Electric Vehicle Basics

Electric Vehicle Basics

Electric Vehicle basics

Electric Vehicle Basics

By D.S. Mitchell

Worth Looking Into

The financial benefits of owning and driving an electric vehicle play out in the long run. To begin with, you’ll spend a bit more on the purchase price for an electric car, but you can make up for that cost with tax benefits and immediate savings on fuel. There are also local rebate options worth checking into. Electric vehicles are also really good for the environment, which is enough to convince buyers.

1.) Purchase Price: Government subsidies to off-set the higher sticker cost of an EV versus an ICE (internal combustion engine) are helping purchasers switch from a gas powered vehicle to an electric vehicle. Currently, tax rebates and auto maker incentives provide about $7,500 toward the purchase price of an EV. EV costs are continuing to drop, and Bloomberg has predicted that EV battery costs will halve by 2025. At which point electric and gas vehicles should be at price parity. A couple things to keep in mind about the EV tax credit include:

  • Tax credits are for owners only.
  • The federal tax credit is not available to those simply buying an electric car in order to resell it.
  • In order to qualify for the federal tax credit, the electric car must be mostly used within the U.S.
  • The manufacturer must be qualified for your car to be eligible.
  • The battery of the EV must be able to store at least 4 kWh of energy.
  • The battery must also be able to be charged by an external energy source.
  • An electric vehicle tax claim can be denied, the IRS always has that right.

Other tax credits, especially state and local, for electric cars apply to businesses. Sometimes, a business can enjoy tax exemption status of some sort as reward for owning an electric company car.

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The Electric Vehicle Revolution

The Electric Vehicle Revolution

The Electric Vehicle Revolution is here

Electric vehicles are the future, be ready. . . 

The Electric Vehicle Revolution

“Adoption of a new technology, like EV’s (electric vehicles) may seem slow or look like it’s never going to happen, until it passes a threshold. . . .and then it just takes off.” *Reda Cherif  

By D. S. Mitchell

Horse and Buggy Days

There is a growing understanding that gas and diesel-powered vehicles will soon join the horse and buggy and dial telephone. New studies support a rapid acceleration process and a gathering momentum of the coming EV tsunami. Surprising as it may seem, soothsayers predict that more than 90% of all passenger vehicles in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other wealthy industrialized countries will be EV by 2040. Some studies are even more bullish, predicting that by 2030, ninety percent of all U.S. vehicles will be EV. That is less than 9 years away.

A Big Culprit

One of the major sources of deadly air pollution, and a major factor in climate change, is transportation. In order to protect the climate and the health of our citizens it is imperative we modify the vehicles on our roads. A few years ago, transportation edged out power plants as the leading source of carbon emissions. We can end this catastrophe. Sources tell us a rapid shift to electric vehicles can cut more than 800 million tons of CO2 emissions every year by 2040, and cumulative reductions will reach 16.2 billion tons by 2050.

New Technology

The transition is going to happen fast because EV’s are better than gas vehicles. There is less maintenance, lower operating costs, and more power. A big factor in boosting sales of EV’s is that production costs are also coming down. The cost of an EV battery has dropped 86% in the last 10 years. In spite of chip shortages and COVID-19 challenges, Ford Motor Co. has been showing profits throughout 2021. Ford announced that its F-150 Lightening electric pickup has generated over 120,000 pre-orders since it was unveiled to great fanfare in May.

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