1, 2028, and thereafter: $274, adjusted annually for inflation.
Fee Schedule for Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles
The registration fee for hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is as follows:
- For registration renewals on or after January 1, 2024, and prior to January 1, 2028: $100.
- For registration renewals on or after January 1, 2028, and thereafter: $100, adjusted annually for inflation.
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Electric vehicle registration fees have been implemented all over the United States as a way to recuperate the loss of revenue from the tax on the sale of gasoline that is provided to the state (the state “motor fuel excise tax”). How does that $200 additional fee for EV drivers stack up against the gas tax an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle driver would pay?
By the Numbers: 2024
We have updated the table to include that ~90% of the federal gas tax is returned to the state to cover infrastructure costs across the state.
This makes the current TN EV registration fee slightly higher than the average expected price paid in gas tax in a traditional ICE vehicle. HOWEVER, this fee schedule does not account for people who drive less than the TN state average of 13,476 miles per year.
Original Post: 2022 Information
According to the Tennessee Department of Revenue, the registration fee for an electric vehicle in the state of Tennessee as of December 2022 is $100. This is an additional fee for any vehicle that has a plug – applies to plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) as well as battery electric vehicles (BEVs, electric only) – but not to hybrid-only vehicles.
Electric vehicle registration fees have been implemented all over the United States as a way to recuperate the loss of revenue from the tax on the sale of gasoline that is provided to the state (the state “motor fuel excise tax”). For example, Alabama has a $200 state EV registration fee, Missouri has a $75 fee, Virginia has a $64 fee and North Carolina has a $130 fee (see a table of other state plug-in and related vehicle fees at the end of the article). These additional fees come with their own stipulations which vary by state such as the weight of the vehicle or type of vehicle (BEV vs. PHEV, for example).
According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the funding from the gas tax is added to TDOT’s total state budget and is used for road resurfacing, bridges, major reconstruction projects, new construction, consultant contracts, right-of-way purchases and to match federal funds, highway maintenance contracts and basic operating costs.
How does that $100 additional fee for EV drivers stack up against the gas tax an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle driver would pay?
By the Numbers: 2022
On average, a person in the U.S. drives their vehicle 13,476 miles per year according to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration.
The Tennessee gas tax as of December 2022 is 27.4 cents per gallon (26-cent gasoline tax + 1.4-cent special petroleum fee). That equates to $0.274/gallon. We did not get into the minutia of Tennessee state fuel tax management; there could be other details that impact the final amount that the state retains.
To calculate a range of examples, total state gas taxes that Tennessee drivers would pay over a year, we need two sets of numbers: vehicle fuel economies and how many miles they drive in a year.
To first derive how many gallons of gas per year a vehicle is using, vehicles with various fuel economies were chosen (see table below; a range of 19-52 MPG). Then we selected a range of different annual miles that different drivers might drive in a year and chose 4,000, 8,000, 13,500, and 18,000 miles (there are certainly outlier cases of people that drive less and more miles than those numbers, but these should cover 90+ percent of TN drivers). Multiplying the fuel economies by the annual miles provides a range of gallons of gasoline consumed in a year.
We then multiplied the resulting numbers by the state fuel tax rate of $0.274/gallon. The final numbers are the amount of state gas tax paid annually depending on the vehicle’s mileage and the amount that the vehicle is driven per year.
The Result
According to the results, the range of annual gasoline state fuel tax starts at just over $20 for high fuel economy, low mileage drivers) and hits a maximum of $260 for lower fuel economy, high mileage drivers. Using the near-average number of 13,500 miles per year, a Tennessee driver can expect to pay a state gasoline tax of roughly $140 annually.
As it currently stands in 2022, the $100 electric vehicle registration fee that EV drivers pay annually is less than but close to what the average ICE driver would pay in the gas tax in Tennessee. The EV registration fee is utilized in the same budget that the gasoline tax is each year to repair and maintain Tennessee’s roadways and infrastructure.
The below table shows recent state EV fees from across the country with splits for PHEVs and hybrids where known, plus a few notes for some states. The data was pulled from here.
