Lawmakers Want EV Owners To Pay A Nonsensical $130 Yearly Fee For Road Repairs Since They Skirt The Gas Tax – Jalopnik

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, May 19, 2026, and that is The Morning Shift, your each day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from all over the world, in a single place. This is the place you will discover an important tales which are shaping the best way Americans drive and get round.

In this morning’s version, Congress has cooked up a goofy new $130 payment for EV drivers to pay for street repairs, Elon Musk is as soon as once more promising widespread use of driverless automobiles this yr, Mercedes-Benz’s CEO says the automaker is prepared to enter protection manufacturing, and Jaguar-Land Rover is seeking to minimize greater than $2 billion in spending.

Everybody at all times talks about how nice it’s when politicians can put apart their variations and work with their colleagues throughout the aisle. Well, it is clearly not all it is cracked as much as be, as a result of lawmakers within the U.S. House simply proposed a invoice that may require all EV homeowners and a few plug-in hybrid homeowners to pay a $130 payment ($35 for PHEVs) for street repairs yearly.

It’s a part of a five-year freeway reauthorization invoice that may authorize $580 billion forward of the present regulation’s expiration on September 30. Most income for federally funded street repairs is collected by means of diesel and gasoline taxes, which, after all, EVs don’t pay. The regulation would require the charges to be hiked by $5 per yr beginning in 2029, as much as a complete of $150 for EVs and $50 for PHEVs. From Reuters:

The ​U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is anticipated to take up the invoice on ​Thursday launched by the panel’s Republican chair, Sam Graves, and the highest Democrat, Rick Larsen.

Some states cost charges for EVs to cowl street restore prices. Congress for the previous three a long time has opted ​to not hike gasoline taxes to pay for rising street restore prices. Some ​Republican senators in February 2025 proposed a $1,000 tax on EVs for street restore prices. 

At first look, it’d make a tiny little bit of sense, however the math simply is not there, canine. The Sierra Club, an environmental group, criticized the invoice, saying it might minimize funding for EV charging infrastructure and “includes an an irresponsible tax for EV and plug-in hybrid drivers.”

Last yr, the Electrification Coalition, ​an EV ⁠advocacy group, argued a $250 payment for EVs was unfair since a median gas-powered automobile pays simply $88 yearly in federal gasoline taxes.

Since 2008, greater than $275 billion – together with $118 billion from the ⁠2021 ​infrastructure regulation – has been shifted from the final fund ​to pay for street repairs.

InsideEVs ran the numbers, they usually discovered that it simply would not add as much as what Congress is proposing. First off, the federal gasoline tax has been caught at 18.3 cents since 1993, and that is regardless of common inflation and total automobile effectivity enhancements. Overall, the common American pays between $70 and $90 per yr in federal gasoline taxes, which is way under the place the proposed $130 payment is about to start out.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is making claims about absolutely self-driving autos as soon as once more, that are certainly going to pan out. While talking on the Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv on May 18, Musk mentioned he expects self-driving automobiles with no human security displays to turn into extra widespread within the U.S. later this yr.

Right now, they’re solely form of working (to extremely combined outcomes) in Texan cities like Austin, Dallas, and Houston. We’ve reported on the astounding unreliability prospects have skilled whereas attempting to make use of Tesla’s program, so I’m positive it will work even higher on a nationwide scale. From Reuters:

Last November, Tesla acquired a allow to function a ride-hailing ⁠service in Arizona.

[…]

“Five years from now and certainly 10 years from now … probably 90% of all distance driven will be driven by the AI in a self-driving car,” he mentioned. “So overwhelmingly, it’ll be quite a niche thing in 10 years to ​actually be driving your own car.”

Tesla is recalling 218,868 autos within the U.S. as a consequence of delayed rearview digicam ​photos that would improve the danger of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mentioned this month.

Of course, Musk has been making daring predictions about autonomous autos since Moses wore brief pants. Almost none of them have materialized on his timeline, however he, for no matter purpose (learn: for inventory worth causes), stays upbeat that automobiles with out human drivers would be the norm inside a decade.

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius says the German automaker is prepared to get in on protection manufacturing so long as it makes “business sense.” It’s the most recent in a rising development we have seen from automakers like GM, Ford and Volkswagen, which have additionally expressed curiosity in answering the query: War, what’s it good for? The reply is cash. From pal of the present, Patrick George and The Wall Street Journal:

“The world has become a more unpredictable place, and I think it is absolutely clear that Europe needs to increase its defense profile,” Ola Källenius advised The Wall Street Journal Friday. “Should we be able to play a positive role in that, we would be willing to do so.”

Källenius’s feedback come because the German manufacturing sector, which has been largely stagnant for years, seeks to recast itself as a serious participant within the West’s protection arsenal. Volkswagen is in talks with Israeli firms to supply parts for that nation’s Iron Dome artillery protection system by 2027 as a way of utilizing its idle manufacturing unit capability.

