As of this coming Monday, the Chevrolet Bolt EV will not be eligible for the full $7,500 federal electric car tax credit. Instead, buyers will be able to take advantage of just half, or $3,750.
In response to the phaseout period, General Motors said it has no plans to reduce the price of the Chevrolet Bolt EV, but it will instead work with dealers to make the electric car more affordable, according to a Reuters report on Thursday. For example, a GM spokesperson said it’s currently running an offer for 14 percent off of the MSRP on the car.
Tesla, which was the first automaker to lose the full electric car tax credit, took a different approach and cut the price of the Model 3 by a couple of thousand dollars to make up for the tax credit.
Most crucially, GM’s main rivals still have the full tax credit at their disposal. Nissan, which sells the Leaf, Hyundai, which sells the Kona EV, and other automakers just starting to roll out electric cars will be at an advantage over GM. GM has utilized the credit since the first Chevrolet Volt debuted. The credit is based on the car’s battery size, which means some plug-in hybrids are not eligible for the full amount, though the Volt was.
Buyers will be able to claim the $3,750 tax credit for the next six months after April 1st. In October of this year, the credit will reduce by another 50 percent to $1,875. Buyers can then claim the smaller figure for another six months until the credit completely dries up in April 2020.
GM has already partnered with Tesla and Nissan to lobby the U.S. Congress to extend the tax credits. Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed desires to reform the program, while the latest Trump administration budget proposal calls for ending them altogether.
Comments
That’s certainly their prerogative. I hope they don’t mind losing sales, hand over fist, however.
I’m thinking they are waiting for the Bolt Refresh and the next gen BEV2 Platform to be built in Orion.
Over the life of the two Volt generations, there wasn’t a full mid cycle refresh which usually includes redesigned front ends and interiors…What’s most likely to happen is some options now will become standard (I’d imagine C1 could become standard and I’d love to see DCFC but am doutful) and there will be some new options (power seat and ACC are my WAGs)…The big hope is they can at least double its relatively slow fast charging speed…
Of course GM isn’t going to lower the MSRP on the 2019 Bolt EV or even announce they will lower the MSRP on the 2020 model as doing so reduce 2019 sales…It will be interesting to see if GM lowers the MSRP at all, I don’t believe they will but will increase the standard content and optional equipment…
Correct, they would never announce it ahead of time. The gen 1 Volt had a $5000 price drop in MSRP in the middle of its run, and that crushed early adopters in resale value.
They have two options. Watch sales volume slow to a trickle and hold MSRP steady. Perhaps they increase the rebate slightly.
Or they use a combo: slightly more standard equipment, slight MSRP drop, and continue offering 10-16% off.
If you want an EV or PHEV, there are more of them in the used car marketplace than ever before. No need to worry about tax credits or MSRP’s. Bolt, Volt, Tesla, Leaf, i3, etc… there more and more everyday, many of them have low miles and you can save a bundle.
As all things it is those with money/talent/time who spearhead new technology. Then as the designs and infrastructures to utilize them is created and refined, and economies of scale emerge, the costs become better accessible to the lesser able masses. This is still in the earlier phase of conversion from power plant to stored energy equipped automobiles. However, Wikipedia states that this started 90 years ago:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjc7ICfqajhAhWT-VQKHd10DkoQFjACegQIFxAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHistory_of_the_electric_vehicle&usg=AOvVaw0FOpR02b9DuDJeP6NJ8Mgn
Working in warehouses/factories with both kinds of forklifts: the electric ones are far superior except for the lack of sound to hear them coming and occasional spilled acid & resulting corrosion of metal/concrete/cloth.
Good ole GM. Going back to Roger Smith’s “If it has a GM nameplate on it, it’ll sell.” I don’t know of too many vehicles that can sustain a ten percent price increase and increase sales at the same time.
Or the more likely scenario GM isn’t going to announce any price decrease for a vehicle already on sale – 2019 or pre-announce a decrease for the 2020 model year. That would be a first for any GM vehicle. More than likely GM would just change the vehicle content. Things that are optional just become standard without changing the price.