Caltrans promotional literature on Road Charge

Starting in August, Caltrans is running a California Road Charge Collection Pilot program that, if passed, will tax California drivers for the amount they drive. You heard that correctly — a Road Charge for every mile we San Diegans drive, as it "would be a fair and sustainable way to replace the gas tax," reads the program's site.

Romero's lowrider-inspired Tesla at Embarcadero

"I don't fucking agree on that," exclaimed Tesla driver Luis Gomez in a recent interview. "I think, as far as all the perks and kickbacks that you would get from buying a Tesla — now they just want to take it away."

On July 14, Gomez and his girlfriend, Delmy Romero, from north of Fallbrook, drove down in their 2022 Tesla Model Y to Embarcadero Marina Park North downtown. They entered their lowrider-inspired Tesla—on airbags and 22-inch-spoke wheels, with an ornate 17-stage paint job with realistic-looking murals—in the Day At The Bay lowrider car show.

Gomez continued, "Since the government is giving incentives to buy these expensive golf carts that we drive, they basically want the money back."

San Diego-EV drivers were given a $7500 tax credit thanks to The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022; others were also provided access to the carpool and HOV lanes on the I-15, regardless of whether they drove solo. And "they gave you free supercharging for half a year," Gomez added. On average, it costs about $22 to charge a Tesla at a Tesla Supercharger by the Ikea in Mission Valley, which provides most Teslas with 250 miles in range.

Gomez nodded again, "It's really unfair to the people who bought the EVs. Not to mention, my girlfriend's going to be really pissed."

Online, even non-Tesla drivers questioned the Caltrans pilot.

"Weird?" wondered wjbwendy on Instagram. "They could tax them [EV drivers]  at the electric charging stations but this is designed to grab more tax dollars on miles driven. This is a con game."

"Yeah — it seems like a sort of double tax unless they get rid of the gas tax and just have everyone on a use tax with a tiered system based on vehicle weight," suggested Ochoanahum.

And back at the lowrider car show behind Seaport Village, a handful of car customers were for the Caltrans' road charge fees if the pilot gets voted in. "Tesla drivers need to pay their share to fix our roads, too," said Juan Sanchez, who drives an 80s van. Road taxes cannot be for just us V8 drivers when we go to pump gas."

On July 1, California increased its gas tax to 59.6 cents per gallon, nearly two cents more than before. This tax generates billions annually for highway and road maintenance. However, since many Californians switched to EVs, the state has lost tax revenue and wants to make up for it with programs like the Caltrans pilot.

Sanchez was all for the pilot, which will run from August to January 2025. "I'd sign up, but it's too late," he said.

To enter the program, the driver/volunteer filled out a form online with the vehicle's details and a credit card for road charges (the program said they'd reimburse the driver for the charges). Then, the volunteer reports the miles driven each month by utilizing a plug-in device the program provides mounted in the dash, using vehicle telematics, which the automaker could track, or simply snapping and submitting photos of the odometer each month.

At the end of the study, in January 2025, the volunteers will receive a credit for gas taxes paid during the pilot, and electric vehicles will get a partial credit for the Road Improvement Fee, an annual registration fee.

Participants can earn $100 for enrolling in the pilot and completing the initial survey, an additional $100 for finishing the second survey at the end of the pilot, and $200 more for paying road charges monthly (the reward is paid at the end of the pilot). By completing the pilot activities mentioned above, the total can reach $400 in gift cards.

On Reddit people have brought up highly traveled tourist areas, such as San Diego, questioning why we Californians, EV or gas-powered vehicle owners, will be covering Sandag's road charge if it gets approved—when we have approximately 30.5 million tourists yearly, many of whom drive on our roads. They need to pitch in, too.