EV drivers now owe three new fees at once — and most didn’t see it coming

New fees hit Wyoming EV drivers hard

Wyoming started collecting new fees on electric vehicles on Jan. 1, 2026, and the rollout has not gone smoothly.

The state now charges a four-cent-per-kilowatt-hour tax at fast-charging stations and requires annual decal fees of $200 for fully electric vehicles and $100 for plug-in hybrids.

Charging stations must display electricity prices, including taxes.

The idea is simple: make EV drivers chip in for road upkeep the same way gasoline drivers do through the state’s 24-cent-per-gallon fuel tax.

Wyoming wants EV drivers to pay road costs

Wyoming has always funded its roads through gasoline taxes, but EV drivers skip that system entirely.

The state first tried a flat $50 annual fee for EV owners, then bumped it to $200, a rough estimate of what a typical gas driver pays in fuel taxes each year.

But out-of-state EV drivers passing through still paid nothing toward road upkeep. Wyoming only has about 1,231 registered EVs, so the numbers are small.

They are growing, though.

An old law that nobody enforced caused trouble

Here is where things got messy. Wyoming has had an alternative fuels tax on the books since 2015, but the state never bothered collecting it at EV charging stations.

Then, in October 2025, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) started enforcing that tax at all public chargers. The tax works out to 24 cents per gallon using a gasoline equivalent formula for electricity.

WYDOT said collecting it earlier was not worth the cost because so few chargers and EVs existed in the state.

Three layers of taxes stack up fast

When WYDOT enforced the old tax on top of the new fees, it created what lawmakers now call “triple taxation.”

Wyoming EV owners who charge at public stations pay three separate charges: the $200 annual decal fee, the fuel tax at the station, and sales tax on the electricity. Gasoline, by contrast, is exempt from sales tax in Wyoming.

Lawmakers on both sides agree this triple layer was never the plan.

Some charging stations already shut down

Several EV charging stations across Wyoming shut down in late 2025 after the state started enforcing the old tax.

The city of Rock Springs pulled the plug on its free public charger because it had no way to track electricity use or figure out what it owed.

Hotels and businesses offering free charging ran into the same wall, since many stations lack meters to measure usage.

Rep. Ocean Andrew, a Republican and EV driver, said he found chargers removed at a hotel he regularly used when traveling to Casper for legislative sessions.

Lawmakers push a bill to fix it

House Bill 145, titled “Removing triple taxation for resident EV drivers,” is moving through the 2026 legislature. The bill passed the Wyoming House and cleared the Senate Transportation Committee on a 4-1 vote.

It would exempt slower Level 2 chargers from the fuel tax entirely.

Wyoming residents who use fast chargers could apply for a refund on their $200 annual decal fee using their charging receipts.

The bill would also drop the sales tax on electricity at charging stations, matching how gasoline is treated.

The math on what EV drivers pay

A Wyoming resident with a fully electric vehicle pays $200 a year in decal fees.

Every fast-charging session adds four cents per kilowatt-hour in state tax, so filling a typical 60-kWh battery costs about $2.40 in tax alone.

Retail prices at fast chargers run about 39 to 50 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the network. A gasoline driver filling a 15-gallon tank pays about $3.60 in state fuel tax, but no sales tax and no annual decal fee.

Federal EV tax credits also went away

The timing could not be worse. The $7,500 federal tax credit for new electric vehicles and the $4,000 credit for used EVs both expired on Sept. 30, 2025.

Those credits ended through provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed earlier that year. Wyoming EV owners now face higher state costs and lower federal help at the same time.

Still, advocates say EV infrastructure in Wyoming and the Greater Yellowstone region keeps growing.

Wyoming’s charging network stays thin

Wyoming ranks among the states with the fewest EV chargers and registered electric vehicles.

The state had been working with the federal NEVI program, which offered about $24 million to build 17 charging stations along Interstates 80, 25, and 90.

But in February 2026, the U.S. Department of Transportation told all states to pause that program until further notice.

That freeze adds more uncertainty for EV drivers planning road trips through the state, especially tourists headed to Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

EV owners say they want to pay fairly

EV owners who testified on HB 145 said they support paying for road upkeep.

One Converse County resident told lawmakers she is happy to pay the tax and believes EV drivers should contribute their share. Nobody spoke against the bill during its Senate committee hearing.

The debate is not about whether EV drivers should pay. It is about getting the fee structure right.

The bill heads to the full Senate

HB 145 is waiting for a vote on the full Senate floor.

If it passes and Gov. Mark Gordon signs it, the bill would replace the current triple-taxation setup. Level 2 chargers, the slower kind that businesses often offer for free, would no longer face the fuel tax.

Level 3 fast chargers, used mostly by travelers passing through, would still carry the per-kilowatt-hour tax. The result could influence how other rural states handle EV taxation.

What Wyoming EV owners need to know now

The $200 annual decal fee for fully electric vehicles and $100 for plug-in hybrids are in effect right now. The four-cent-per-kilowatt-hour tax applies at DC fast-charging stations.

The triple-taxation situation could change if HB 145 passes. Home charging is not subject to the per-kilowatt-hour tax, so most daily charging stays unaffected.

EV drivers can check WYDOT resources or the Department of Energy’s interactive map for current charging station locations across the state.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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