‘Zero’ vehicles will qualify for Biden’s electric vehicle tax credit, says auto industry

A clause in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 passed this week by the Senate appears to fight climate change by offering American electric vehicles (EV) owners a $7,500 tax credit. 

But a closer look reveals that EV owners will rarely qualify for that credit. For starters, the battery must be sourced from North America, which cuts the number of eligible models from 72 to 25. It is capped at 200,000 per manufacturer. Only vehicles under $55,000 (or $80,000 for SUVs) will qualify. Buyers must earn less than $150,000 per year (or $300,000 if married). 

Additional sourcing requirements will go into effect in 2023, which will completely disqualify all current EVs, according to an automotive industry trade group. 

“The EV tax credit (aka the Clean Vehicle Credit) in the bill is an effective tool to help reduce the upfront cost of an EV for the millions of Americans in the market for a new car or truck,” Alliance for Automotive Innovation President and CEO John Bozzella, wrote in a blog post last week.  

“But… as currently written, the material, component and assembly requirements in the Clean Vehicle Credit will immediately reduce (by a lot) the number of qualifying electric vehicles available to consumers for purchase with the tax credit. Here’s what I mean: there are 72 EV models currently available for purchase in the United States including battery, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell electric vehicles. Seventy percent of those EVs would immediately become ineligible when the bill passes and none would qualify for the full credit when additional sourcing requirements go into effect. Zero.” 

“The $7,500 credit might exist on paper, but no vehicles will qualify for this purchase incentive over the next few years,” Bozzella added. 

This disappointing promotion is surprising given the relentless campaigning by Biden and his handlers to purchase EVs as a panacea for “climate change” and gas prices, as America’s Frontline News reported last month. 

“I’m still astonished that some folks – and I felt this as I was testifying in Congress yesterday – some folks seem to really struggle to let go of the status quo,” Buttigieg said in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box in July after pushing electric vehicles. The secretary also blasted “naysayers” who are “speaking as if the only power sources that exist are solar, wind or hydrocarbon. 

“The more pain we are all experiencing from the high price of gas, the more benefit there is for those who can access electric vehicle,” Buttigieg told Congress earlier.  

 Buttigieg has been pushing this narrative for some time.  

 “To support the transition to electric vehicles, we must build a national charging network that makes finding a charge as easy as filling up at a gas station,” tweeted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in June after suggesting the previous month that Americans buy electric cars to avoid high gas prices.  

“The people who stand to benefit most from owning an EV are often rural residents who have the most distances to drive, who burn the most gas, and underserved urban residents in areas where there are higher gas prices and lower income,” Buttigieg said last year. “They would gain the most by having that vehicle. These are the very residents who have not always been connected to electric vehicles that are viewed as kind of a luxury item.”  

 Biden also hailed the “transition” to electric vehicles.  

“And when it comes to the gas prices,” Biden said in response to a reporter in Tokyo recently, “we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over.”  

Indeed, a November Cars.com report showed that over two-thirds of Americans would consider switching to an electric vehicle if gas prices continue to rise.