I have heard that the Tennessee legislature is going to introduce a bill that would triple the fees that plug-in cars pay per year–to $300 per year. This would make Tennessee the highest in the nation and penalize EV drivers way beyond ICE drivers. This is supposed to be the electric vehicle state with several new factories producing cars and batteries. I drive a Tesla and am retired. I drive way less than the average driver. Shouldn’t I get a break?
Thank you for your work on this article. I am retired, and I also am overpaying. Hopefully, the state can come up with a more equitable solution for a use tax like the gasoline tax.
So, if I have a PHEV I am still going to have to pay as much as an EV? That’s imbalanced. I get 33 miles on a charge; when I drive beyond that I am paying for gas which has the gas tax built in.
Yeah, I have a PHEV also, although I hardly ever buy gas, as I do 90+ percent of my driving Electric, and only use gas when I get on the highway (which I did for a 300 mile round trip last weekend, but that’s most of the gas miles I use for the entire year.) Yeah, not a whole lot of equity (or even KNOWLEDGE) goes into that decision, or just imposing a simplistic “solution” to make it less to administer, and easy to collect.
i have a 2020 RAM 1500 is not an electric or hybrid truck, but i received the Registration renewal included the $100 for EV fee. How this can be????
I own a hybrid and get 30 miles per gallon, I have to fill my tank about every 2 weeks. I bought the hybrid to help save money because I’m retired and need to save money. What incentive is there, I pay taxes on the gas I buy and then have to pay an extra $100.00 which puts me in the position that puts me paying more to use the roads than someone with a gasoline engine. What makes that fair? You bring in Ford to make electric vehicles but whoever buys one is punished. Not a good state to retire in.
At first I was very upset with the $100 charge over and above the normal registration fee for my EV. The wife and I are on retirement fixed income and uses some 401K money and the sale of our gas vehilce to get a Tesla Y, just to see be are getting hammered by the state for the purchase. I get it they do not want to lose gas tax revenue and eventually was ok with the extra $100. But now in 2024 my registration has gone to an extra $200, this to me is over the top, a way for the state to basically double the gas tax on folks that can buy an EV. You try to do the right thing and they bend do this. I have written my state representitive and senetor expressing my unhappiness on the passing of the revitalization bill that included doubling the EV surcharge now and again in 2027 with the right to adjust the level as any time. If you look a the numbers the avg miles driven by an EV in the US was posted to be around 9000 miles per year, if you even took the avg mpg for cars in the US to be 25 mpg thats 360 gallons of gas taxed at .247 per mile comes to $89 per year in missed gas tax. So why is TN hammered us EV drivers with a $200 a year surcharge? That is what I asked both my state senetor and representivies who voted yes for the bill. Funny it has been crickets since I sent the email. I hope there are others that are upset with how we are being unfarily penalized for owing an EV in TN and will also promise to vote out thoes who will not vote to make changes to the bill . If not at least have the courage to double the existing gas tax and see what outrage they get. Thanks for letting me vent..sg.
The chart above is misleading. In the columns of amount of state tax paid, this assumes all the gas is bought in Tennessee. In reality those who are putting 13,500 and 18,000 miles per year are most likely taking trips out of state. Those out of state fill ups are not adding to Tennessee tax.
Secondly there should be comparisons of equal sized cars. Toyota Prius should be compared with similar sized cars not a large SUV. A Prius (hybrid 52 mpg) should be matched with something like a Honda civic (gas only version 36 mpg). The Prius owner will pay $55-90 more per year than a similar Honda civic.
The EV fee is set to increase to $274 and will be adjusted for inflation thereafter. Not only will the fee be more than double what the average ICE driver would pay in gas tax, the gap will continue to widen since the gas tax isn’t adjusted for inflation and ICE vehicles will continue to be more fuel efficient. It seems that the state is either punishing EV owners or is taking advantage of them to raise more money for roads since they don’t want to raise the gas tax for political reasons If they want EV owners to pay their fair share towards roads, let’s also be fair and equalize the fee to the average gas tax paid and index the gas tax to inflation. What do we need to do to lobby against the ridiculously high EV fee?
Fee is 100 for PhEV and traditional hybrids. 200 for full EV. Disproportionate punishment for traditional EVs. 100 for PHEV and 200 for full EV seems more reasonable.