[HN Gopher] VW, Rivian, Nissan, BMW lose access to U.S. EV tax c...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       VW, Rivian, Nissan, BMW lose access to U.S. EV tax credits
        
       Author : rexreed
       Score  : 69 points
       Date   : 2023-04-17 16:52 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (finance.yahoo.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (finance.yahoo.com)
        
       | hinata08 wrote:
       | I don't get why we need to work with the USA anyway.
       | 
       | There is already business to do with the middle east and south
       | east Asia.
       | 
       | USA doesn't want European companies anyway. They have the FCPA
       | that only applies to European companies, unique bumper
       | regulations for cars (but no amber turn indicator and unlimited
       | consumption), the buy American act.
       | 
       | We should stop wasting time selling stuff to them, as they don't
       | want. And we should stop relying on American companies like
       | Microsoft or Apple, ad they don't like business.
       | 
       | Oh, and cut them off from international banking. They want to
       | clamp down on tax haven. And well, states like Delaware are the
       | world's best tax haven. If the laws were consistent, we should
       | cut them off.
        
         | steveBK123 wrote:
         | How does FCPA only apply to European companies? (it doesn't)
        
         | eganist wrote:
         | > Oh, and cut them off from international banking.
         | 
         | How do you propose?
        
           | hinata08 wrote:
           | The OECD had a list of List of Unco-operative Tax Havens,
           | that used to contain several European nations.
           | 
           | List Deleware on this
        
       | standardUser wrote:
       | I hate to see the Nissan Leaf lose an incentive because I still
       | think it's the most accessible name brand EV on the market. I
       | imagine the Chinese part of the supply chain is what keeps Leaf's
       | so cheap. And though I do mostly support efforts to grow the EV
       | industry in the US, I care a lot more about ending the sale of
       | new IC cars.
        
         | local_crmdgeon wrote:
         | What does the Leaf have that the Bolt doesn't? The Bolt uses a
         | standard charge port, is larger, has superior range, and has
         | active battery thermal mgmt.
        
           | standardUser wrote:
           | I was going to say price, but apparently that is no longer
           | the case after some serious price cuts to the Bolt!
           | 
           | Long live the Bolt.
        
           | mikestew wrote:
           | _What does the Leaf have that the Bolt doesn 't?_
           | 
           | CarPlay: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35573345
           | 
           | It's why we bought a Hyundai instead of waiting for an EV
           | Chevy Blazer.
        
             | BoorishBears wrote:
             | The Bolt has CarPlay, the Chevy Blazer isn't even out yet.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | local_crmdgeon wrote:
             | The Bolt has wireless CarPlay and Qi charging
        
               | lotsofpulp wrote:
               | I still would not buy it just to avoid giving money to GM
               | due to their stance on Carplay/Android Auto.
        
           | hedora wrote:
           | It's not a GM product.
        
         | tomcar288 wrote:
         | Yup. Nissan Leaf, chevy bolt and upcoming equinox EV are my
         | preferred purchases. I will never buy another IC car again.
        
       | hunglee2 wrote:
       | Collateral damage of hostile de-globalisation. European, South
       | Korean and Japanese EV manufacturers face a de facto lock out of
       | US market. Outcompeted already in China, there may not be many
       | other obvious markets to go
        
         | marianatom wrote:
         | "The rules are aimed at weaning the United States off
         | dependence on China for EV battery supply chains and are part
         | of President Joe Biden's effort to make 50% of U.S. new vehicle
         | sales by 2030 EVs or PHEVs."
         | 
         | Japanese and European car manufacturers can just source
         | batteries from somewhere else other than China, then problem
         | solved. Car/electronics manufacturers are already moving out of
         | China at a rapid pace this year anyways. According to the
         | office for national statistics in China, for jan/feb of 2023 ht
         | tp://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202303/27/t20230327_38464161...,
         | electronics manufacturing profits is down 71% and car
         | manufacturing profits is down 41.7%, due to slacking demand.
         | Smart to move sourcing early anyways, it looks like China is
         | starting to be confirmed to help Russia militarily
         | https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-it-is-find...
         | 
         | Actually, it would appear that Chinese EV manufacturers have
         | not much place to go. EV market in China peaked at 2021. With
         | regards to Europe, BYD only sold tens(!!) of cars in Germany in
         | 2023, compared to thousands of Tesla cars sold.
        
