[Mrpmg]

In Oregon, we have the option of having the biannual registration fee for electric vehicles reduced from $306 to $86 if we choose to pay by the mile, with at least two device vendors approved by the DMV. You then pay $0.018 per mile, so the break even point is at about 6,000 miles per year. Not everybody’s cup of tea, but for retired non-commuters it works. The device is inserted into the OBD-II port. One option includes location of the vehicle, so you are not paying for out of state miles.

Aside from the location privacy concerns, are there any issues that might negatively affect the car’s electronics by having this device connected 24/7?

 

[Eric Nay]

Aside from the location privacy concerns, are there any issues that might negatively affect the car’s electronics by having this device connected 24/7?

Power drain, having a live device attached?

 

[Mrpmg]

Well, I’m not sure that the OBD port is live unless the vehicle is “on”. On my ICE vehicles, the ignition has to be on to pull a trouble code.

 

[MikeQBF]

In our (3) vehicles, I'm pretty sure their OBD port has some sort of power to it full-time. At least my reader comes on when I plug it in with the key out and obviously everything off. Whether this state-sponsored tracker uses the always-on power lead or engine-on power lead will require specific research of the tracker device.

 

[Andy at Ross-Tech.com]

In most cases (the ID.4 included I believe) there is constant power on pin 16 and switched power on pin 1.

 

[Nai3t]

Calling it a "state sponsored tracker" is definitely provocative, deliberately misleading. "Tracking device" has a very specific, or at least commonly understood meaning. The device definitely isn't sharing location.

Technology Will Make or Break Oregon’s Mileage Tracking Program

Oregon’s plan to charge drivers by the mile is gaining speed with the help of cheaper off-the-shelf devices.

www.govtech.com

But despite my protest there, why?

Why can't the state just let users self-report mileage? Yes, The Honor System. Sure there would be cheats. But there are remedies. Mileage gets recorded and reported during some servicing and at sale. Retroactive penalties can be put in place for owners who voluntarily opt in to this system.

It just seems like a lot of unnecessary expense and effort to go through for something so simple.

I self report my mileage to my insurance. I used to self report my mileage to my company. They ought to try the simple method first, before going for the tech option.

BTW some cars do weird things like sound the alarm in the middle of the night when done dongles are attached to their OBD ports.

 

[Mrpmg]

In Oregon, in addition to the location enabled and non-enabled OBD devices, you will soon be able to self report in this program. Scroll down to the lower part of this page:

OReGO

OregonDepartments of Transportation in Pennsylvania and Delaware, along with many other states in the region, expect to have up to 1,000 volunteers participate in Phase 2 of the I-95 Corridor Coalition’s Mileage-Based User Fee (MBUF) Pilot.

www.azuga.com

 

[EV-Driver]

In Oregon, in addition to the location enabled and non-enabled OBD devices, you will soon be able to self report in this program. Scroll down to the lower part of this page:

OReGO

OregonDepartments of Transportation in Pennsylvania and Delaware, along with many other states in the region, expect to have up to 1,000 volunteers participate in Phase 2 of the I-95 Corridor Coalition’s Mileage-Based User Fee (MBUF) Pilot.

www.azuga.com

I live in Washington. When I drove my first EV, the Bolt EV, I was part of a "test program" for the pay-by-mile idea. The OBD device they gave me worked to track my mileage. I got an "invoice" every month to tell me what I would have paid if it were actually live.

I'm all for pay-by-mile as I probably only put 6000-8000 on per year. I have no idea why Washington hasn't gone any further than this study program, except that we have some of the highest gas taxes in the nation. I guess they don't want to take a chance of losing that income.

 

[stealthg]

The person who will make the real money is the one who develops the OBD hub, so the state, the power company and whomever else can get your data.

 

[Mrpmg]

I queried Azuga (maker of one of the approved devices) and received the following response:


Thank you for writing in and for your interest in the OReGO Road Usage Charge program, we really appreciate it!

Hope you are doing well!

The OReGO Road Usage Charge (RUC) program is a potential gas tax replacement to fund our roads and bridges. It is a stable and long-term funding/revenue collection method to maintain roads and infrastructure in the state of Oregon.

