New credit rules for electric vehicles set, over Manchin’s objections

Treasury’s decision to largely stick to what it said in December should please congressional supporters like Sen. Debbie StabenowD-Mich., who worried that a tougher reading of Democrats’ climate, tax and health care law would stifle electric vehicle sales.

Groups representing electric vehicle makers praised the Treasury’s clarity on Friday.

John Bozzella of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a major trade group for automakers, said in a blog post that he expected few electric vehicle models currently on the market to qualify for full credit. $7,500 in mid-April. But he said the Treasury had “done its best to produce rules that are consistent with the law and reflect the current market”, given what was written in the Climate Act.

The law removed a limit on the number of electric vehicle tax credits that can be used to buy cars from specific manufacturers after some large US companies, including General Motors Co. and Tesla Inc., hit the cap as others approached it. But to get the centrist Sen. Joe Manchin III, DW.Va., aboard, the law added new sourcing rules that intensify in the coming years in a bid to force supply chains currently dominated by China to go through the United States. States and friendly countries.

Manchin has urged the Treasury to get procurement requirements in place faster and stick to a strict reading of the rules as he ponders whether he should run for re-election next year in what Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales considers it a race on the battlefield.