EV tax credit changes mean low-income buyers can soon get full $7,500
The IRS released new guidance on the EV tax credit today, and the changes mean that starting next year, low- and middle-income buyers will be able to get the full $7,500 credit even if they don’t have enough tax liability.
The Inflation Reduction Act included big changes to the EV tax credit, and those changes were set to roll out over the course of the months and years after it passed.
One of those changes has to do with making the tax credit available upfront at the point of sale. This means that, instead of having to file for the credit on your taxes the year after you purchase an EV, you just get a cheaper car upfront.
One other issue with the tax credit was that it wasn’t available to customers who didn’t have enough tax liability to claim it. The credit is not “refundable” and can’t be rolled forward, so if you don’t make more than about $66,000 (absent other credits), you won’t have enough tax liability to reduce and therefore you leave some of the $7,500 on the table.
But the new changes announced today fix that, such that buyers of lower income levels will be able to get the full $7,500 credit, upfront at the point of sale.
The relevant part of the law is the new “transferability” provision that allows a buyer to transfer the EV tax credit to the dealership they are purchasing the car from. The dealer then passes the savings on to the buyer, and is reimbursed by the government with an advance payment of the tax credit.
It’s covered in the fact sheet the IRS released today, under Topic H, Q4
Q4: What if a buyer has insufficient tax liability to fully use a transferred credit? (added October 6, 2023)
A4. The amount of the credit that the electing taxpayer elects to transfer to the eligible entity may exceed the electing taxpayer’s regular tax liability for the taxable year in which the sale occurs, and the excess, if any, is not subject to recapture from the dealer or the buyer.
Here, “recapture” refers to the ability of the IRS to come seek you out if they decide that you’ve improperly filed for the credit. This question states that the credit is not subject to recapture, even if the buyer ends up having too little tax liability to otherwise benefit from it (and dealers don’t have to worry about it either, per Topic H, Q19).
This change does not remove the income cap present in the IRA law, which restricts the credit for taxpayers who make over $150,000 single/$225,000 head-of-household/$300,000 married. So high-income people still cannot claim the new credit, but low and middle-income people can.
The change goes into effect on January 1, 2024, so any EV purchased after that date from a registered car dealer will be able to take advantage of these transferability provisions.
Electrek’s Take
While we already covered the tax credit changes this morning, I wanted to write this article to specifically address what has been a big sticking point with the credit ever since its original inception back in 2008. President Obama even mentioned it in a State of the Union and made it a policy goal of his to make the credit available at point of sale.
The way the credit was previously designed was regressive, meaning that higher-income people were more able to benefit from it than lower-income people. This is something that should generally be avoided when creating policy.
It also meant that buyers might have to finance the additional $7,500, paying more interest and higher monthly payments for the lifetime of the car. In short, it just made electric cars less attainable to lower-income people, which is a shame, since they’re the ones who could benefit most from cheaper running costs and cleaner air in lower-income communities that tend to be more polluted.
While lower-income buyers don’t typically buy new cars, it’s certainly conceivable that someone making around the national average income ($59,000 less than the approximately $66,000 required for $7,500 of tax liability) might be able to buy a new Nissan Leaf at $28,000 base MSRP or upcoming Volvo EX30 at $35,000. Or if they’re lucky, maybe they can snag a Chevy Bolt that’s still in inventory at the beginning of next year, despite that car’s upcoming discontinuation in December.
Some might even be able to stretch for the new lower-priced Model 3 at $39,000, assuming Tesla prices or tax credit availability don’t change by next year, which they probably will. Although we certainly do not recommend that anyone stretch beyond their means to buy a new car just because it’s a Tesla – be sure to think about how this purchase would affect your finances, and if you still can’t afford a new car, you can always go with used.
Which brings to mind that, for low-income customers, this change should also apply to the used electric vehicle credit as well. This is available in a lower amount ($4,000) and has additional limitations on the vehicle purchase price. (The used EV must be under $25,000, and income caps are lower than on the new car credit)
There are also myriad other reasons that a buyer might be in a situation where they temporarily have lower tax liability than usual, or have access to other credits or refunds that lower their liability in a particular tax year, and might have otherwise jeopardized their ability to take the full EV tax credit. This change gets around many of those situations and should make it much easier for everyone to get the credit.