           | alistairSH wrote:
           | _Japanese and European car manufacturers can just source
           | batteries from somewhere else other than China, then problem
           | solved._
           | 
           | I believe the regulations explicitly call for a % of battery
           | components to be US/NA-sourced. So, it's not just "ditch
           | China" but also "buy American."
        
             | marianatom wrote:
             | You're making money off Americans. Giving some investments
             | to create jobs for Americans make sense. Henry Ford
             | famously overpaid his workers to create demand for his cars
             | https://www.npr.org/2014/01/27/267145552/the-middle-class-
             | to...
        
               | mikestew wrote:
               | The link you supplied belies the myth that Ford paid his
               | workers such that they could buy his cars. Ford paid his
               | workers what he did so that he could get more reliable,
               | productive workers.
        
           | KennyBlanken wrote:
           | There's no EV battery supply chain in the US, just like
           | there's no real solar supply chain.
           | 
           | You can't just snap your fingers and say "OK, subsidies only
           | for US made batteries!" when there is little industry and
           | ramping it up would take many years.
           | 
           | The policy is just a way of "soft" killing the subsidies.
        
         | VWWHFSfQ wrote:
         | The reality is that if USA can't produce a majority of EV
         | batteries itself then there will never be any serious reduction
         | of investment in gasoline engines since it will pretty much be
         | required for national security reasons.
         | 
         | Same reasons it's presently in the process of basically
         | relocating TSMC to Arizona.
        
           | KennyBlanken wrote:
           | > Same reasons it's presently in the process of basically
           | relocating TSMC to Arizona.
           | 
           | Right as the global semiconductor market implodes because
           | demand has shrunk while production has recovered.
           | 
           | There is a snowball's chance in hell that the US
           | semiconductor factories will be able to turn a profit; they
           | will likely shut down quickly, if they ever open. They'll be
           | partially built, just enough to claim the grants and tax
           | breaks...and then rot.
           | 
           | It's just yet another policy that throws tanker-trucks full
           | of cash at the already unfathomably wealthy with little
           | accountability and zero expectation of payback (either real
           | or in terms of ancillary benefits to society) while the
           | poorest Americans have to file reams of paperwork just to be
           | able to get basic assistance for things like eating and
           | healthcare.
        
             | Vrondi wrote:
             | They aren't moving to Arizona to produce profit. They are
             | moving to Arizona to keep the US military from being
             | crippled if China takes over Taiwan.
        
             | VWWHFSfQ wrote:
             | nah this is different because USA has no interest in
             | fighting China over Taiwan. But it also can't have the
             | microchip supply chain cut off. Hence, relocating Taiwan's
             | most valuable assets to Arizona before the war starts.
        
         | vkou wrote:
         | That's always been the gameplan for free trade. Open markets
         | where your country has a competitive advantage, subsidies and
         | tariffs and closed markets when it doesn't.
        
           | mschuster91 wrote:
           | We gave China free access to our markets for _decades_.
           | China, in turn, has _never_ given any foreign entity free
           | access to their market, not without paying bribes at least.
           | You always have to have majority Chinese ownership in your
           | joint company.
           | 
           | It's not surprising that the US and EU are slowly waking up
           | to just how bad of a clusterfuck they maneuvered themselves
           | into and starting to cut out toxic dependencies.
        
             | vkou wrote:
             | > We gave China free access to our markets for decades.
             | 
             | I comment about the nature of 'free markets' in the general
             | (but more specifically in the context of 'peer'-nation
             | trade between the context of US-EU), and someone inevitably
             | jumps in with an off-topic gripe about China.
             | 
             | China this, China that, it's like Beelzebub. Say the word
             | 'trade' three times, and the thread's in for a derailment.
        
               | mschuster91 wrote:
               | > I comment about the nature of 'free markets' in the
               | general (and especially in the context of US-EU), and
               | someone inevitably jumps in with an off-topic gripe about
               | China.
               | 
               | We are talking about the US sanctioning Chinese battery
               | supply chains specifically, to quote TFA:
               | 
               | > The rules are aimed at weaning the United States off
               | dependence on China for EV battery supply chains and are
               | part of President Joe Biden's effort to make 50% of U.S.
               | new vehicle sales by 2030 EVs or PHEVs.
        
