“Green vehicles represent the vanguard of automotive innovation, but they have to be economical for consumers and profitable for manufacturers. Raising the cap on this credit will help carmakers reach the demand and production scale necessary for long-term viability," Sander Levin said in a statement.
The original bill was part of the February 2009 Recovery Act that currently affects five vehicles, the Chevrolet Volt, Tesla Roadster, Nissan Leaf, CODA sedan and the Wheego LiFe. The increased per-manufacturer cap would help keep plug-in hybrids and EV keep future sales results at current levels, as many models are too expensive for US customers without the tax cut.
Currently, customers wanting to purchase such green vehicles have to wait several months for their cut to be returned to them in the form of a income tax deduction.
“With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” Obama said in his State of the Union Address.
Obama has promised to expand research and development in batteries and electric drivetrain technology, thanks to a 30 percent increase in federal grants. The administration also wants to improve electric vehicle infrastructure in as many as 30 US cities that could receive government grants of up to $10 million each in order to install charging stations.
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