‘Pro-EV’ New Jersey just OK’ed the US’s highest dumb EV fee
New Jersey just signed a law approving a punitive new EV registration fee – and at $250, it’s the highest in the country.
New Jersey’s EV registration fee kicks in July 1, and then rises by $10 each year before it caps out at $290 in July 2028. Plus New Jersey new car purchases require a four-year upfront registration, so that’s more than $1,000 for new EV purchases.
The money goes into the state’s Transportation Trust Fund for road, rail, and bridges along with gas tax money. New Jersey also raised revenue targets for gas taxes by around 18% over five years – around 2 cents annually to the state’s fuel levies.
Electrek’s Take
Thinking of buying a new EV in New Jersey? Your new EV will be exempt from state sales tax, so that’s cool. And of course you get the federal Inflation Reduction Act upfront tax credit of $7,500. Nice one, Biden administration.
But wait. You’ve gotta pay $1,000 upfront for four years of registration since your EV is new. Oh, and the state funding that provided incentives of up to $4,000 for the purchase or lease of new EVs for 2022, 2023, and 2024? Afraid that’s already tapped out. Or as the state puts it, “temporarily unavailable.” Kinda takes the joy out of buying a new EV, Garden State – the thing you’re trying to get people to adopt since you banned the sale of new gas cars by 2035.
Or as Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, put it: “New Jersey EV policy shouldn’t be schizophrenic, and this EV tax is a blunt instrument which will suppress EV sales.”
He also called the EV tax “punitive,” and we agree. O’Malley suggested before this tax was OK’ed that the tax should have been set at $75 to reflect EV efficiency.
As we at Electrek have said before, shift the entire transportation fund away from gas, diesel, and now EV taxes, and figure out a better way to raise very-much-needed money.
Calculate the taxes based on vehicle weight – and the damage the vehicle does to roads and bridges – instead. According to a US Government Accountability Office study, “a truck axle carrying 18,000 pounds is only nine times heavier than a 2,000-pound automobile axle, [but] it does 5,000 times more damage.” This can be completed when the vehicle is registered. Because, as my colleague Jameson Dow said when we discussed this, “This EV registration tax is targeting a thing that isn’t the problem, and its disincentivizing the most necessary thing.”
Another option: Eighty-four percent of US EV owners charge their cars at home. People pay tax on their electric bills – the state could tap into that extra tax income through the utilities.
But the proponents of these EV fees wouldn’t advocate for that, because these fees are pushed by the fossil fuel industry. These laws were not conceived of to fix a shortfall in revenue, but rather to target a competitor to the fossil fuel industry. And they’ve spread to many states with this disingenuous motivation – even states that have pro-EV policies.
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Environment
Tesla (TSLA) board fully loses its mind and offers Elon Musk a pay package worth up to $1 trillion
Tesla’s board, which has already compensated CEO Elon Musk more than the company earned through its entire existence, is now offering a new pay package worth up to $1 trillion.
Today, Tesla filed its proxy statement ahead of its shareholders’ meeting in November, and there’s a lot in there, but the headline-stealing item is a new compensation plan being proposed for the company’s controversial CEO, Elon Musk.
Musk saw his previous compensation plan, worth $55 billion, the biggest ever for a CEO, rescinded by a judge who found Musk to have negotiated, or more accurately, not negotiated, against a board under his control.
To compensate him, the board gave Musk a pay package worth $26 billion last month and said that a bigger, longer-term package would also be submitted for shareholders’ approval soon.
Now, Tesla has submitted the new compensation package for shareholders’ approval, and in short, it would give Musk, who is already Tesla’s largest shareholder, about $1 trillion more in stock options.
To receive the grant, Tesla would need to increase its market cap to roughly $8.5 trillion and achieve some milestones, such as putting 1 million Robotaxis into operation and delivering over 1 million robots.