               | vkou wrote:
               | > The law, enacted in August, required vehicles to be
               | assembled in North America to qualify for any tax
               | credits, _eliminating nearly 70% of eligible models at
               | the time_. On Jan. 1, new price caps and limits on buyers
               | income took effect.
               | 
               | > The IRA requires that _50% of the value of battery
               | components be produced or assembled in North America to
               | qualify for $3,750_ , and that 40% of the value of
               | critical minerals be sourced from the United States or a
               | free trade partner for a $3,750 credit.
               | 
               | The battery sourcing requirement means that 'China' is
               | only relevant to a small portion of this question, but
               | makes for a great distraction.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | mschuster91 wrote:
               | Indeed. I didn't notice this on the first read of the
               | article because I didn't notice the "Show more" button -
               | seriously, WTF is this crap news sites tend to pull? I
               | get it on content container / teaser pages, but an
               | article page?!
               | 
               | In any case: nothing stops foreign car makers from coming
               | back to Detroit or whatever and producing cars there. BMW
               | at least has a decent presence in Spartanburg, not sure
               | about the others - but Tesla has shown that this model
               | can work, their first plant in Fremont was a retooled
               | GM/Toyota plant.
        
         | JumpCrisscross wrote:
         | > _European, South Korean and Japanese EV manufacturers face a
         | de facto lock out of US market_
         | 
         | The White House is bending over backwards to include allied
         | supply chains [1].
         | 
         | [1] https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-
         | trade/2023/04/03...
        
       | pornel wrote:
       | Do these incentives actually make any difference to
       | manufacturers? AFAIK they're all selling the cars as fast as they
       | can make them.
        
       | mikestew wrote:
       | Bought a new Hyundai Ioniq 5 on Friday. No EV tax credit for that
       | one, but...fleet purchases still qualify regardless of make, and
       | your company can buy as many as they like (that's my
       | understanding, and probably not 100% correct). The outcome is
       | that Hyundai buys the car, takes the EV tax credit off the price,
       | then turns around and leases it to us. So despite the Ioniq 5 not
       | qualifying for the credit, we got the credit in a more roundabout
       | way (or arguably _less_ roundabout, as I don 't have to deal with
       | it at tax time).
       | 
       | In summary, lease the Hyundai and get $7500 taken off the price,
       | then buy out the lease after the first payment[0]. I'm not sure
       | when this deal ends, maybe May? (And if you're buying a Hyundai,
       | Hyundai calls it a "lease rebate", but they're really just giving
       | you the tax credit that Hyundai receives.)
       | 
       | Point I'm driving at is maybe there's yet another hooping-jumping
       | method to squeeze out a tax credit?
       | 
       | EDIT: what I'm referring to is lightly referenced at the end of
       | TFA: _" Treasury in December said EVs ineligible for the $7,500
       | consumer tax credit could qualify for a commercial leasing $7,500
       | credit."_
       | 
       | [0] We were going to pay cash anyway, but it is my understanding
       | that you can still get a bank loan to buy out the lease. See your
       | dealer, bank, and Reddit for details.
        
         | greeneggs wrote:
         | I don't understand why everyone doesn't do this. I'd buy a
         | Tesla if I could get a $7500 credit (I'm income limited).
        
           | HDThoreaun wrote:
           | you can
        
             | mixmastamyk wrote:
             | T recently dropped their prices as well.
        
         | mabbo wrote:
         | A bit off topic, but how are you liking the Ioniq 5?
         | 
         | I'm on a "2 year waiting list" with my local dealer for an
         | Ioniq 5. It has 200 people on the list, and he got 8 years in
         | the last year. Still a "2 year waiting list" though, even if
         | you've been on it a year already.
         | 
         | It's apparently quite a popular car.
        