This is why when I originally wrote about the IRA tax credit changes, I used the headline “Senate improves EV tax credit.” While some of the changes added complexity, especially in the intervening year and a half as certain provisions have rolled out, overall it means that more cars will get the credit (by removing the cap of 200,000 per manufacturer), and the credit will be much easier to attain for those who seek it due to these transferability provisions.
Between this and the ability to bypass most requirements by leasing, EV tax credit availability is better than it’s ever been, and that’s great news for consumers, for EV makers, and for the environment.
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Hyundai is the biggest winner from the US and South Korea’s new trade deal, lowering the tariff rate on imported vehicles to 15%.
Hyundai gets a break with lower US tariffs
Hyundai has committed $26 billion toward its US operations, among the biggest of any automaker. Despite this, the automaker has shelled out billions since the Trump administration slapped a 25% tariff on South Korean imports earlier this year.
The Korean auto giant is catching a break after the US and South Korea signed a new trade deal that lowered the tariff rate to 15%.
A notice posted on the Federal Register on Thursday confirmed the rate cut and other adjustments under the new deal.
Hyundai took a 1.8 trillion won ($1.2 billion) hit from the added tariffs in the third quarter, up from just 828 billion won ($565 million) in Q3 2024.
Although it’s a lower rate, bringing it in line with Japan, which announced a similar deal in September, Hyundai will still have to pay billions in extra costs.
“Fifteen percent is still 15%,” Randy Parker, Hyundai North America CEO, told CNBC during an interview this week.
Parker said the tariffs will be a challenge, but Hyundai is aiming for a sixth consecutive record year of US retail sales in 2026.
Hyundai Motor, including Kia and Genesis, is expected to import nearly 1 million vehicles into the US this year, or about 40% of its sales. By 2030, Hyundai aims to have more than 80% of the cars it sells in the US manufactured locally.
Through November, Hyundai has sold nearly 823,000 vehicles in the US, up 8% from the same period in 2024, putting it on pace for its fifth consecutive annual retail sales record. Parker said Hyundai is “on a record pace and fully expect to go ‘5 for 5 in 2025.’”
To offset the loss of the $7,500 federal tax credit, Hyundai has been offering some of the largest discounts on electric vehicles.
The IONIQ 5, which has consistently been a top-selling EV in the US, is among the most affordable options with leases starting at just $189 a month.
Interested in a test drive? We can help you get started. Check out our links below to find Hyundai’s EVs near you.
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Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system now allows drivers to text and drive, though he added a caveat that it depends on the “context of surrounding traffic.”
This comes just a month after the CEO promised the feature was coming, despite the obvious legal and safety concerns surrounding it.
Does the law agree with this?
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) today, Musk responded to a question about whether the latest FSD v14.2.1 update allows for texting and driving. The CEO replied:
“Depending on context of surrounding traffic, yes.”
This confirmation follows a statement Musk made at a shareholder meeting in early November, which we reported on at the time. Back then, Musk claimed that Tesla would “allow you to text and drive” within “a month or two” after looking at safety statistics.
It appears Tesla is moving forward with this timeline, even as FSD remains a Level 2 driver-assist system.
Currently, Tesla’s driver monitoring system uses the cabin camera to track eye movement. If a driver looks down at their phone for too long, the system issues a “pay attention” warning (often called a “nag”) and can eventually disengage the system and issue a “strike.” Five strikes result in a suspension of FSD features.
Musk’s comment suggests that Tesla is relaxing these monitoring parameters in specific scenarios, likely in stop-and-go traffic or at red lights, where the system deems it “safe” for the driver to look away.
However, this doesn’t change the legal reality. As we noted last month, texting and driving is illegal in most jurisdictions, including almost all US states. A software update from Tesla does not supersede state laws.
As we suspected at the time, instead of classifying FSD as a level 3 or 4 system, where Tesla takes responsibility for the vehicles under certain conditions and allow the driver not to pay attention, the automaker is instead simply relazing its driver monitoring rules and leaving it to the driver to take on the risk of texting and driving under its level 2 driver assistance system.
This development also comes amidst a rough few weeks for Tesla’s self-driving credibility. Late last month, Musk finally admitted that no other automakers want to license Tesla FSD, a long-time hope for bulls. Furthermore, we just reported on Tesla hinting at a new camera upgrade, casting more doubt on the promise that current hardware (HW3/HW4) is sufficient for true unsupervised autonomy.
To “allow” texting and driving in a legal sense, Tesla would need to take liability for the vehicle and operate at SAE Level 3 or higher. Since FSD is still “Supervised,” the driver is 100% responsible for the vehicle. If you text and drive because Elon Musk said you could, and you crash or get pulled over, it is entirely on you.
