"Automakers Blitz Congress to Fix an EV Tax Credit They Can’t Use"

"Automakers including Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. are making a last-ditch lobbying push to change Democrats’ proposed new spending bill over concern that they stand to lose out from strict new limits on electric-vehicle credits.

An extension of the popular $7,500 tax credit available to EV buyers was included in the surprise breakthrough deal reached by Senator Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last week. Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has long been a skeptic of the credit, dismissing it as “ludicrous” and arguing that it subsidizes production of Chinese-made batteries.

The extension was a huge win for companies such as General Motors Co. and Tesla Inc. that had reached a 200,000-EV-sales threshold at which the perk begins to phase out. But to win Manchin’s support, the credits also included tough new limits on how much the EVs can cost, how much income their buyers can earn, and where the batteries and vehicles are made. With the Senate seeking to pass the hard-fought compromise bill in coming days, automakers are running out of time to get the tax-credit rules tweaked."

Ari Natter and Keith Naughton report for Bloomberg News August 2, 2022.

Source: Bloomberg, 08/03/2022