GM One Of The ‘Loudest Voices’ In Washington Over EV Tax Credits
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General Motors is currently one of the “loudest voices” in Washington with regards to both the issues of EV tax credits and the national fuel economy regulations, according to The Detroit News.
GM, along with Tesla, wants to raise the cap on the amount of electric vehicles a company can sell before it is excluded from the EV tax credit program. Under the current rules, an automaker can sell 200,000 electric vehicles before its customers can no longer apply to receive the $7,500 EV tax credit. Both GM and Tesla have already surpassed this threshold, so its customers can only receive a partial, lower deduction of $1,875.
GM argues the EV tax credits can help make electric vehicles affordable for customers. With the development and production of lithium-ion batteries set to remain costly for manufacturers for the foreseeable future, companies like GM and Tesla see tax credits as the best way to promote their widespread adoption.
“The EV tax credit provides customers with a proven incentive as we work to establish the U.S. as a leader in electrification, helping make electric vehicles more affordable for all customers,” GM spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said in a statement sent to The Detroit News. “Modifying the tax credit will allow all customers to continue to receive the full benefit and provide them with a greater choice of vehicles.”
A bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow earlier this year would raise the cap from 200,000 cars to 600,000, which would make new buyers of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and other future GM electric vehicles eligible for the tax credit. In a statement, Stabenow claimed passing her bill would be “one of the best actions we can take right now to reduce carbon pollution and help consumers transition to clean energy technologies.”
However, GM found itself in Democrats’ crosshairs when it sided with Trump in the president’s ongoing fight with California over fuel economy regulations. The Trump administration wants to loosen the current set Obama-era fuel economy standards, while California wants to introduce its own fuel economy laws separate from any set national standard. GM and a consortium other major automakers, which included Toyota, sided with the White House in the legal battle, saying they want a single standard that will be cheaper and easier to adhere to. Despite siding with the White House in the emissions row, GM says it remains “committed to year-over-year improvements in conventional fuel economy,” and plans to continuously improve the fuel economy of its internal combustion-engine vehicles.
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Source: The Detroit News
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I have always stated that the Rebate should not be tied to an amount of vehicles sold but to a number of years. The Government in my opinion has done a disservice (I’d Bet Big Oil lobbyists had something to do with it) to GM, Nissan, and Tesla. They started earlier than other Companies and have spent the most in R&D (Tesla Mostly) and now other Auto Makers can jump into the Market with better Tech and get the Benefits of the Rebates. Putting a Number was and still is completely idiotic. It should have been a Fixed amount of years. That would have forced ALL The Auto Makers into moving much quicker and pretty much at the same time frame and the EV Market would have been a lot bigger than Tesla and the rest.
I hope they can sway the Government into certain amount of years instead of an amount of vehicles.
Now as far as the Fuel Regulations are concerned, I am totally against GM as a consumer.
As a consumer I want All Auto Makers to be forced into squeezing as much efficiency out of the vehicles we purchase no matter the Propulsion System. Sorry GM, make better engines.
I hate saying it but yet once again GM is trying to play both sides of the Field. Start leading for once.
I think new leadership might be warranted at GM.
if you think tesla already has the secret sauce for making a profitable EV, they shouldn’t be lobbying hard for this. they’ll have the entire market to themselves if that is true since everyone else is losing money. right?
and all of this R&D money tesla spent … isn’t that work protected by patents? or did that money go into tents and manufacturing automation systems that failed?
@Steve
I am sorry but why do you think Tesla doesn’t make money from their vehicles?
As far as them lobbying for the Rebates they want a fair Playing field as does GM and Nissan which started earlier than everyone else.
It isn’t fair nor is it right that those Three Companies started earlier than the rest of the Auto Makers and they will now be in a disadvantage. So they will Pay a Penalty for adopting Tech first and spending a lot on R&D and now the other Auto Makers will just Cherry Pick from their work while being allowed to offer their customers Rebates from the Government.
GM, Tesla, and Nissan worked hard to get the price per Kilowatt hour down to about $150-$160 depending on which report is accurate.
