California Legislature Moves to Replace Federal Electric Vehicle Subsidies

Thanks to the federal government, purchasers of electric vehicles are given a $7,500 tax credit. Fortunately, this free handout does not last forever: the tax credit is phased out for companies that have over 200,000 electric cars on the road. Interestingly, Tesla will probably surpass that number in 2018.

When a federal subsidy expires what do you do? Well, if you are the state of California, you replace it with a new state subsidy. A bill introduced in the California legislature, AB-1184, does just that. The proposal is a $3 billion incentive program that will replace the federal tax credit once producers reach the 200,000 car threshold. The bill was proposed by Assemblyman Phil Ting who sees the bill as an “aggressive boost” to make electric cars readily available to everyone. The $3 billion dollars is to come from “tax-payer neutral” sources.