As many electric-car buyers know, when you decide to plunge into the electric-car world, you expect a specific amount of money to come back to you.
For the last few years, EV rebates and tax credits have played an important role in the increase of electric-car purchases. These incentives have encouraged many to go the electric route, and leave gas in the past.
These subsidies have caused no little disagreement in the state of California, but not in a way you might think. For a while now, there has been discussion on whether or not wealthy buyers should recieve the same EV rebates as those in the lower income bracket. Well, as of July 1st, California has added limits to these rebates, all depending on income, applying to both electric-cars and plug-in hybrids.
The California Clean Vehicle Rebate Program has been handing out an equal amount of money in rebates to everyone. They have been giving $2,500 for electric-cars and $1,500 for plug-in hybrids. Now, though, those with income under 300% of the Federal Poverty Limit are able to get up to $4,000 for an electric, $3,000 for a plug-in hybrid, and $6,500 for hydrogen fuel-cell cars.
In view of this, those with income of $250,000 or greater are not able to receive EV rebates, though they’ll still qualify for the $5,000 rebate for hydrogen fuel-cell cars, as the new cap does not apply to these models. These changes will mostly affect the sales of Tesla Motors cars, since the rich tend to have a predilection for them.
As this 2015-2016 fiscal year begins, the Clean Vehicle Rebate Program funding has increased from $121 million to $163 million. Since 2010, this program has disbursed at least $217 Million rebates. Up until now, it seems that those receiving the rebates have been in the wealthier class of Californians. With this change, the desired outcome will be getting these rebates to those who need them most, as well as reducing emissions the most.