I will still stick to what I said years ago…Our Government was never serious about this Tech it was just part of a Greener initiative to look good but they never wanted this Tech to take off. They get Huge Donations by Big Oil so they do not care about this issue at all. If they truly wanted to change the Propulsion system because they felt it would benefit the Environment or Business Capital for Companies they wouldn’t place a Vehicle Sold number on the Program but a certain amount of years which would have made every Auto Maker Start at the same time.
Now GM is scrambling because they need EV’s for Europe and especially China but will face stiffer competition here in the States. Just think for a moment. GM is done with their Rebates. Ford only made and sold out 50,000 first year run Mustang Mach-E’s. But that is a World Wide Amount. I do not know the number for the States. So lets say it is 25K that were sold here in the States, how many more sales does Ford have in Reserve for their Upcoming F-150 EV Pickup Truck? And FCA basically has 200K remaining.
This is why GM is scrambling to keep the rebates going and why the Government placing the Rebates on a number of units Sold made zero sense.
I do not think GM nor Ford and FCA ever had a single thought that Tesla would be coming out with an EV Pickup Truck in which it would force them to move to EV’s much quicker than they wanted too. It really is that simple. GM knows they’re in Trouble because they MUST offer an EV Pickup Truck like Ford is but unlike Ford they cannot offer their Customers the Rebates from the Government. That is a huge Disadvantage.
GM will be losing so much money on their upcoming EV Pickup Truck because they need to sell it at the same price as Ford and Ram while the latter two Companies can offer their Customers Full Government Rebates all while getting better Battery Tech.
Much like anybody, they want free crap. So yeah Tesla and others want more and bigger credits, Tesla alone gets roughly 700 million per quarter just from the US Govt. Elon Musk’s whole empire is built on 5 billion in government money. So naturally when your piggy bank is threatened, they’re gonna do all they can.
those were the rules set out at the beginning.
don’t change them in the middle of the game if you are truly concerned with a level playing field.
No clue from what Fud sources you are getting your facts from but whatever. Forget Tesla for a minute.
Lets simply speak about the Original Big Three.
How do you think they make their money exactly? Big Oil gets insane amounts of Government subsidies to keep Oil Prices down. Our Government gives out more of our Tax money to Big Oil than our entire Pentagon Budget per year. Just let that sink in for a minute. That helps The Big Three immensely as they make most of their Profits from Gas Guzzling Trucks and SUV’s. And they also get the Benefits from The Chicken Tax. You can’t have it both ways. Sorry
I personally DO NOT care what Propulsion system GM uses I just want them to be the Best at it. But the future is EV’s and so I hope GM will catch up to Tesla in Technology.
Just like I pull for the other American Car companies to do well but not better than GM, I too root for Tesla. Always have always will. They are more American than FCA is depending how you look at things. Especially now that PSA “Merged” with them but Tavares will be running everything.
i thought we were talking about EV subsidies.
these subsidies were intended to help companies get started. tesla is a $60BN company.
i keep hearing they have products that they can’t keep on the shelves, demand is exploding, and profitable. i keep hearing they are the next amazon/apple. their hardware/software is a decade ahead of the competition.
so why are they begging for more corporate welfare? or would you rather talk about petro politics in america over the last century?
It’s not corporate welfare. It’s a chance for buyers to take money out of their own taxes instead of taking advantage of the benefits of whopping oil industry subsidies.
Yes, it’s becoming profitable for Tesla, which still accumulated billions in debt to get there, but why should the US give a benefit to car buyers to stay away from GM and Tesla, and buy a foreign EV instead?
This isn’t money that goes to the car companies. It’s a system that currently tells people that whether or not they get a tax credit has to do with which car their neighbors got, and if they like a car that people like the best, the government is giving them an incentive to buy one that they won’t like as much. Whether or not you get a credit shouldn’t depend on whether I got a Tesla first.
The purpose of the credits was supposed to be to encourage independence from foreign oil, and to spur the growth of clean energy and to help the environment. Adding “buy American” to the list doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Set a maximum number of cars for the entire industry rather than pitting one manufacturer against another seems more rational.