           | mikestew wrote:
           | My sympathies to our brothers and sisters in Canuckistan on
           | their wait times. I won't tell you how many were on the lot
           | of the dealer we purchased from. They even had Ioniq 6s just
           | off the truck.
           | 
           | Anyway, we've had it since Friday, and I would highly
           | recommend the car. Now, we came off a 12 year old Leaf, so
           | perhaps we're easily impressed. But for us it hit the
           | price/feature crossover point that we were willing to pay.
           | Looked at Audi, BMW, MB, but those seemed to be priced _just_
           | above what we were willing to pay for the features we wanted.
           | Tesla was off the table for reasons (and I find the seats
           | uncomfy). VW:  "too plasticy", sez the spouse and too big sez
           | me. Was going to wait on 2024 Chevy (probably Blazer), but no
           | CarPlay. Didn't want another Leaf, and the new Nissan EV
           | crossover is aesthetically unappealing (and frankly, wasn't
           | all that impressed with Nissan). And so it was Hyundai's sale
           | to lose.
           | 
           | I'll start with the bad, especially for the PNW: did you
           | seriously think this thing didn't need a rear wiper, Hyundai?
           | Well, it desperately does. And we have to back into the
           | garage to charge because the port is on passenger rear,
           | instead of up front and center like the Leaf. Given our
           | garage and public charger layout, a centrally-located front
           | charging port seems to make more sense. If I get ambitious,
           | maybe I'll move the charger some weekend.
           | 
           | Other than that, can't say enough good things about it (top-
           | trim Limited w/AWD). Seats are super comfy, plenty of
           | headroom for a 6'/183cm person. Build quality seems solid.
           | I've owned sports cars over the years, and currently ride a
           | powerful motorcycle, so "fun to drive" is a high bar for me,
           | and the Ioniq does NOT go over that bar. It's a heavy
           | grocery-getter. That said, for a heavy grocery-getter, it's
           | kind of impressive. Of course it has the tons of torque from
           | the electric motors, and 330bhp to match, so it most
           | certainly gets out of its own way in a hurry. I tried to
           | upset the tires on a damp road uphill on some corners, and
           | the AWD keeps things planted. It's still new, though, and I
           | wasn't giving it 100% effort to try and land in the ditch.
           | :-) So maybe not "fun to drive", but certainly "puts a smile
           | on your face".
           | 
           | All kinds of niceties that I won't go into, but it feels like
           | Hyundai tried really hard to put some "luxury" in their
           | otherwise kinda cheap cars. It's a little plasticy in spots,
           | but doesn't feel as cheap as some other brands (see: VW
           | above). I can see us easily being happy with it for at least
           | the 12 years that we put on the Leaf.
           | 
           | In summary, we've kept an eye out for a Leaf replacement for
           | the last couple of years, and I think Hyundai has a hit on
           | their hands.
        
           | WorldMaker wrote:
           | A 2-year waiting list may also indicate a bad local dealer
           | that isn't even trying to sell the car as much as or more
           | than it indicates a popular car. Only getting 8 cars in the
           | last year sounds _maybe_ like a choice to have as low of
           | stock as possible in the dealership as much as it sounds like
           | a supply issue. You may want to consider checking neighboring
           | dealerships if the waiting list is not shrinking on a car
           | that has been out in mass production for as long as the Ioniq
           | 5 has been.
        
             | mikestew wrote:
             | My assumption is the OP is in Canada, where various online
             | forums seem to indicate that this is the way it is for the
             | whole country. But, yeah, if OP is in the U. S., look
             | elsewhere. There are dealers in Seattle with rows of them.
        
           | readthenotes1 wrote:
           | My 92-year-old granddad is a car enthusiast and he is
           | waffling about going in on the waiting list because he really
           | likes the car but doesn't know if he will live long enough to
           | accept delivery.
           | 
           | After reading this it may sound like I am either trolling or
           | astroturfing but I guess like all other turfers I tell you I
           | am 100% legit. It was really funny after he made me watch
           | about 30 minutes of YouTube reviews on the car for him to say
           | the punchline...
        
       | gaoshan wrote:
       | The price of EVs is the only thing keeping me from replacing my
       | 13 year old car. Everything I would consider buying is just
       | slightly too high for my budget and needs.
        
         | rnk wrote:
         | gm bolt?
        