Electrek’s Take
This is another dangerous blurring of the lines by Elon Musk.
Let’s be clear: You cannot legally text and drive just because your car’s CEO says it’s okay “depending on context.” If a police officer sees you looking at your phone, they aren’t going to care what version of FSD you are running.
What Musk really means here is that Tesla is disabling the safety feature that stops you from texting and driving in certain situations. He is removing the “nag” that detects phone use. That doesn’t make it legal, and it certainly doesn’t make it safe in a system that still requires constant supervision.
We have seen this pattern before. Tesla makes the driver monitoring looser to make the system feel more capable than it is, encouraging complacency. With FSD v14.2.1, it seems Tesla is confident enough to let you look at your phone at a red light without yelling at you. That’s a convenience feature at the cost of safety, not a step toward autonomy.
Until Tesla is willing to take liability for the drive, which they absolutely are not doing here, FSD is a Level 2 system. Eyes on the road, folks.
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Environment
Tern’s NYC delivery e-bike fleet crosses 1 million miles, with some bikes rolling past 30k
Urban e-bike maker Tern just hit a major milestone in one of the toughest proving grounds on the planet: New York City. The company announced that its fleet partners have now logged more than one million miles (1.6 million km) using Tern electric cargo bikes for commercial delivery work in the city – a figure that reflects not only enormous demand for e-bike logistics, but also the durability of the hardware behind it.
According to Tern, those same cargo bikes are now completing over 13 million deliveries per year in NYC, making the bright-vested riders pulling Carla Cargo trailers an increasingly familiar sight on Manhattan streets. Many of these rigs have been in near-continuous use since their rollout in 2021, sometimes operating 16 to 20 hours a day during peak periods. In the words of Steve Boyd, Tern’s North America GM, “These bikes get hammered, and they have the scars to prove it… but they’re engineered to keep on grinding away, mile after mile.”
Delivery vans, meet your match
One of the most striking takeaways is how closely e-cargo bike efficiency now mirrors that of traditional delivery vans. Tern reports that some fleets are pulling 300-pound (136 kg) loads and hitting 360 deliveries per day, averaging more than 22 deliveries per hour.
That puts these pedal-assist workhorses squarely in van territory – but with far lower operating costs, zero tailpipe emissions, and a much smaller footprint on crowded city streets.
NYC as the ultimate torture test
New York’s harsh winter freeze, summer heat, potholes, and relentless usage have turned the city into a stress test for every part of these bikes. Tern says that some individual units have already surpassed 30,000 miles (48,000 km) while remaining fully operational, with key components like frames and forks showing no failures. And unlike many purpose-built commercial machines that rely on proprietary parts, Tern emphasizes serviceability – most components can be maintained or replaced quickly using standard tools and off-the-shelf parts.
The Bosch motor systems powering the fleet have also held up under extreme use. According to the company, motor failures are rare, batteries continue delivering consistent performance well beyond their rated life, and Bosch’s service network has proven fast and reliable when issues do arise.
Charging at scale – safely
Operating a fleet of cargo bikes in NYC means charging hundreds of batteries every day, often simultaneously. Tern highlights that long before New York mandated UL-certified e-bikes, the company already equipped its commercial bikes exclusively with UL 2849-certified Bosch systems. After hundreds of thousands of charge cycles in dense depot environments, Tern reports zero thermal incidents across the entire fleet.
From delivery fleets to families
While these systems are clearly built to withstand commercial punishment, Tern notes that this is the same hardware sold through its consumer dealers. “Running sixteen hours a day and racking up more than ten thousand miles a year is exactly the kind of performance that shows we designed, tested, and built the bike right,” Boyd said.
That’s huge, since generally speaking, we usually see commercial bikes produced separately from consumer models, but Tern applies its same high standards to all of its bikes.
Electrek’s Take
It’s hard to find a harsher testbed than NYC delivery work. If a cargo bike can survive 20-hour days hauling 300-pound loads over Manhattan potholes, it can survive your grocery runs. What we’re really seeing here is proof that commercial e-bike logistics are scaling, are durable, and are beating vans at their own game in dense cities.
Part of that is due to the advantages of the two-wheeled model, and part of it is due to the extremely high standards to which Tern produces its bikes. I definitely feel better than ever recommending these things when someone asks me about a bike built for the long term. Sure, you pay more. But you also get more.
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