Electric Vehicle (EV) Road User Assessment System Pilot

The Washington Transportation Commission (Commission) studied the feasibility of transitioning from a fuel tax to a road user assessment system in the state. In 2012, the Commission conducted a limited scope pilot project to test the feasibility of this new system as it applies to EVs and published outcomes in a report. The Commission began a year-long pilot project in fall 2017. On January 13, 2020, the Commission submitted a final report of findings and recommendations to the governor, state legislature, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The state legislature directed the Commission to further study aspects of the road usage charge program, including:

• The impact of a road usage charge, incentives, and other factors on consumer purchase of EVs and conduct a test with drivers to assess impacts;
• Delivery vehicle fleets and how a road usage charge may be applied, identify potential impacts to fleet operations and costs, state department of transportation revenues, and conduct a pilot test;
• The process for changing vehicle ownership and determine the possible implications and identify the process needed for reconciling a road usage charge owed between sellers and purchases of used vehicles; and,
• Opportunities for achieving large-scale data integration to support road usage charge service provisions that could be offered by private-sector service providers and conduct pilot tests to determine the ability of services to support automatic mileage reporting and periodic payments services.

The report was published in January 2024. For more information, see the Commission Road Usage Charge Assessment website.

(Reference Senate Bill 5689, 2022)