           | ActorNightly wrote:
           | Its still a 27k car. You get more with a gas car at that
           | price range.
           | 
           | EVs are purely novelty item at this point. An EV vehicle is
           | fundamentally simpler than a gas car in terms of parts
           | required, and should be cheaper to make and way cheaper to
           | buy new.
           | 
           | Also you would see way more functional tech in regards to EV,
           | like for example, cheaper battery packs that don't offer as
           | much range and are power limited, but keep the price low. Or
           | trunk mounted gas generators with fuel tanks for longer
           | trips.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | hedora wrote:
             | The total cost of ownership is much lower for EVs than gas
             | cars though.
             | 
             | I just spent over $100 filling up the gas tank of our
             | backup car. We used to fill it about once a week. That's
             | $5200 a year in gasoline at current prices. So, if the EV
             | lasts 6 years (ignoring the discounted value of money over
             | time, and the ever increasing cost of gasoline), it costs
             | negative $4200 vs. whatever the retail price of the ICE car
             | is.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | robertlagrant wrote:
               | That's only if you fill up once a week. Anyone who does
               | some remote working or any of a number of other
               | mitigations is going to find an EV very expensive.
               | 
               | Which is annoying, because I want one.
        
               | WorldMaker wrote:
               | If you are filling up less than once a week/once every
               | two weeks you are risking stale gas and extra wear and
               | tear on an internal combustion engine when you do use it,
               | generally increasing the risk of expensive maintenance
               | and still much higher TCO.
               | 
               | For a remote worker with a vehicle that moves irregularly
               | an EV is still cheaper and easier and more convenient. A
               | battery charge doesn't "go stale" and you aren't going to
               | get engine rattles and knocking or accidentally melted
               | fuel lines from "old electrons".
        
               | nicenewtemp84 wrote:
               | What you're talking about here with stale gas is true...
               | At maybe the 6 month mark. Not a week.
        
               | duffyjp wrote:
               | We used to own a plug-in hybrid and it would keep track
               | of when you filled up and occasionally force you to
               | consume the gas in the tank. I want to say it was if you
               | hadn't filled up in 6~9 months? Something like that.
               | 
               | We always buy ethanol free gas too, which lasts for
               | years. I don't even empty our lawn mower over winter, it
               | doesn't matter with real gas and a sealed tank.
        
               | Vrondi wrote:
               | The gasoline would realistically need to be sitting
               | unused in that tank for months to have a chance of "being
               | stale". I've started vehicles that have sat unused for 6
               | months+ before with no trouble from the gas (the battery
               | is more likely to die if unused for a long time).
        
               | mikestew wrote:
               | I'm a big EV fan who just dropped $60K on our second EV
               | (my comment is probably still at the top of this page). I
               | also used to be a professional auto mechanic, and I can
               | tell you from both professional experience and personal
               | (because we still have a rarely-driven ICE) that there is
               | little basis in truth to what you posted.
               | 
               |  _If you are filling up less than once a week /once every
               | two weeks you are risking stale gas and extra wear and
               | tear on an internal combustion engine when you do use
               | it..._
               | 
               | No, the gas will have to sit much longer than that. We
               | drove our previous EV for twelve years, while filling up
               | the ICE Scion about once a month (if that). That Scion is
               | still running just fine twelve years later. Don't even
               | ask how long the gas sits in the VW camper van. I'd bet
               | real money I go out, turn the key, and it'll fire up just
               | fine.
               | 
               | I'm all for encouraging folks to get an EV, but
               | inaccurate information only hurts the cause.
        
               | Vrondi wrote:
               | Refreshing to hear an nice, truthful voice of sanity in a
               | discussion about EVs. I know people are all super hyped
               | about feeling like they are helping the environment, but
               | the sheer amount of classist untruths spouted about EVs
               | vs. ICEs online is noxious. I mean, there are enough real
               | pros to appeal to those that want to be early adopters
               | without all the self-righteousness out there.
               | 
               | Anyway, thank you for your refreshingly grounded-in-
               | reality comment.
        
