The latest reconciliation bill could mean big bucks for electric semi trucks.There’s plenty of good news for manufacturers of electric semi trucks in the latest version of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 – up to forty thousand dollars’ worth in some cases!
The Inflation Reduction Act (it’s amazing what you can get passed if you change the name) is a reconciliation bill that’s been tentatively agreed upon by Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and, more crucially, the Democrats’ rotating villain Joe Manchin. The bill includes language that provides a tax credits for electric car buyers, as well as other programs that aim to help both reduce the impact on America’s rapid inflation and reduce America’s carbon emissions.
That’s exactly what companies like Tesla, GM, and Toyota — who recently exceeded their 200,000 EV ceiling — have asked for, but while those extended tax credits for consumers make headlines, the makers of class 8, heavy duty electric semi trucks will be getting a huge boost in the form of a tax credit that would cover fully 30% of the cost of a new, zero-emissions work truck.
That proposed credit would be capped at $40,000, but that’s still a big part of the Tesla Semi’s projected $150,000 price tag, whenever that arrives. The good news for truck makers who are already in production (companies like Volvo, Mack, and Nikola, to name just a few — and that doesn’t even include school buses!), is that their customers will also be able to get that tax credit. Further, it seems like that’s in addition to state-sponsored incentives like the $185,000 New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program we covered a few weeks ago, but either way – it shows the drayage and trucking industries are moving in the right direction.
I think it’s great news — assuming, of course, that the bill passes. Here’s hoping.
In the meantime, what do you guys think? Is the inclusion of Class 8 trucks and buses a step too far, or is it a step not too far enough to make the environmentalists happy? Scroll on down to the comments and let us know.
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