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Meanwhile, within the U.S., senior protection officers within the Trump administration have held talks with General Motors and Ford Motor about utilizing their personnel and manufacturing unit capability to extend the manufacturing of munitions, the Journal lately reported. While these talks had been early and wide-ranging, they had been geared toward enlisting automakers to restock provides depleted by wars in Ukraine and Iran.

Mercedes already performs a job within the protection enviornment. The luxurious carmaker spun off its vehicles division in 2021 and stays its largest shareholder, and that unit makes giant vehicles used for army functions. Mercedes has additionally lengthy provided variants of its G-Class SUVs as army autos the world over.

But Källenius mentioned that Mercedes’s inherent strengths as a large-volume automaker may assist it function extra instantly within the army {hardware} house.

“What car companies do extraordinarily well—and we’re good at it—is to build high-quality precision machines in higher volumes,” he mentioned.

Källenius says that if Mercedes did enter the sector of battle machine, it might be “a minor share of our business,” however he did admit that it “could be a growing niche that could contribute to our business results.”

It does make some sense why Mercedes is searching for different money-making avenues. Its income almost halved final yr due to $1.2 billion in tariff prices, and it has struggled to remain aggressive in China.

Jaguar-Land Rover is seeking to minimize almost $2.3 billion in spending over the following couple of years, as excessive guarantee prices, U.S. tariffs, foreign money points, and that gnarly cyberattack that price the corporate not less than $1.3 billion by itself dragged the struggling automaker to a loss within the fiscal yr that wrapped up on March 31, 2026. These issues led to JLR posting a $327 million loss after taxes. From Automotive News:

“The business used to have a break-even of about 300,000-320,000 vehicles. Of late it has increased, and we now need to bring it back,” JLR CEO PB Balaji mentioned on a name with journalists May 14.

JLR will search to chop mounted prices, materials prices and cut back the guarantee invoice. Warranty prices had been £105 million larger within the fourth quarter of the fiscal yr in contrast with the identical interval within the earlier yr.

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JLR mentioned it had labored onerous on bettering high quality however was hit by inflationary stress on its the vendor community. “The cost of repair has shot through the roof, particularly in markets like the U.S.,” Molyneux mentioned.

JLR was additionally hit by a £114 million tariff invoice within the fourth quarter on autos exported to the U.S. from each the U.Ok. and its EU plant in Slovakia, the place it builds the Defender and Discovery SUVs. That has compelled JLR to regulate its technique within the U.S.

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On the plus facet, JLR had a £134 million increase within the fourth quarter from the comfort of emissions necessities.

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Cost financial savings will moreover come from streamlining operations by means of elevated use of digital and IT options, Molyneux mentioned. No additional particulars got on how JLR will cut back mounted prices.

In latest years, JLR has gone by means of various cost-cutting packages following deep losses in 2019. The firm decreased its break-even level from 600,000 automobiles per yr in 2019 to 400,000 automobiles within the 2024 fiscal yr. It then dropped that quantity to 300,000 in 2025.

History.com

I as soon as heard D-Day described as “crow-hopping Nebraskans at those Krauts until they cried,” and it is now what I consider each single time I see D-Day talked about. Thank you, random video I noticed on the web years in the past that I can not discover. If you are not a dope like me and wish to be taught extra about FDR and Churchill planning D-Day, head over to History.com.

Things aren’t trying so nice on the market relating to gasoline costs because the U.S., Israel, and Iran proceed their will-they-won’t-they of awfulness. At the very least, we’re not seeing the identical huge each day jumps we as soon as had been, however WTI Crude Oil Futures and Brent Crude are nonetheless elevated — sitting at $103 and $110, respectively, on the time of publication.

Here’s the place nationwide common costs stand proper now, in keeping with AAA:

AAA

All of this shakes out to the common worth of a gallon of standard gasoline leaping one other two cents in a single day to $4.53, in keeping with AAA. It’s the identical worth we final noticed on May 14, and it means we’re simply three cents away from the 2026 document we noticed again on May 7. Lets. go.

Over the weekend, my wonderful, fantastic, improbable, stunning, and beautiful fiancée shocked me with tickets to see Bruce Springsteen carry out at Madison Square Garden, and it was magic. Bruce could be 76 years previous, however he is nonetheless very a lot received it. I imply, the present was three hours lengthy. Also, as somebody who’s a fan of doing issues in spite, I received an amazing sense that the first purpose Springsteen and all the E-Street Band went on this tour was to rub Donald Trump’s nostril in it, and I’ve received to respect that form of dedication.

Anyway, as a Jersey boy and lifelong Bruce fan, it was a tremendous night. I received da greatest girl in da world.