               | qball wrote:
               | >A battery charge doesn't "go stale"
               | 
               | Yes it does- cells slowly self-discharge when not in use
               | and have their range affected by temperature swings to
               | the degree that, for certain cars (mainly the Leaf), the
               | weather will dictate if you're going to make it to work
               | and back or not.
               | 
               | >an EV is still cheaper and easier and more convenient
               | 
               | I can't buy an EV for $10,000 that has more than 60 miles
               | of maximum range and recharges in less than 10 minutes,
               | so every one of those points is wrong. Oh yeah, and I
               | don't have to spend an hour per week waiting for it to
               | charge it because it holds what is, at current burn
               | rates, a month's worth of fuel (I can't take advantage of
               | home charging unless I want to move and thus burn several
               | hundred more a month on rent- and several hundred dollars
               | can buy a lot of gas).
               | 
               | The electricity itself might be cheap but everything else
               | isn't.
               | 
               | >generally increasing the risk of expensive maintenance
               | 
               | Cars that run on gas are extremely reliable even past
               | 100,000 miles, and have been for the past 20 years now
               | (even the American-made ones). I give worse odds to the
               | electric power packs that by their nature are
               | cumulatively damaged when refueled; exhibit A being the
               | Leaf, of course.
        
               | lotsofpulp wrote:
               | It depends how much you drive the car, plus some ICE cars
               | have the benefit of being tried and true workhorses that
               | you assume will have a near 100% probability of meeting
               | or exceeding your expectations, whereas an EV's total
               | cost is more volatile due to lack of data.
        
               | throwway120385 wrote:
               | You can reasonably expect a car with simpler
               | electrically-driven systems that are digitally controlled
               | to be more reliable and to have more predictable failure
               | modes than something driven by a long fluid-filled
               | drivetrain that is powered by carefully-metered
               | controlled explosions.
        
             | lowbloodsugar wrote:
             | A 27k car that dealers are adding, coincidentally, a $7000
             | markup to, so the sticker price is $34,000. So not only do
             | they take the tax credit, they also increase the sales tax
             | you have to pay. You'd be insane to buy one. Get a Kia Rio
             | and the TCO will still be less than the Bolt, and you'll
             | never be stuck with an empty battery and a broken charger.
        
               | rnk wrote:
               | Dealers are doing that - yes. But it's not hard to find
               | dealers in my big city that aren't doing it. Just search
               | around on the internet and you can also find car dealers
               | that don't add these charges.
        
             | mschuster91 wrote:
             | > EVs are purely novelty item at this point. An EV vehicle
             | is fundamentally simpler than a gas car in terms of parts
             | required, and should be cheaper to make and way cheaper to
             | buy new.
             | 
             | Which means they have less stuff to break and thus less
             | operating expense, yes. But the main cost block for an EV
             | is the battery pack and power electronics - the ICE
             | industry has had like a century of time to optimize every
             | nook and cranny out of the production line, whereas mass
             | manufactured EVs are only a decade or so old. (Yes there
             | have been historic EVs too, but they differ so completely
             | from today's EVs that there is no way one can speak of
             | continuous experience building)
             | 
             | The thing is, the operating expenses are way lower, for a
             | small increase in base cost. No need to replace oil every
             | so often, if you're running a diesel no AdBlue and no
             | regular periods of increased fuel consumption to clean the
             | particulate filter, no need to replace a clutch, timing
             | belts or transmission, even the brake pads last longer
             | because regenerative braking doesn't create any wear. For
             | fuel, if you're somewhere in the suburbs, place some solar
             | panels on your roof and enjoy virtually free, clean energy
             | while the rest of your neighbors fuel human rights
             | atrocities in OPEC countries.
             | 
             | And the comfort of driving one is waaaay beyond ICE cars.
             | Even your base Tesla Model 3 completely floors most
             | affordable ICE cars at a red light drag race, they're so
             | silent, no vibrations but those from the road, better
             | handling because of the extremely low center of gravity, no
             | headache inducing smell from cold starts in the winter...
        
               | GenerWork wrote:
               | >For fuel, if you're somewhere in the suburbs, place some
               | solar panels on your roof and enjoy virtually free, clean
               | energy
               | 
               | How many people can afford a mortgage, a brand new car
               | (even with the tax credits), AND solar panels all at the
               | same time?
        
