A clean energy tax credit bill worth some $259.5 billion can advance to the Senate floor after the upper house's Finance Committee voted 14-14 on it, Bloomberg reports, noting that despite the even votes house rules allowed the Democrats to advance the legislation.
The bill, which includes $31.6 billion in incentives for EV buyers, seeks to consolidate tax credits for renewable energy, including incentives for any carbon-free energy source. It targets everyone in the supply chain, from investors in electricity generation projects to households, offering incentives for energy efficiency improvements of homes and clean fuel tax breaks.
The incentives for electric vehicle buyers are particularly generous: buyers can claim a credit of up to $12,500 for a car that was assembled in the United States at a company whose workers are unionized and whose price tag is up to $80,000.
The legislation is part of the Biden administration's $4-trillion infrastructure and green energy spending plans, which includes $174 billion in EV-related investments. The president made a case for the plan earlier this month in Detroit, calling on U.S. automakers to not outsource the manufacturing process.
"We need automakers and other companies to keep investing here in America and not take the benefits of our public investments and expand electric vehicles and battery manufacturing abroad," Biden said at the launch.
Biden's EV plan envisages a total of $100 billion in consumer rebates as well as $51 billion for the construction of half a million charging stations across the country. Although the White House, according to a Reuters report, has yet to reveal how the rebates would be distributed, they will likely help carmakers make their EVs more attractive to buyers, especially given that some, such as Tesla and GM, are no longer eligible for the current tax incentives for EV purchases.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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This begs the question as to what would happen to EV sales if government subsidies are withdrawn. The answer is simple enough: collapse.
There are currently 2 billion internal combustion engines (ICEs) on the roads worldwide compared with 10.9 million EVs or 0.55% of the total.
And yet, there is extraordinary hype about EVs by the media. But when Akio Toyoda, the President of Toyota, the world’s biggest car company, says there is too much hype surrounding EVs and also notes that the electricity needed to charge EVs would strain grids and increase carbon emissions, the world should listen attentively.
The ease of charging and also the availability of charging points are always on EV drivers’ minds particularly when they are embarking on a long journey of hundreds of miles. Therefore, it is not surprising that 18% of EV drivers and 20% of plug-in buyers in California are switching back to gasoline cars.
This is one very major reason why EVs will never prevail over ICEs. The other is the need for global expansion of electricity generation costing trillions of dollars to be able to charge the supposedly millions of EVs that will be on the roads. How would this expansion come by: solar, nuclear or hydrocarbon?
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London
Long $f Ford Motor Company
Strong buy
Best thing ever for USA Das Auto.