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How Electric Cars Could Make America's Crumbling Roads Even Worse

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 26 2019, @02:36PM   
from the exceedingly-crumbly dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

To fix the potholes and crumbling roads, federal, state and local governments rely on fuel taxes, which raise more than US$80 billion a year and pay for around three-quarters of what the U.S. spends on building new roads and maintaining them.

I recently purchased an electric car, the Tesla Model 3. While swerving down a particularly rutted highway in New York, the economist in me began to wonder, what will happen to the roads as fewer and fewer cars run on gasoline? Who will pay to fix the streets?

Will toll roads become universal to bridge the funding gap?

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Original Submission

• Re:Pretty simple solution to that. (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday February 26 2019, @05:09PM

  by Runaway1956 (2926) on Tuesday February 26 2019, @05:09PM (#807053) Journal

  Actually, it does work for interstate travel, with a little discipline. Keep a notepad (or tape recorder if you prefer) and record your odometer reading each time you cross a state line. I did it for years. As a truck driver, you have to turn all those numbers in at the end of each trip anyway, so you get used to doing it. Most drivers keep their log books close at hand, and write the numbers in the log book. I never did that because it gives the diesel cops more evidence to bust you with. They tend to take log book violations seriously.

  With all of that said - private citizens aren't ever going to exercise that kind of discipline. So, you hand the duty over to the onboard computers.

  Parent

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