               | crazygringo wrote:
               | I mean, you can get literally all of those with
               | financing. And you're not paying money on gas at all,
               | which is the whole point.
               | 
               | Sure there are down payments you have to plan for, but
               | I'm not really sure what your point is. Yes, if you can't
               | afford a new car you can't afford a new car.
               | 
               | But the whole point of financing things is to come out
               | ahead in the long run.
        
             | rnk wrote:
             | You can get a $7500 tax credit on a bolt and a few other
             | cars. This is also true with the just updated EPA rules.
             | This also means materials and manufacturing especially
             | batteries were primarily from the US, Mexico or Canada. So
             | it's effectively 20k for many people.
             | 
             | EVs are expensive primarily because of the battery at this
             | point. And the secondary reason is the tremendous demand
             | combined with reduced availability of cars leads to dealers
             | adding their dealer markup. There have already been EVs
             | that sold for a lower price with software locked batteries
             | that you could upgrade later. Almost 10 years ago Tesla
             | offered that. There were cars with gas extenders like you
             | described almost 10 years ago, the BMW i3 is one.
        
       | concerned_ wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
       | initramfs wrote:
       | The U.S should loan Elio Motors to produce their electric car and
       | offer a $7500 tax credit. Then the cost of it would be $7500
       | after rebates. If the company can't deliver, The U.S could seize
       | the company and sell the car themselves. They already sell a
       | public-health option for insurance. Then they could copy the
       | solar panels from Aptera and add those to the Elio's roof.
        
         | VWWHFSfQ wrote:
         | USA isn't really known for seizing companies and nationalizing
         | them. It would just force a sale to another USA company.
        
           | initramfs wrote:
           | Except Elio has struggled for 15 years to release a car. It
           | needs a receivership, not one that permanently owns it,
           | unless they are just deliberately playing with investors.
        
         | throwawaymaths wrote:
         | I doubt the US wants to be in the business of selling cars.
         | Definitely not its strong suit
        
           | initramfs wrote:
           | It would serve the public interest, as there aren't many
           | affordable cars under $20,000. Chevy got out of the Spark
           | production last year. If the economy can't produce enough
           | jobs to afford rent, how do people expect to get to work? The
           | Cash for Clunkers program at least got dangerously old cars
           | off the road.
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System
        
         | RegularOpossum wrote:
         | Elio can't still be around can it?
        
           | initramfs wrote:
           | It lives: https://www.eliomotors.com/
        
             | RegularOpossum wrote:
             | So there is still hope to see their weird tandem Ford Focus
             | someday!
        
             | mustacheemperor wrote:
             | I remember my dad put a preorder deposit in for this when I
             | was in high school, with his idea being it would be the
             | perfect vehicle for me to commute around a college campus
             | several years later. I am now approaching 30 and from what
             | I recall of Elio's website when I looked at it then, it
             | looks like they've made a lot of progress in offering the
             | vehicle in additional colors.
        
       | gumballindie wrote:
       | If anything, not buying a BMW or VW saves you from plenty of
       | headaches. These days buying asian means you get higher quality,
       | but perhaps less bling, and more value (unless replacing cars as
       | often as phones is your thing). More standard options tho and a
       | slightly better pricing.
        
       | abeppu wrote:
       | I wonder what the income distribution on buyers looks like for
       | these different companies, and what proportion of their buyers
       | would be unable to use the tax credit regardless? E.g. if
       | proportion p of your buyers can't use the tax credit and relying
       | on foreign battery production reduces the sticker price at least
       | (1-p) * $7500, you would be net saving your purchasers money if
       | you keep the foreign battery sources?
        
       | Night_Thastus wrote:
       | I'm more-or-less familiar with what a tax credit is, but what is
       | a commercial lease?
       | 
       | "Treasury in December said EVs ineligible for the $7,500 consumer
       | tax credit could qualify for a commercial leasing $7,500 credit."
       | 
       | What does that mean for a consumer wanting to buy an EV?
        
         | yardie wrote:
         | It means they will have to take a lease instead of paying by
         | cash or financing with credit. It's a loophole that Kia and
         | Hyundai is trying to steer customers to. Their last quarter was
         | stupendously bad.
        
         | mikestew wrote:
         | From one (me) who bought a Hyundai in the past week:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35604611
         | 
         | Whether, and how, it applies to other makes I do not know.
        
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