Breaking news: TAX CREDIT for plug-in EVs!

[beerbrewer]

I posted this over at the official Revolution Motors DAGNE board, and thought I'd copy & paste it here, too:

BREAKING NEWS! The "bail out" of Wall Street just passed the House. It's official. I hate it...EXCEPT that it was attached to a tax cut bill. And DAGNE can be a huge beneficiary for its buyers if Revolution can accelerate production before Pelosi and her gang find a way to do away with it. The new law includes "Establishing a new tax credit ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 for purchasers of plug-in electric-drive vehicles."

So let's all encourage Ben and his crew to put their development into high gear and bring DAGNE to market ahead of projections. I, for one, would love a direct tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying a DAGNE!

[RAN]

For a vehicle the size/price of the Dagne, it'll probably be more on the $2500 end, but good news is still good news.

Thanks beerbrewer!

[beerbrewer]

RAN: You're probably right about the size of the credit being much less than the max of $2,500. But, heck, even $2,500 at minimum is an immediate 12.5% reduction in price on a $20K Dagne. That's a lot of replacement motorcycle tires! 2thumb:up

[MVRacing]

Reading thru the wording... after the initial 2,500 the rest is calculated on the battery size.

[AZEqualizer]

This from Autobloggreen: (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/10/03/auto-industry-responses-to-the-bailout-bill-what-do-you-think/)
"When the U.S. Congress passed H.R. 1424 and President Bush signed it into law today, not everyone was paying attention to the part about plug-in vehicles. Sure, this got a little play - and green car sites like ours were on it (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/10/03/senate-passes-plug-in-tax-credits-in-wall-street-bailout-bill/) - but what's a few $7,500 tax credits in a $700 billion bill? Still, there are a lot of parts to the bill (read one take here (http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977465270)) to digest and we're happy to explore the green car-related details a bit.

If you want to read the language in the bill yourself, you can find the full text here (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-1424) (do a text search for "plug" to find the applicable PHEV part of the law, Section 205).
The language now refers to "plug-in electric drive motor vehicle" instead of the "passenger automobiles," which might help companies like Aptera. We know that Chrysler yesterday gave its support for the legislation and today the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA (http://www.autobloggreen.com/tag/EDTA/)) gave strong vocal support to the bill's passage."

[Jack Willard]

From Green Car Congress on 1/28/09:


Senate Finance Committee Markup Proposes Doubling PHEVs Eligible for Tax Credits to 500,000 Units

A proposal (http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG%202009/012709%20Modifications%20to%20the%20Chairman's%20M ark%20of%20ARRA%20Title%20I%20(Tax)%20and%20Social %20Security%20(2).pdf) in the stimulus package markup emerging from the US Senate Finance Committee modifies the plug-in electric drive motor vehicle credit by increasing the original 250,000 vehicle limitation to 500,000 four-wheeled units. It also modifies the definition of qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle to exclude low-speed vehicles.

<!---->The credit for light-duty PHEVs (up to 10,000 lbs.), with a minimum battery pack capacity of 4 kWh, ranges from $2,500 to $7,500. This maximum amount increases to $10,000 for vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds but not more than 14,000 pounds, to $12,500 for vehicles weighing more than 14,000 pounds but not more than 26,000 pounds, and to $15,000 for vehicle weighing more than 26,000 pounds.

The proposal creates a new 10% credit for low-speed vehicles, motorcycles, and three-wheeled vehicles that would otherwise meet the criteria of a qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle but for the fact that they are low-speed vehicles or do not have at least four wheels. The maximum credit for such vehicles is $4,000.