UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies

Even though plug-in electric vehicles can reduce the problem of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, externalities like congestion and road damage will exist. Therefore, state transportation agencies will need pricing mechanisms like a per-mile road user charge (RUC) to deal with these externalities while accounting for the transition to an EV-dominated fleet. Focusing on electronic toll collection (ETC) methods, this project aimed to conduct a thorough review of lessons learned from established tolling systems across U.S. states and the tolling system in Singapore and London. Post literature review and expert interviews, a multi-criteria performance framework of different tolling mechanisms was formulated based on criteria such as accuracy of data collection, complexity for regulators and users, compatibility across policy objectives (primarily RUC), and equity.