Vermont is the latest of 39 states to enact a premium fee for electric vehicle registration.

On Jan. 1, electric vehicle owners in Vermont received a letter stating they would have to pay twice the price of registration per year compared to gas-powered vehicles to make up for revenue lost from the gas tax.

Electric vehicles made up 12% of new vehicles sold in Vermont last year, slightly above the national average of 8%.

Vermont state legislators passed a law last year to charge electric vehicle owners a premium with plans to set some of the revenue aside to invest in electric charging stations. The electric vehicle premium is set at $89 a year above the standard registration fee, which is still on the low end of what states are charging.

“Legislators recognized that we are nearing the tipping point where EV adoption has become mainstream in Vermont,” Patrick Murphy, state policy director at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, told the New York Times.

No states were charging premium registration fees for electric vehicles a few years ago.

The Highway Trust Fund, entrusted with financing transportation projects from the gas tax, is at risk of becoming insolvent by 2027 unless new sources of funding are found. The federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon has not changed since 1993.

Republicans in Congress have proposed adding new fees to electric vehicle owners, something critics have been adamant against.

“Lawmakers are finding a convenient scapegoat, and penalizing the cleanest vehicles on the road while ignoring the real cause of the shortfall,” Max Baumhefner, director for electric vehicle infrastructure at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the outlet.

In Republican-led states such as Texas, Wyoming, and Ohio, the premium registration fee for electric vehicles is set at $200 on top of the regular registration fees. Proponents of electric vehicles have accused lawmakers of punishing electric vehicle owners.

State lawmakers who helped create legislation to establish premiums, such as Robert Nichols in Texas, have defended their decision, saying lawmakers are reluctant to raise the state’s gas tax and “everybody needs to pay for the road.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Critics of the premium registration fees on electric vehicles say the amounts are not fair because they often are not proportionate to how often they are on the road.

Some states have plans to change this. Next year, Vermont plans to be one of the first states to try charging electric vehicle owners based on how much they drive.