Many of those who recently put down a $1,000 deposit for the Tesla Model 3 did so with the intent of trying to make it in before the 200,000 units sold mark was achieved by Tesla — thereby beginning the phase-out of the federal $7,500 plug-in electric vehicle tax credit.
Granted, most of those that put down deposits would very likely have eventually ended up ordering a Model 3 anyways — but there’s no doubt that the approaching phase-out of the federal tax credit was a driver for increased reservations.
What if the federal tax credit manufacturer limit of 200,000 vehicles was increased though? Popular demand seems to be pushing for that to happen, with a new petition recently popping up on the White House website calling for exactly that.
Here’s the text for that petition (which was started on April 2):
Increase the EV tax credit cap per manufacturer.
Internal Revenue Code Section 30D provides a credit for Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicles including passenger vehicles and light trucks.
The credit begins to phase out for a manufacturer’s vehicles when at least 200,000 qualifying vehicles have been sold for use in the United States.
A significant amount of consumers across the United States this past week have made the choice for an electric vehicle over a fossil fuel vehicle. Many of those consumers will be ineligible for the credit because of the phase out and many more will decide not purchase an electric vehicle because certain manufacturers will exceed the 200,000 vehicle cap.
We ask the White House to help change legislation to increase the tax credit cap in order to further promote the use of alternative fuels.
As of the time of this writing, the petition tally stands at only 1,709 signatures, so head on over if you want to try and get your voice heard on the matter.
For some clarification here — after the 200,000th eligible vehicle is sold by any manufacturer, the full tax-credit remains in effect for the rest of the quarter in question, as well as for the following quarter. The second calendar quarter that follows after the quarter when the 200,000th vehicle is sold is when the tax-credit starts being reduced. The first two quarters (6 months) after this begins, there will still be a 50% tax-credit available; and the two quarters after that will still allow for 25% of the full tax-credit to be claimed.
So, if the 200,000th vehicle is sold at the beginning of a quarter, then there will still be a roughly 6-month time period in which those who take delivery of their vehicle can claim the full $7,500 tax-credit.