Car company CEOs push to lift electric vehicle tax credit limit

CEOs from General Motors, Ford Motor, Toyota Motor North America and Chrysler parent Stellantis are pressing Congress to raise the federal government’s limit on how many vehicles are eligible for a tax credit, according to a new letter.

The Monday letter from leaders including Mary Barra of General Motors, Jim Farley of Ford, Carlos Tavares of Stellantis and Tetsuo Ogawa of Toyota North America asked that Congress lift the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit limit, saying zero-emission vehicles cost more to produce.

The letter was first reported by Reuters.

“We ask that the per-[automaker] cap be removed, with a sunset date set for a time when the EV market is more mature,” the CEOs wrote.

The CEOs also promised to invest more than $170 billion collectively between now and 2030 to ramp up the sale and production of electric vehicles.

Currently, the tax credit to consumers ends after the automakers sell 200,000 vehicles, a threshold GM and Tesla have already reached, Reuters noted. 

While Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has said it would be “ludicrous” to pursue tax credits for electric vehicles, Democratic lawmakers have considered reviving parts of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, including EV tax credits in a push to make roads more environmentally friendly.

The larger package, which never made it to a vote in the Senate due to Manchin’s lack of support, would have increased the $7,500 tax rebate for consumers who purchased EVs to a $12,500 rebate so long as the cars were made with union labor and domestic component parts.

“There’s a lot of promise with EV tax credits, and I believe it’s still on the table,” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) has previously said.

“My vision on this would be to have a strong utilization of our tax code to incentivize and bolster and support R&D initiatives,” Stevens added. “I don’t think it’s all in the tax code, but there’s certainly a lot of potential.”