The contents of December’s finalized tax bill may be a mystery, but if it eliminates the tax credit that has until now propped up EV purchases, the electric future does look dimmer.
Under the current federal tax plan, consumers receive up to $7,500 in reimbursement every time they buy an electric vehicle. It’s an incentive designed to stimulate the demand side of the EV market, and to encourage manufacturers to keep building cars. All plug-in manufacturers are eligible to offer consumers the credit until they produce 200,000 vehicles, after which a 16- to 18-month phaseout begins. Nissan, GM, and Tesla are due to hit that threshold in 2018 or 2019. If the credit is eliminated at the start of tax year 2017, as the House bill proposes, then they would lose up to a full year of producing subsidized cars.
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