The Virginia Highway Use Fee is an annual charge added to your vehicle registration if your car is electric or gets 25 or more miles per gallon combined. It exists to recover the fuel tax revenue efficient vehicles don’t generate. A fully electric vehicle currently pays $131.88 per year, and fuel-efficient gasoline cars pay less depending on their MPG rating.1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. What is the Highway Use Fee?
Who Owes the Fee
Two categories of vehicles registered in Virginia are on the hook. The first is any vehicle with a combined fuel economy rating of 25 MPG or higher. The second is easy to miss: any vehicle from a model year where the average combined MPG across all vehicles produced that year was 25 or higher. So even if your specific car rates under 25 MPG, you can still owe the fee when the model-year average clears the threshold.1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. What is the Highway Use Fee?
Fully electric vehicles always qualify because they burn no gasoline. Plug-in hybrids usually qualify too, since their combined MPG ratings almost always exceed 25. The DMV pulls the manufacturer-reported combined MPG rating for your vehicle, so nothing about this depends on self-reporting.
Vehicles That Are Exempt
Several categories don’t owe the fee at all:1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. What is the Highway Use Fee?
- Vehicles rated below 25 MPG combined.
- Motorcycles, autocycles, and mopeds, regardless of fuel economy.
- Vehicles over 10,000 pounds gross weight, which fall under separate commercial fee structures.
- Government-owned vehicles at any level.
- Vehicles registered under the International Registration Plan.
How the Amount Is Calculated
The formula compares your vehicle to a baseline of 23.7 MPG. The DMV works out how much fuel tax a 23.7 MPG vehicle would generate over 11,600 miles (the statewide average annual mileage), then subtracts what your more efficient vehicle would generate over the same distance. Your fee equals 85 percent of that gap.1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. What is the Highway Use Fee?
Two consequences follow. The higher your MPG rating, the wider that gap, so a 30 MPG sedan pays less than a 50 MPG hybrid, which pays less than an EV. And the number changes annually, because it’s tied to Virginia’s fuel tax rate, which updates each July 1.
For a fully electric vehicle, the math is simple: an EV generates no fuel tax, so the entire baseline amount becomes the gap. Under the 2025 schedule, every fully electric vehicle pays $131.88 per year.2Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. 2025 Estimated Highway Use Fee Chart
Vehicle weight does not factor into the calculation. The formula uses only fuel efficiency, the fuel tax rate, and average annual mileage. Weight matters for one thing: the 10,000-pound exemption cutoff.1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. What is the Highway Use Fee?
Paying by the Mile Instead
If you don’t drive much, Virginia’s Mileage Choice Program lets you pay per mile rather than a flat annual fee. Your per-mile rate is your highway use fee divided by 11,600, so it’s proportional to what the lump-sum version would cost.3Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Virginia’s Mileage Choice Program
The program is capped at the full annual fee, so you’ll never pay more than the standard amount. Once you hit that ceiling, tracking stops and any remaining balance carries into the next year. Drive fewer than 11,600 miles a year and you save. Someone logging 8,000 miles pays roughly 69 percent of the full fee.
Enrollment is voluntary and has to happen before you renew your registration. You sign up online through Emovis, the third-party administrator, which mails a small device to install in your vehicle and charges your card periodically based on the mileage it reports. You’ll also need the Emovis smartphone app for an initial odometer reading.4Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Enrollment Now Open for DMV’s Mileage Choice
One eligibility rule trips people up: you can’t have any stops on your DMV record, such as unpaid personal property taxes, unpaid tolls, or an outstanding DMV balance. Clear those first or the system won’t let you enroll.3Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Virginia’s Mileage Choice Program
When and How You Pay
The fee is bundled into your registration or renewal bill. The DMV calculates it automatically from your vehicle’s MPG rating, so there is no separate form. It appears as a line item whether you renew online, in person, or by mail. For a newly purchased vehicle, it’s assessed at initial registration.1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. What is the Highway Use Fee?
Online payments accept credit cards, debit cards, and electronic checks. Mail-in renewals accept paper checks.
What Happens If You Don’t Pay
Because the fee is part of your registration bill, skipping it means your registration doesn’t renew. Driving on an expired registration is a traffic infraction under Virginia Code § 46.2-613. The Supreme Court of Virginia’s uniform fine schedule sets the standard fine at $25 for a first offense, $51 for a second, and $76 for a third.5Supreme Court of Virginia. Rules of Supreme Court of Virginia Part Three B Traffic Infractions and Uniform Fine Schedule – Section: Miscellaneous Offenses
Those figures don’t include court costs and processing fees, which often exceed the fine itself. Courts can dismiss the summons if you show proof of compliance before the court date.6Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-613 – Infractions Relating to Registration, Licensing, and Certificates of Title; Penalties
An unresolved registration hold can also block future plate renewals, and prolonged nonpayment may send the balance to collections, which brings added fees and possible credit damage.
Is It Deductible on Your Federal Return?
If you itemize, the highway use fee doesn’t qualify. The IRS allows a deduction for state and local personal property taxes only when the tax is based on the value of the property. Virginia’s fee is calculated from fuel efficiency, not market value, so it doesn’t meet that definition.7Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 503, Deductible Taxes
Virginia charges a separate annual motor vehicle registration tax that may be value-based, and that portion could be deductible. The highway use fee itself is not.