I can only argue in facts. Tesla for the Love of God is NOT just a Car Company. They get Grants for Solar and Energy Storage as well. I honestly have no idea how many more times someone needs to explain this.
GM on the other hand is a Car company and the Desperately need the Oil Subsidies our Government hands out to Big Oil to continue and sell Gas Guzzlers all while riding the so called Chicken Tax as well.
GM needs the Rebates a lot more than Tesla. Please let me know how many EV’s GM or any other Legacy Auto Maker is selling in Europe and China compared to Tesla? I mean what are we even arguing right now man.
And just so you know, every single Auto Maker is asking for the Rebates to continue NOT just GM and Tesla. But somehow the article Shockingly only states Tesla besides GM. It is amazing how far the Media will go (which gets Big Oil Sponsorships) to write Fud pieces about an American Company. I know the Big Media and Big Oil is Super Hurt about what Tesla has done for the entire Industry but oh well. A new Era is coming. Deal with it.
The Legacy Auto Makers have realized that all their Factories are not beneficial to them in building EV’s. They need a lot more money for the Transition. Germany is giving their Auto Makers Billions so why is it a Big Deal that GM and or Tesla is asking for assistance as well?
Would you rather GM, Ford, FCA, and Tesla lose to European or Chinese Car Companies because our entire Government (Both Sides) are paid off and controlled by Big Oil?
I can only speak for myself…I want GM and every American Car Company to exist another 100 years and if our Government has to step up like other Governments have, so be it. I personally DO NOT want to lose American jobs simply for Big Oil to keep printing money from us the people and from our Tax money that out Government hands out every year.
It is really that simple for me.
Buying some people vehicles with other people’s money.
I don’t mind subsidies to oil companies, or any other energy companies. Affordable, plentiful energy is one of the keys to a prosperous, productive, healthy society.
No, people buy it with their own money. They get to spend some of it on a car instead of sending it to Washington, but nobody gets money from Washington for this. If you don’t owe more in taxes than the amount of the credit, then nobody sends you money.
The rebates are not “Buying some people vehicles with other people’s money”!
It is a reduction of the federal taxes paid by the buyer of an electric vehicle. If you paid no federal tax, then you get no rebate. If you paid $5,000 in taxes and you were eligible for a $7,500 rebate, you only get $5,000.
And I don’t even think the rebate program should have been for a set number of years. It should have been set to a specific number of vehicles. I think it should have been 10 million vehicles and the program ends. That would have forced the manufacturers to produce as many electric vehicles as they could as soon as they could! If GM and Tesla sold 4 million each, they are the winners. If Ford and FCA decided to wait and only got 100,000, then shame on them….
JMHO
Yes, except it’s not a rebate and you don’t “get” the money. If you owe only $5000 in taxes in your example, you don’t pay anything, but you don’t get anything either. The only money that you might get would be a refund for an overpayment, but that’s your money that you paid in taxes that’s being returned to you, not money from the government. The money that people get back in your example is money that they paid but didn’t owe in the first place.
It’s not about GM or Tesla, but about the fundamental purpose of the program. It’s supposed to be to spur EV growth, not to benefit one company over another. With the current program, the losers are the US companies, because it now gives EV buyers an incentive to buy a foreign EV.
It’s time to stop making this partisan. When Bush championed the program to begin with, along with Republicans, it got strong bipartisan support. It wasn’t about Tesla, which hadn’t made a single car at the time.
We can debate whether or not you like programs that subsidize the poor, but this one gives a fixed amount across the board. It doesn’t subsidize the rich, whose tax credits will be a much smaller percentage than for someone who buys an entry level EV. What will happen to the rich is that they will pay far more in sales tax to their own state than they’d get back in a credit out of their own tax money.
If they want to stop credits for everyone, and stop oil industry subsidies, I’d be fine with that, since it would spur EV growth far better. But if we want to have a level playing field, the tax credits don’t go far enough.