The end of the year is drawing near and it’s time for last-minute legislation in the U.S. Congress. As is tradition, various industries are using this time to lobby for their interests--and the car manufacturing industry is no exception. This time, the spotlight is on electric cars. Tax credits for electric cars, to be specific.
GM, Tesla, and other manufacturers of EVs were pushing for an extension of the tax credits introduced during the first Obama administration. The reason: the credits are only granted for the first 200,000 EVs a carmaker manufactures. After the 200,000 mark, a phase-out begins. To their chagrin, Congress did not pass the proposal for an EV tax credit extension.
There are two problems with the headline, which I bet you didn't get to write; first, if it's a revolution the credits won't matter; and secondly, is that supposed to be a joke?
Let's review the bidding:
Internal Combustion -- 1,000 plus moving parts
-- fueled by single source, often to the benefit of hostile players
-- 15 cents per mile and who knows what later, if available?
Electric Car -- a dozen moving parts
-- fueled by multiple domestic source, including your roof
-- 2 or 3 cents per mile
-- quick as a Porsche, quiet as a Rolls
It's not even fair, really. And that is before CO2 gets its price.
0 to 60 in 15 Years -- where 60 is percent market share. Place your bets.
The fault, Irina, lies not in our cars but in ourselves.
Gas tax issue is already solved. Ideally the entire country should go to a mileage tax rather than a fuel tax.
Tesla will lose it's tax credits come the new year. The Model Y and cyber truck will never see a dime of credits. Yet the cyber truck already has a massive reservation backlog.
Will the electric vehicle revolution survive? Yes.
Will all legacy auto makers survive it? Unlikely.