America’s EV Incentives Are A Joke

Photo: Ford

Other countries discount electric vehicles at the point of sale. Americans wait until the next tax season. All of that and more in The morning shift for September 3rd, 2021.

1st course: Who are we kidding?

I discovered a report in Automotive news today with an electric vehicle manufacturing lobby pleading with our government to give more support to electric vehicles. According to the AN, the group is demanding larger and more comprehensive tax credits:

In a letter sent Thursday, the Electric Drive Transportation Association – along with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Autos Drive America, and the Zero Emission Transportation Association – urged Democratic lawmakers to expand and expand Section 30B and 30D tax credits for electric vehicles , “To support the consumer”. Acceptance and help manufacturers achieve the economies of scale necessary to achieve parity with the gasoline-powered vehicle market.

[…]

The Senate Finance Committee approved in May a proposal headed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., In the Clean Energy for America Act, which would allow vehicle buyers to earn up to $ 12,500 on electric vehicles assembled by union workers in U.S. factories.

Under the proposal, consumers will be entitled to a $ 7,500 tax credit if they buy an electric vehicle and an additional $ 2,500 if the vehicle is assembled in the U.S. and an additional $ 2,500 if it’s in an Factory, whose workers are represented by a union.

There is a problem with all of this. These are tax credits. This sounds great to Americans, but Americans may not even know that this whole system is a total joke. Other countries discount electric vehicles at the point of sale. Here’s how our current $ 7,500 balance works, like Kelly Blue Book explained:

The tax credit is just that – a tax credit. Manufacturers often advertise it as a discount on the price of the car, but it isn’t. Instead, it’s a government policy that allows you to claim up to $ 7,500 in credit against federal income taxes you owe the year you buy the car. In other words, it reduces your tax liability. If you are eligible for a refund, you will receive the amount of your credit in addition.

G / O Media can receive a commission

It’s worth noting that in order to realize a $ 7,500 tax credit, you must first make a decent amount of money.

There was a lot of talk Biden goes to the point of sale when the so-called Clean Energy for America Act first appeared earlier this year, but there is no language about how the bill is. It was recognized as one of “a few ways the bill could be improved.“We have to get our shit together.

2nd gear: Germany up to 15% EV acceptance rate

In Germany, fully electric vehicles accounted for up to 15% of new registrations in August. according to government information, and translated by Google because it’s too early for me to translate myself:

35.5 percent of the new vehicles were equipped with a gasoline engine (68,598 / -41.8%), 17.7 percent were diesel vehicles (34,171 / -50.8%). Vehicles with hybrid drive (60,720 / + 31.5%) achieved a share of 31.4 percent, including plug-in hybrids (24,497 / + 43.3%) with a share of 12.7 percent. Electric cars (BEV) (28,860 / + 79.5%) had a share of 14.9 percent. A share of 0.4 percent was accounted for by cars with the fuel type LPG (711 / -8.1%) and 0.1 percent for natural gas vehicles (199 / -69.8%). The average CO2 emissions fell by -18.2 percent and amounted to 114.6 g / km.

If you’re wondering how this compares to the United States, we are somewhere around a percent or two. Germany, as we have already discussed, brings you back up to five digits in some cases when you buy an electric vehicle.

3rd gear: Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, you’re telling me there is still a Tesla delay?

Elon claimed that the Cybertruck was being “delayed” again, which would be bad news for anyone who believes this truck will ever go into production, or if you really think Tesla will even want to bring it into production. If you were trying to get people excited about a car that was specifically impossible to market, you would. Read what Electrics have to say:

Elon Musk has confirmed and explained the delayed schedule for the Cybertruck, Tesla’s upcoming electric pickup truck.

It was postponed to the end of 2022.

[…]

Over the past year, as the schedule got closer, there have been signs that the cybertruck may be delayed.

First of all, Tesla only recently completed the technical design of the electric pickup truck.

CEO Elon Musk also warned that Tesla will face some challenges in bringing the Cybertruck into production due to features like the steel exoskeleton body, which requires entirely new manufacturing processes.

Oh shit, the all-electric pickup we wanted to build? We have to make sure it has a steel exoskeleton for some reason. We swear it is important. Totally critical. It will take us a while to find out.

Investors.com was less benevolent about the news, pointing out that Tesla is strangely struggling with this matter:

The extended cybertruck delay suggests that the 4680 battery cells are still a long way from mass production. The 4680 battery cells, provided they achieve the promised benefits, are the key to the profitability of Cybertruck, Semi and Roadster. Musk said this week that the long-delayed roadster could arrive in 2023.

In the meantime, the all-electric Rivian R1T pickup is scheduled to begin deliveries this month General Motors (GM) Lobster by the end of this year. the ford (F.) F-150 Lightning will follow in spring 2022.

Ah shit, we have to invent these batteries. Big problem. Couldn’t do the car without them! We’re sorry! Please keep the stock price up while we find out.

4th gear: GM takes a short break, that’s all

The shortage of semiconductor chips has been dire and doesn’t seem to be getting much better. GM will be on a two-week hiatus from pretty much everything but its big trucks and SUVs since the Detroit Free Press reports:

General Motors will shut down nearly all of its assembly plants in North America starting Monday as the COVID-19 pandemic affects semiconductor chip production abroad.

GM said its Arlington Assembly in Texas, where it makes its highly profitable full-size SUVs, will join Flint Assembly, where it makes its heavy-duty pickups, next week, Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky, where it makes its Corvette and part of the Lansing Grand River Assembly, where some Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac Blackwing are built.

But all other assembly plants in North America will be shut down starting Monday.

They know that the big trucks and SUVs bring in all their money GM because they are the last to stop production.

5th gear: Could car companies be legally on the hook due to a lack of climate action?

A new suit in Germany could set a precedent for this, or at least as I hope it will. from Reuters:

Greenpeace and the German environmental NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) will take legal action against Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz and the gas and oil company Wintershall Dea if they do not step up their measures to combat climate change, they said on Friday.

The cases would be modeled on a case brought against Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands last year, arguing that the company’s lack of climate action was a breach of its duty of care to citizens, which led to a court ruling in May which urged the company to reduce its carbon production by 45% from 2019 levels by 2030.

Greenpeace and DUH are calling for automakers to stop producing cars with internal combustion engines by 2030 – earlier than the effective 2035 ban proposed by the EU in July – and for Wintershall Dea to stop developing new oil and gas fields from 2026 onwards.

This is a fun way to protect the climate as it feels like an actual threat to the world order as it is.

Conversely: Campbell coped better with dry lakes

Above Wired:

September 3, 1935: Campbell smashes 300 MPH barrier in Bonneville

Malcolm Campbell, behind the wheel of his last bespoke Bluebird car, is the first to go over 300 mph, breaking his own country speed record for the ninth time.

Campbell set his first record 11 years ago at Pendine Sands, Wales, where it peaked at 146.6 mph. From there he climbed to the top, breaking the 200-mile mark in 1928, topping 250 in 1932, and over 275 on March 7, 1935, just six months before his historic ride in Utah Bonneville Salt Flats.

Neutral: How was your experience buying an electric vehicle?

How long did it take to get the money back in your pocket?