If you own an electric vehicle and you get into an accident, you may soon get charged three times more to store it, according to state legislation that was just approved by the Florida House on Wednesday.
Rep. Danny Nix, R-Sarasota, is the sponsor for HB 577. It allows municipalities to charge up to three times the daily rate for storage of electric vehicles that have been involved in an accidents.
"Electric vehicle batteries can be very dangerous when they're damaged and clean up, as we know, can be costly," Nix said.
"I want to make sure that if there's any chance that this vehicle may catch fire, may have any issues that we don't damage other individual vehicles as well that are close to them.”
His legislation says an electric vehicle, or EV, requires more space in a storage facility to keep a safe distance from other vehicles, hence tripling the cost as to not take revenue from tow and storage companies.
So, if your EV is in a wreck, you could pay $90 a day for storage instead of $30.
Nix took recommendations from the private company Energy Security Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the National Transportation Safety Board, which he said recommend the spacing of one EV vehicle in the space of six gas or diesel vehicles.
But Nix wants to make clear that he isn't anti-electric vehicles.
“They have a needed place. I find a lot of value in having them on the road. So, it's very important that we make sure there's a distinction and an understanding of what the bill is for,” he said.
“It takes over 5,000 gallons of water to put out electric fire that can burn for over 24 hours. So, when we start getting into that stuff, we need to embrace the technology while also ensuring safety.”
Samantha Kaddis with the nonprofit CLEO Institute is glad that this isn’t meant to be an anti-EV bill, but said the measure discourages the clean energy movement.
"This just seems like another nail in the wall to kind of prevent people from purchasing EVs," she said.
“Transportation … is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and really shifting away from dirty gas vehicles to electric vehicles is a crucial strategy in reducing these emissions and thereby mitigating climate change.”
If the cost of owning electric vehicles goes up because of added fees, Kaddis said that buyers may choose to stick with traditional gas vehicles.
"And that's really undermining the effects of reducing carbon emissions that are contributing to the climate crisis."
The measure passed the House 112 to 0 and now goes to the Senate for approval.
If it passes that chamber, as well, and the governor signs it into law, it could take effect as soon as July 1, 2025.
