(WXYZ) — Funding for Michigan roads is in jeopardy. That’s according to a new study looking at how the switch to electric vehicles could impact Michigan roads.
The gas tax is what helps fund road repairs, but with more people switching to EVs, that means fewer people filling up at the pump and less money is going towards the gas tax. If nothing changes, it could put Michigan into a multi-million dollar deficit.
“Michigan roads are horrible. Like I think we have some of the worst roads," Michigan driver Tyrone Larkin said.
But imagine what the roads would look like with less funding to fix them.
“That sounds really bad. How is that going to happen," one driver asks.
According to a new study from Anderson Economic Group, Michigan could lose $95 million in funding by the year 2030.
“That is a conservative estimate," Tyler Theile, vice president of Anderson Economic Group said. "And would start to rack up to the hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of now to 2030 if we don’t get some road revenue policies in place.”
So what could those policies be? Michigan already charges EV drivers higher registration fees, but not enough to make up for the shortfall according to the study. Other options include charging a mileage-based fee, charging EV drivers per-kilowatt hour fees, or even tolling. But, none of these options come without a bit of debate.
"We can’t lose $95 million more in roads when we are already performing extremely poorly," driver Matthew Chambliss said.
