One of the hottest electric vehicle (EV) topics this month is the US federal tax credit. Somewhere in the universe, questions probably pop up every minute or so about this — whether Tesla passed the 200,000 vehicle mark in the US, what that means for Tesla Model 3 buyers and potential buyers, whether the tax credit should be extended, where this crazy 200,000 vehicle tipping point originated, why it was a freakin’ tax credit and not a rebate, etc.
Plug In America has been working behind the scenes to try to get the credit extended, and while he hasn’t been one of the members personally involved in that, co-founder Paul Scott recently sat down with us for our 10th episode of Cleantech Talk Today.
Paul and several others co-founded Plug In America in 2005, and he has an epic history promoting electric vehicles and raising awareness about them. In this episode, he actually explained where this odd 200,000 vehicle milestone per automaker came from, and it is thanks to the work of Plug In America. But you’ll have to watch or listen to the episode to find out why this quirky system that ends up punishing leading EV producers is better than what we would have had if Plug In America policy wonks hadn’t been on their toes.
We also talked about California’s $2,500 EV rebate (which is thankfully a rebate, not a tax credit), the insane Republican politics we are living through right now, funding the opposition (by buying gasoline), and carsharing a Chevy Bolt while your Tesla Model 3 is on Turo and you actually get around on a Zero electric motorcycle (yup, we’re talking about Scott there).
Enjoy this episode, and a huge thanks to Nicolas Zart for roping him in.
You can listen via Soundcloud or iTunes, or you can watch the chat on Facebook.
Related: Plug In America brings the EV to Capitol Hill
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