Georgia’s plan to tax electricity from EV charging stations hits a roadblock

The Georgia Department of Agriculture received $350,000 in funding through the 2025 fiscal year budget to launch a pilot program studying how chargers could be regulated and taxed based on output. But the department still hasn’t found a way to measure kilowatt-hours at the scale required for statewide implementation.

State lawmakers approved the tax to make up for declining gas tax revenues and to address the fact that EV owners don’t pay a traditional gasoline tax.

Georgia’s law would allow the state to tax electricity at public charging stations to help pay for road construction. The tax would not apply to charging stations in homes.

The Agriculture Department would be tasked with annually testing charging stations to ensure customers are getting the electricity they pay for.

In February, Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper told lawmakers that the department is developing a prototype device that would measure the output of EV charging stations. The department is developing a prototype mobile unit that staff can use to check charging stations around the state.

For now, environmental advocates say there isn’t a clear answer to the task the department will be required to carry out. Not all EV charging stations are created equal. Consumers pay to use newer fast-charging stations, while many older stations with a lesser charging capacity are free and their kilowatt-hour output often isn’t monitored.

“The technology doesn’t really exist yet for the Department of Agriculture to implement this law, which is why each subsequent legislative session since 2023, we’ve seen another delay,” said Patrick King, the Georgia policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said that the department supports delaying the implementation of the tax until 2027.

Kentucky and Oklahoma have passed similar measures to generate more tax revenue. But those states exempt older and less-powerful charging stations from being taxed.

“To date, no state has successfully implemented this law just because of the wide-ranging nature of different chargers that exist,” King said.

While some states have opted for a charging station tax or an annual registration fee, others have tried to tax vehicles based on the miles traveled. But opponents say the systems raise privacy concerns and are costly to implement.

The pending Georgia tax would be around 26 cents per 11 kilowatt-hours and would be an addition to the annual registration fee already paid by Georgia EV owners. In 2024, that fee was $219.50. Environmental advocates agree that EV owners should pay for road maintenance but don’t agree with the need for an additional tax.

“The state of Georgia got ahead of itself when it was trying to put in an extra tax on the people of Georgia,” said Doug Teper, a lobbyist for Georgia Conservation Voters.