MARYLAND (WBFF) — At a time when Maryland is trying to put more electric vehicles on the road, a new state fee is sparking backlash.
Set to take effect at the start of next year, every public EV charging port in Maryland will be subject to an annual $150 payment. The state calls it a registration fee.
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Maryland’s Department of Agriculture (MDA) said the funds will pay for inspections, ensuring chargers are working properly and drivers are protected. But critics said the fee is excessive.
“It’s interesting, because we seem to have an inconsistency in policymaking,” local economist Anirban Basu said.
Basu argued the fee directly contradicts Maryland’s own climate goals, including following California’s clean-car rule, which aims for all new cars sold in the state to be zero emissions by 2035.
“We say we want to do all these things for the environment, for electrification, for technological development in Maryland, and economic development, and then we pass taxes and fees that push in the other direction,” Basu said.
In a letter sent to state leaders, nine major EV companies — including Tesla and Rivian — called it the highest fee in the nation. The letter requests a reduction to $25 per port, noting that gas pumps are inspected for just $20. The companies also argued that while most states have no fee at all, the ones that do charge far less than what Maryland is proposing.
“Maryland’s new EV charging device registration fee — the highest in the nation — will discourage EV charging deployment, will impose additional expenses on Maryland businesses, and will further hinder the state from achieving its EV adoption commitments,” the letter read.
“What you would expect to see, therefore, is slower EV adoption in Maryland relative to some of these other states,” Basu said.
Basu believes the steep cost will stall progress, discourage new chargers, and ultimately leave drivers with fewer places to plug in.
Taking to social media, Robert Borkowski, the owner of the Maryland-based EV charging company Plug IO, echoed those concerns, warning charging stations will likely shutter across the state just as EV adoption should be accelerating. “We don’t even have enough electric vehicles on the street to support that infrastructure to create that revenue for those installers to break even or make profit,” he said.
FOX45 reached out to the MDA asking for a response to the growing concerns and calls to lower the fee. As of the time this article was written, we are still waiting to hear back.