Our device is extremely light in its use of the vehicle's battery (the device's power draw). This has been very carefully tested over many years in many applications. We have one of the lowest, if not the lowest, standby voltage draws in the industry. Furthermore, the device itself detects the voltage of the vehicle battery. If it senses an issue or a weak battery it goes into an even deeper standby mode to ensure it is not affecting the battery.

Post ignition off and broadcasting the trip end message, the device goes into a sleep mode with minimal device voltage draw. While the engine is on, the device is sampling GPS and cellular connectivity, therefore, it consumes more power. When the device broadcasts the message to our server while the ignition is ON it uses relatively more power to transmit data. But of course, the battery is being charged while the engine is on.

There are some vehicle makes and models that have minor electrical/wiring issues and, in a way, "throw off" power on their own when they detect things like OBD2 port devices or other automotive 12V accessories. It is possible this could affect the battery, but these are extremely rare cases. However, if you leave a device in a vehicle without driving for over a month you may see some additional power loss from your battery. Most vehicles, though, would have already drained the battery due to internal electrical components in that time frame. We recommend that any vehicle that is seldom used either be driven every two weeks or hooked up to a smart battery charger every two weeks to replenish the lost capacity.

 

[Tinman]

If you have annual state inspections, they could pull the mileage from that report. Our inspection mileage shows up on CarFax. I'd hate to give up the port.

 

[Mrpmg]

If you have annual state inspections, they could pull the mileage from that report. Our inspection mileage shows up on CarFax. I'd hate to give up the port.

Oregon doesn't have the annual inspections many states do. One advantage of the location based device is that you won’t get charged a mileage fee for out of state travel. That could be an advantage if you live near your state’s border, or if you travel out of state frequently. The privacy issue is a little overblown, since one’s cell phone is recording your movements all the time.

 

[PacNWStateofMind]

In Oregon, we have the option of having the biannual registration fee for electric vehicles reduced from $306 to $86 if we choose to pay by the mile, with at least two device vendors approved by the DMV. You then pay $0.018 per mile, so the break even point is at about 6,000 miles per year. Not everybody’s cup of tea, but for retired non-commuters it works. The device is inserted into the OBD-II port. One option includes location of the vehicle, so you are not paying for out of state miles.

Aside from the location privacy concerns, are there any issues that might negatively affect the car’s electronics by having this device connected 24/7?

I'm trying to judge the same thing (our car is on Siem Cicero as we speak so we are assuming a late october delivery).
I think the question here is whether the ODB always being installed/on is going to cause any errors or craziness - Thinking of the problems EV Dad/Jon ran into with his ODB plugged in for his CA-NY trip. That is probably more to do with the type of dongle, as it was monitoring BMS.

 

[Mrpmg]

PacNWStateofMind - out of curiosity, what does your VIN end in? Mine is 0578xx. Per the dealer, mine was supposed to arrive in Houston about 10 days ago, but per the ship’s manifest (Mediterranean Highway), there were only 12 ID.4s on board. I’m still sitting at 20-2, so have no clue what ship or when might arrive in the U.S. I’m in the Portland, OR area.

 

[Nai3t]

Oregon doesn't have the annual inspections many states do. One advantage of the location based device is that you won’t get charged a mileage fee for out of state travel. That could be an advantage if you live near your state’s border, or if you travel out of state frequently. The privacy issue is a little overblown, since one’s cell phone is recording your movements all the time.

That's a great point about the state border thing -- I hadn't considered that as an advangate. But I wonder how that works? According to the link I posted earlier, these devices only use GPS position data to calculate point-to-point distance traveled, and then discard the location data. So is the dongle programed with rough lat/long geofence parameters to know what's in and out of state? That would be good to know. Is Idaho going to claim, "Oregon, you know X vehicles traveled Y miles in our state, we want our $$ cut!"

