GM Volt Forum banner

U.S. bill to boost electric car tax credits could rev GM, Tesla

6K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  Steverino 
#1 · (Edited)
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation on Wednesday to expand the electric vehicle tax credit by 400,000 vehicles per manufacturer, a provision that would give a boost to Tesla Inc and General Motors Co before the existing credit comes to an end for them.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-boost-electric-car-tax-credits-idUSKCN1RM1NG


Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., signed on to the bill.
 
#5 ·
For GM and Tesla, extending the federal tax credit in some form would mean protecting and/or increasing American jobs in states that have lots of voters.
 
#6 ·
From a technical perspective the US cannot afford to lose it's EV advantage. Like US steel, consumer electronics, furniture, clothing, we are in danger of losing the auto industry.
 
#7 ·
It continues the same stupidity that exists in the current bill, in that it's a per manufacturer limit. This still puts GM/Tesla at a disadvantage (an even bigger one) over their competitors once they reach the cap. The credit should either be killed for all now, or have 1 cap which applies to all companies.
 
#9 ·
I agree. They should cut the tax credit in half, max of $3750, for everyone regardless of how many vehicles they sell. Keep it based on the size of the battery though. Maybe require a minimum of 20 kWh for full credit. Then do additional sunsetting in, say, five years.

(Rationale: The $7500 credit was pretty generous 10 years ago when batteries were >$1000/kWh. But costs have dropped quite a bit since then.)

The H2 portion of the proposal is a total waste of time.
 
#8 ·
Make it simple. A $7000 rebate check directly to the purchaser on any EV manufactured in the US. (New or Used) That would make it available to many more folks interested in an EV and stimulate sales. (that is, IF the purpose is to assist in the transition to EV's AND be helpful to American manufacturing workers).
 
#11 ·
That would be welfare, which don't need more of. The current system is a tax credit, and I'd personally leave it like this. However I'd love to see this applied only to cars built in the US, to support US workers and manufacturing. That would be a very good thing indeed.
 
#12 ·
Okay... This isn't the political sub-forum.

But to the point, limit it to cars made in the US and it will sail through. The President is all for bringing back US manufacturing and supporting US jobs.
 
#14 ·
They are going about this all wrong. The purpose of EV rebates is to ease the entry of the EV into the market as it has higher development/build costs. They should do away with tax credits and stick to rebates off MSRP like Canada has. This will open the markets to people that want a new EV but don't have tax credits, not every man is a salary man (as the Japanese call them). Prices of used EVs will take care of themselves as we have seen. There should be no limit of units sold as that penalises early adopters and rewards late comers (not what you want). It should not be limited to US manufactured vehicles as that limits incentive to improve technology and makes them welfare companies. Welfare breeds more reliance on welfare. As technology allows the prices of EVs to come down the rebates can diminish until the price reaches parity with ICE. Fast chargers need be built to handle long road trips and be positioned at point depending on numbers, roads traveled so that you can drive pretty much anywhere without being stranded or not being able to go where most people want to go. Whether this is initiated by private or government (government initial installs could be later sold to private to recoup costs). The point of going EV in the first place (not counting the desirability to travel quieter) is to reduce CO2 so if you need more electricity to reduce fossil fuel, build hydro where you can, solar where it makes sense, wind where there are wind corridors, tidal where you have tides (will be cost competitive in 2020), clean power stations where you need the backup for down times.
 
#19 ·
If this passes, which seems like a 50/50 shot at best, I am nearly certain that it will be vetoed by the President, as he has already commented that he wants to punish GM for closing plants, and wants to take away their subsidies, including EV credits (despite the fact they were already scheduled to be phased out).

The only hope for this bill is for the Republican backers to really push the hell out of the job creation, America first angle that jcanoe mentioned. If it gets enough press from that angle so that that becomes the story, I think the President would waffle on his past stance.
 
#24 ·
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top