Electric vehicles are the hot new thing for those who want to be the first to own the latest innovations. And admittedly, there are intriguing.
The downside is the range. Tesla claims that a Model 3 has a range of 310 miles on a single charge. Charging is available at Supercharging stations where they claim the driver gets 180 miles for 15 minutes of charging time. That's a bit better than the 240 volt home charging connection which they say will charge at a rate of 44 miles per hour of charging time. So instead of paying by the gallon for gasoline, the driver pays for the kilowatts.
Anyway, what brings this to mind was a recent visit by Vice President Mike Pence for a fund raising rally here in Midland, Texas. A friend attended and said there were roughly five Teslas among the vehicles the attendees used to get there. Surprised the heck out of me. But I don't live in that world.
All that said, buyers of electric vehicles can still get a tax credit for their purchase. Here's what Veronique de Rugy said about that in Bipartisan Support for Electric Vehicle Handouts Betrays Taxpayers:
Under current law, a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 is available to consumers of the first 200,000 vehicles sold by each manufacturer, after which the credit is phased out. Both Tesla and General Motors have exceeded the cap, a fact that has driven a lobbying frenzy to extend the benefit. This wouldn't be the first time the credit was expanded, as the original incarnation of the credit applied only to the first 250,000 electric vehicles sold across all manufacturers.
This new legislation will allow for the purchase of an additional 400,000 vehicles to be eligible for a $7,000 credit, but it might as well be permanent. If Congress passes the bill and it's signed into law, Washington will be sending a clear signal to manufacturers that the gravy train may never end. All the EV makers must then do is flood Washington with lobbying and campaign donations once the next deadline approaches and the cycle could no doubt continue.
The current credit is expected to cost $7.5 billion in federal revenue from last year through 2022, according to the Congressional Research Service and the Joint Committee on Taxation. The costs of the newly expanded credit are not yet available but would be considerably higher.
And here's an interesting tidbit from de Rugy's article:
Almost 80% of those utilizing the EV tax credit have incomes over $100,000, making it not just a corporate handout but also a transfer from all workers to wealthier Americans. And despite its advocates' claims, the EV tax credit fails to reduce the alleged threat of climate change.
One has to suspect that each of those five Tesla owners at the rally likely had a gas guzzling backup vehicle or two back home.
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2:15 PM 4/20/2019
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