 

[Don]

Mississippi uses the 'super simple' way of determining how much gas tax you should be paying - They added a $150 flat fee to your annual registration, no matter if you drive 5 miles or 10,000 every year. 25 mph Golf Carts which are legal on some city streets pay the same amount

Don

 

[PacNWStateofMind]

PacNWStateofMind - out of curiosity, what does your VIN end in? Mine is 0578xx. Per the dealer, mine was supposed to arrive in Houston about 10 days ago, but per the ship’s manifest (Mediterranean Highway), there were only 12 ID.4s on board. I’m still sitting at 20-2, so have no clue what ship or when might arrive in the U.S. I’m in the Portland, OR area.

Yup, ours are 567 and 578 (technically only one of ours, we ordered two so that the dealership will do a 19" for 20", they can keep the other and hopefully everyone will be happy)
We are also in Portland, though our orders are heading to VW of Salem as we had better luck negotiating with them and have had a good experience so far.
Are you using Dick Hannah or Herzog Meier?

 

[PacNWStateofMind]

Yup, ours are 567 and 578 (technically only one of ours, we ordered two so that the dealership will do a 19" for 20", they can keep the other and hopefully everyone will be happy)
We are also in Portland, though our orders are heading to VW of Salem as we had better luck negotiating with them and have had a good experience so far.
Are you using Dick Hannah or Herzog Meier?

Oh, and I should have said, ours only switched to 20-2 one the siem Cicero left port, Confucius loaded and left without us moving from 20-1.

 

[Mrpmg]

Yup, ours are 567 and 578 (technically only one of ours, we ordered two so that the dealership will do a 19" for 20", they can keep the other and hopefully everyone will be happy)
We are also in Portland, though our orders are heading to VW of Salem as we had better luck negotiating with them and have had a good experience so far.
Are you using Dick Hannah or Herzog Meier?

Armstrong VW in Gladstone. The sales staff at both H-M and Armstrong indicated there would be no added markup for an ordered vehicle, and we chose Armstrong, in part because it was only a mile away, but mostly because the sales rep was very knowledgeable about the car. Both dealerships verbally indicated there would be no discount from MSRP, but also no added markup. Unfortunately, he called me about a week ago to indicate he had left the dealership after a change in management that he felt seriously diminished the customer focus. He knows the sales manager at H-M, and asked her about getting the order/delivery changed to H-M, with the hope that he could handle the delivery process for me there, even though he was not an employee. I tried to change dealerships via VW Customer Care, but they indicated it was too late in the process to do that. After this arose, I’m now dreading the purchase process, fearing they will try to stiff me for additional markup or some other shenanigans. I fully realize that the ultimate price is set by the dealer, but after waiting 4 months for delivery, this will really taint VW in my mind if that occurs.

 

[PacNWStateofMind]

Armstrong VW in Gladstone. The sales staff at both H-M and Armstrong indicated there would be no added markup for an ordered vehicle, and we chose Armstrong, in part because it was only a mile away, but mostly because the sales rep was very knowledgeable about the car. Both dealerships verbally indicated there would be no discount from MSRP, but also no added markup. Unfortunately, he called me about a week ago to indicate he had left the dealership after a change in management that he felt seriously diminished the customer focus. He knows the sales manager at H-M, and asked her about getting the order/delivery changed to H-M, with the hope that he could handle the delivery process for me there, even though he was not an employee. I tried to change dealerships via VW Customer Care, but they indicated it was too late in the process to do that. After this arose, I’m now dreading the purchase process, fearing they will try to stiff me for additional markup or some other shenanigans. I fully realize that the ultimate price is set by the dealer, but after waiting 4 months for delivery, this will really taint VW in my mind if that occurs.

Yeah ... I happened to call VW of Salem when their regular EV specialist was on vacation and so connected directly with the sales manager. Through what I learned through YAA deal school I was able to talk directly to the business model and have been in regular communication, steadily feeding in the info about what we will and will not accept, and reiterating the focus on OtD values.
Hopeful to have a good resolution, but still a bit nervous as this will be our first new car purchase.
Good luck! (And if you end up having a bad experience at Gladstone, know there will be a Moonstone ProS with upgraded 20" wheels available at VW of Salem