Majority of Florida voters support yearly registration fee for electric vehicles: poll

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A majority of Florida voters support adding a yearly registration fee on electric vehicles and believe owners of electric vehicles should contribute to constructing and maintaining public roads, according to a recent poll.

“Florida builds and maintains its road through a statewide gas tax, so as more and more Floridians choose to drive electric vehicles and purchase less gas, it presents a growing problem for our state,” President of Floridians for Better Transportation Sally Patrenos said.

In a recent survey conducted by Cygnal on behalf of the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association, it was revealed that 73% of Florida voters favor the implementation of an annual registration fee for electric vehicles.

The survey also found that 72% of voters believe it is inequitable that current policies exempt electric vehicle owners from participating in funding the construction and maintenance of the public roads they drive on.

Rep. Tiffany Esposito, R-Fort Myers, filed a bill for the 2024 Legislative Session that would impose an annual license fee of $200 on electric vehicles.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 10-12 and surveyed 801 likely general election voters in the state. The margin of error is +/- 3.32%.

“Without addressing this issue, transportation infrastructure investments in Florida will suffer,” Patrenos said. “Florida voters recognize the unfairness of this current system – with electric vehicle owners benefitting from the use of roads without contributing to their expense – and clearly support Florida’s leaders taking action to ensure all drivers are paying to use and maintain the transportation infrastructure we all share.”

In terms of how local and state gas tax revenue is used, the poll found nearly 67% of Florida voters support continuing to use those funds to invest in transportation infrastructure, rather than diverting them for other purposes.

The poll found 86% of voters believe that increased investment in transportation infrastructure is crucial to enhance the safety and usability of Florida roads in light of the state’s growing population and the escalating volume of vehicles traveling on its roadways.

Furthermore, 75% of voters support the construction of new highways in Florida. These proposed roadways are seen as potential alternative routes, aiming to mitigate traffic, improve commerce and connect regions.

“Floridians see how our state is growing, and they not only understand but strongly support investing in the transportation infrastructure needed to support that growth, ease congestion and maintain the safety of our roadways,” said Patrenos. “Until another method of collecting fees to fund infrastructure development for use of our roads is developed, we support an annual fee on vehicles that currently pay nothing.”