One particularly interesting bill working its way through the halls of congress right now is H.R. 5351 -- the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, which has made it through the House and is now in the Senate. And wow, does this bill give incentives to promote some great things. It promotes solar. It promotes biomass. It promotes geothermal, wind, tidal power, wave power, ocean thermal power... on and on the list goes.
One of the more interesting aspects of the bill is Sec. 201, which provides for a potentially large personal income tax credit for EVs... but only if they're PHEVs and still retain a non-electric engine.
Read on for more.
Electric vehicles -- where to begin? They significantly reduce pollution and oil imports largely without needing new power plants. They're high performance, low maintenance machines that never need a trip to a gas station -- just plug them into a normal household power socket when you get home. Electricity costs range from a fraction of a penny to a few cents per mile, compared with $0.10-$0.20 for normal cars.
On the road and need a fast charge? Modern batteries have you covered there, too. A small, onboard combination inverter/charger can give you 150 kilowatts -- for a battery pack the size of the Aptera's, that'd be a four-minute charge. One that's a mere 10 pounds can give you 20-40 kilowatts (a 15-30 minute charge). And it lets you provide backup grid power, too. Of course, even without dedicated fast charge power sources, there are already 50A split-phase (120/240V, 12kW) RV park outlets all across the country. With new lithium phosphate batteries being long life, safe, and low toxicity, and with the ability to power an EV with renewable sources, and ranges from 100 to 300 miles for modern lithium-ion powered EVs, what's not to like?
Well, apparently congress isn't quite sure about all of this BEV (battery electric vehicle) stuff. In an otherwise great bill, H.R. 5351 gives a rather hefty tax credit to plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), which have a small electric range (and sometimes cannot even drive at highway speeds on pure electric power) in addition to a gasoline engine. The bill doesn't cover pure EVs at all. That is, to say, owners of the Chevrolet Volt would get the credit, but owners of the Aptera Typ-1e or Tesla Roadster would not -- even though they're doing more for advancing the technology, promoting energy independence, and eliminating pollution.
I would certainly hope that this was merely an oversight, rather than a gift to GM (maker of the most widely covered PHEV, the Volt). It's hard to overstate how significant of a credit this is. Many EVs and PHEVs coming out have purchase prices in the $25-$40k range -- the 25k MiEV, the 25k VentureOne, the 27k-30k Aptera Typ-1, the 30k-40k Volt, etc. The credit is a base $4000, then $200 if the battery pack is at least 5kWh, and then another $200 for each kWh after that, up to 15kWh, for a maximum total credit of $6,200. Most EVs (with the exception of the hyper-efficient Aptera) would get the full credit, but even the $4000 minimum is huge. The credit is available until the manufacturer sells a total of 60,000 PHEVs, then it declines over the course of a year down to nothing. Even GM only plans to sell 10,000 Volts a year at first. $6,200 off $25k is a 25% discount.
But only if it still has a non-electric engine in it -- raising the purchase price, maintenance costs, and eliminating most of the space that would have been taken up by batteries.
Now, there could be some wiggle room. Section G defines a PHEV as any vehicle that has a "significant" alternative source of electricity. One could argue that the Aptera Typ-1e's solar panel makes it a "solar-electric hybrid", but realistically, that would be hard to argue. Even the hyper-efficient Aptera would only get about 5 miles of range from its solar panel per bright, sunny day, and that assumes the panel wasn't put to work cooling the car. The only realistic option that fits the definition is section G is a gas or diesel engine.
For those who like EVs, there still is hope. Right now, H.R. 5351 is still in the senate. As far as I can tell, it hasn't even gone through the Energy and Natural Resources committee yet, and even afterwards, there are always floor amendments. If you wish to take action, please contact your senators. Make the point that if they want to encourage battery development, adoption of vehicles with electric drivetrains, reduction of oil imports, helping the environment, assisting American automakers, and so on, BEVs do more than PHEVs. They should at least be placed on the same footing. If you wish to support three wheelers like the Aptera and VentureOne, cars from new domestic automakers which lose a wheel to improve weight and aerodynamics, also recommend that Sec. 203.a.5.A be changed to allow for enclosed three wheelers rather than mandating four wheels to get the credit. So long as they meet the requirements in 203.a.5.A.i and ii, there should be no problem.
The senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who may have extra sway, are listed:
Democrats:
Chairman Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Daniel K. Akaka (HI)
Byron L. Dorgan (ND)
Ron Wyden (OR)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mary L. Landrieu (LA)
Maria Cantwell (WA)
Ken Salazar (CO)
Robert Menendez (NJ)
Blanche Lincoln (AR)
Bernard Sanders (VT)
Jon Tester (MT)
Republicans:
Pete V. Domenici (NM)
Larry E. Craig (ID)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Richard Burr (NC)
Jim DeMint (SC)
Bob Corker (TN)
John Barrasso (WY)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Gordon Smith (OR)
Jim Bunning (KY)
Mel Martinez (FL)