Electric vehicle registration fee in North Carolina rising 28.3% starting Monday

State registration fees annually for passenger vehicles and trucks up to 4,000 pounds are $38.75. The fee for electric vehicles will reach $180 in part because they avoid the fuel tax at the gas pumps.

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square

Published: December 27, 2023 2:31pm

(The Center Square) -

Electric vehicle registration in North Carolina increases 28.3% on Monday.

Turning the calendar to Jan. 1 implements more than a dozen new laws, from new drivers to retirees within the state’s government employee and teacher network.

The new rate will rise from $140.25 to $180 a year.

State registration fees annually for passenger vehicles and trucks up to 4,000 pounds are $38.75. That’s a significant difference because electric vehicles avoid the fuel tax at the gas pumps.

North Carolina this year taxes gasoline at 40.5 cents per gallon, up 2 cents from last year and the fifth highest in the country. According to IGEN, which analyzes trends of heavily regulated markets, states higher are Pennsylvania (57.6 cents) California (51.1), Washington (49.4) and New Jersey (42.3).

Motor fuels tax revenue collections, in place since 1921, go to the state Department of Transportation highway and multi-modal projects. Using an average driver going 12,000 miles during the year in a vehicle getting 22 miles per gallon, that consumer would pay about $220 – or $4.25 a week.

The motor fuel excise tax rate, the Department of Revenue site says, "is calculated by using the motor fuel excise tax rate of the preceding calendar year, multiplied by a percentage. The percentage is 100 percent plus or minus the sum of the annual percentage change in state population for the applicable calendar year, multiplied by 75% and the annual energy index percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, multiplied by 25%."

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has pushed a green agenda including goals for electric vehicles on North Carolina roads. Residents haven’t bought in on his quest to have 1.25 million zero-emissions electric vehicles by 2030, and to achieve a 50% vehicle sales share of the same for light-duty vehicles by the same deadline.

Through August, total electric vehicle registrations in the state were at 75,000, with about 55,000 electric and 20,000 plug-in hybrids. Nearly 18,000 electric vehicles were added in the first seven months this year. In context, the state needs to add zero-emissions vehicles at a rate of about 14,000-plus each month to reach Cooper’s goal.

North Carolinians have more than 8 million gas or diesel vehicles registered.