Just half of road funding is paid for by road users through funding mechanisms like fuel taxes or vehicle registration fees, and the largest share of that (the federal gas tax) has not been raised in over 30 years. However, some in Congress have tried to blame the rise of electric vehicles and fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicles for the federal government’s struggles to fund decades of road-building.

Below I walk through why the federal government’s ability to pay for highways has nothing to do with electric vehicles and everything to do with Congress’s insatiable desire for road-building.