I didn't pull the trigger, and thus didn't pay a tax person to tell me for sure, but I am fairly certain of the rebate.
For the federal credit, only some EVs qualify, and the list changes each year. You also have to have a tax burden within a certain range. The credit for used vehicles has different requirements, too. Starting next year, you get the rebate back as cash from the dealership at the time of purchase, which is nice.
My state offers a 5k credit for new EVs costing under 80k with no other strings. Next year they're adding 2500 more if the cost is under 35k.
> So for me the comparison would be Bolt at full $32K vs. a $6-$8K Civic since I like to buy cheaper used cars.
A no-brainer at those values, for sure! The last vehicle I bought was a 6 year old Focus for $7k. Because my family has changed since then, I was looking at used cars in the 15k range instead of under 10k
I would never have even considered a new car if the tax credit hadn't pulled the Bolt down into a range that made it competitive. All of the other EVs either cost too much initially, or didn't qualify for the credit. Also a lot of them had really small driving distances on one charge, which surprised me.
Another thing I found surprising, was that some people purportedly purchase a new EV each year for the tax credit. They drive it for a year, and sell it next year at a small profit. Market liquidity not totally accounting for the credit value (varies by model). I am far too risk-averse to do such a thing.
For the federal credit, only some EVs qualify, and the list changes each year. You also have to have a tax burden within a certain range. The credit for used vehicles has different requirements, too. Starting next year, you get the rebate back as cash from the dealership at the time of purchase, which is nice.
My state offers a 5k credit for new EVs costing under 80k with no other strings. Next year they're adding 2500 more if the cost is under 35k.
> So for me the comparison would be Bolt at full $32K vs. a $6-$8K Civic since I like to buy cheaper used cars.
A no-brainer at those values, for sure! The last vehicle I bought was a 6 year old Focus for $7k. Because my family has changed since then, I was looking at used cars in the 15k range instead of under 10k
I would never have even considered a new car if the tax credit hadn't pulled the Bolt down into a range that made it competitive. All of the other EVs either cost too much initially, or didn't qualify for the credit. Also a lot of them had really small driving distances on one charge, which surprised me.
Another thing I found surprising, was that some people purportedly purchase a new EV each year for the tax credit. They drive it for a year, and sell it next year at a small profit. Market liquidity not totally accounting for the credit value (varies by model). I am far too risk-averse to do such a thing.