Tesla board members Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson wrote in a letter to shareholders:
We’re asking you to approve the 2025 CEO Performance Award. In designing the new performance award, we explored numerous alternatives. Ultimately, the new award aims to build upon the success of the 2018 CEO Performance Award framework, which ensured that Elon was only paid for performance delivered and incentivized to guide Tesla through a period of meteoric growth. The 2025 CEO Performance Award similarly challenges Elon to again meet a series of even more aspirational goals, including operational milestones focused on reaching Adjusted EBITDA targets (thresholds that are up to 28 times higher than the 2018 CEO Performance Award’s top Adjusted EBITDA milestone) and rolling out new or expanded product offerings (including 1 million Robotaxis in commercial operation and delivery of 1 million AI Bots), all while growing the company’s market capitalization by trillions of dollars.
Tesla’s shareholders meeting is going to be held on November 6, 2025.
Electrek’s Take
Musk is already the person who benefits the most from Tesla’s stock by a long shot. He would be benefiting even more if he hadn’t sold tens of billions worth of stock to buy an overpriced Twitter, but that was his own decision.
Now, he managed to convince the board, which is obviously still fully under his control, to give him a new pay package worth up to $1 trillion, as Tesla’s sales have been going down two years in a row and earnings are in a steady decline for coming up on 3 years in a row now.
The craziest thing is that Tesla shareholders are going to happily give him the money and hope that he can pump Tesla’s stock enough to get paid.
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We are finally getting our first look at the future of BMW. The iX3 is “a massive leap” from BMW’s current vehicles with nearly 500 miles of range, ultra-fast charging, and the brand’s advanced new tech. And that’s just the start. The BMW iX3 kicks off a new era for the German luxury brand.
BMW unveils the iX3 with 500 miles range, fast charging
BMW promised the iX3 would be “the benchmark of the industry,” and it wasn’t kidding. The stylish new electric SUV made its world debut at the Munich Motor Show on Friday as the first of BMW’s Neue Klasse models.
After unveiling the new electric SUV for the first time, CEO Oliver Zipse called it a “one-in-a-lifetime moment” and the start of a new era for BMW.
The iX3 is the first of an entirely new generation of BMW vehicles, created from the ground up. BMW “skipped an entire generation” when it comes to design, Zipse said, adding it’s still “more BMW than ever.”
To maximize range, BMW gave it a clean, aerodynamic design with very few lines. One of the first things you’ll notice is the re-imaged front end. The new face is centered around an updated vertically oriented kidney grille, which is designed to match the more upright vehicle design.
As the first vehicle powered by its new Gen6 platform, the iX3 is “a massive leap” from current BMW models in terms of range, charging, efficiency, and more. It’s also BMW’s first EV with bidirectional charging.
The BMW iX3 offers an impressive WLTP range of up to nearly 500 miles (800 km). On the EPA scale, it’s expected to deliver around 400 miles of range.
Based on an 800V architecture, the BMW iX3 can deliver charging speeds of up to 400 kW. According to BMW, that means it can add over 230 miles (370 km) in just 10 minutes.
Updated interior powered by super-brains
The interior is just as impressive with an updated minimalist design. A massive 17.9″ infotainment, powered by its new Operating System X, sits at the center.
It’s also the first BMW model to debut with its new Panoramic iDrive system. The new system “offers a whole new driving experience” and will be used in all upcoming BMW vehicles.
BMW’s new infotainment is powered by “genuine super-brains,” or four advanced computers that can process data about 20 times faster than the systems found in current vehicles.
Measuring 4,782 mm in length, 1,895 mm in width, and 1,635 mm in height, the BMW iX3 is about the same size as the Porsche Macan Electric (see our review).
BMW will begin iX3 production later this year at its new plant in Debrecen. Deliveries are scheduled to start in Europe in early 2026, followed by the US in the summer. BMW will build a special variant for China, which will be produced at its Shenyang plant.
It will initially launch as the BMW iX3 50 xDrive. In Germany, it’s already listed on BMW’s website with prices starting at €68,900 ($81,000).
In the US, the new BMW iX3 will be available in summer of 2026, starting at around $60,000 with an estimated range of around 400 miles. In early 2027, BMW will launch the iX3 40 sDrive and iX3 40 xDrive. BMW said prices will start at under $55,000 with slightly over 300 miles range.
Starting next year, BMW said every vehicle will be all-new. The new iX3 will be the first of 40 new or updated BMW vehicles by 2027.
What do you think of the all-new BMW design? Are you a fan? Drop us a comment and let us know your thoughts.
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