Automobiles
FILE PHOTO: U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and former Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper (D-CO), speaks at the 2019 National Action Network National Convention in New York, U.S., April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
April 26, 2019
By Sharon Bernstein
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – Democratic presidential hopeful John Hickenlooper, a former governor of Colorado, will release an anti-monopoly plan in California on Friday that could challenge the dominance of such companies as Amazon and Google, his campaign told Reuters.
In his first detailed economic policy proposal since announcing his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination last month, Hickenlooper’s plan, shared exclusively with Reuters on Thursday, could help him distinguish himself in a crowded field of 20 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020.
Hickenlooper, who made his fortune as a small-business owner, plans to take on the tech giants and other large companies in San Francisco on Friday, in the heart of the state’s thriving technology center.
“He’s talking about it from the perspective of an entrepreneur,” spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said in an interview. Mega-corporations like Amazon or Google that dominate the market can make it difficult for new ideas to percolate.”
In a white paper to be released Friday morning in advance of a speech at the Commonwealth Club, Hickenlooper, 67, bemoans a slowing of the creation of new startup businesses in the United States, blaming lax enforcement of anti-trust laws from tech to retail for leading to dominance by a few companies in such varied sectors as hardware stores, cell phone providers and e-commerce.
Hickenlooper is not the first Democratic candidate to make the dominance of the big tech companies a campaign issue. Senator Elizabeth Warren last month vowed to break up Amazon, Google and Facebook if she is elected president, saying at a campaign event in New York City, “The competition needs the opportunity to thrive and grow.”
LIMIT WORKER NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS
Hickenlooper’s proposal calls for beefing up U.S. regulation of large companies, including expanding the Clayton Anti-Trust act to encourage competition and appointing judges who are “committed to the original aims of the anti-trust laws.”
Although the white paper stops short of calling for breaking up such companies as Amazon.com or Facebook, Hickenlooper’s campaign said that beefed-up enforcement and a new focus on encouraging competition could lead to such results.
As president, the white paper said, Hickenlooper would also push for legislation to limit employers’ ability to demand non-compete agreements from workers, and ban makers of automobiles, farm equipment, computers and other products from forcing consumers to use the companies’ own authorized repair systems when equipment breaks down.
Hickenlooper would also direct the Federal Trade Commission to resume a long-abandoned practice of tracking companies’ industry dominance, including examining past mergers to see if they should be undone.
Warren, in her announcement last month vowing to combat the dominance of big tech companies, said she would nominate regulators to unwind acquisitions, such as Facebook’s purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram and Amazon’s deals for Whole Foods and Zappos.
Hickenlooper is one of two governors to join the race to unseat U.S. President Donald Trump, who is expected to seek reelection. Washington Governor Jay Inslee has made climate change the centerpiece of his campaign.
A centrist, Hickenlooper reinvented himself after a devastating job loss by founding a brew pub in what was then a neglected area of Denver. He later became the city’s mayor and served two terms as governor of Colorado, leaving office in January of this year.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday, Hickenlooper was among several Democratic hopefuls who fell near the bottom of the pack in terms of name recognition. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who had not yet declared his run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination when the poll was conducted, led all other candidates in the race and drew his strongest levels of support from minorities and older adults.
Biden declared his candidacy on Thursday.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) headquarters are seen in Turin, Italy, July 21, 2018. REUTERS/Massimo Pinca
April 23, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday it is expanding a probe into potentially defective air bags to 12.3 million vehicles.
The agency said the air bags were installed in some vehicles from model year 2010 through 2019 sold by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co, Kia Motors Corp, Mitsubishi and Toyota Motor Corp. They were equipped with an air bag control unit initially produced by TRW Automotive Holdings Corp now owned by ZF Friedrichshafen. The agency said they could fail during a crash event. The agency, which first opened a probe in 2018, has reports of two crashes and two injuries related to the defect along with one death in a Toyota.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sign is seen at its U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, U.S. May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
April 19, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said Friday it is recalling more than 320,000 Dodge Dart compact cars in North America that could roll away because of a defective part that could allow the
shift cable to detach from the transmission.
The Italian-American automaker said the recall covers 2013 through 2016 model year automatic transmission Dart cars and that the defect could prevent drivers from shifting vehicles into park. The company said it is not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the issue but has several thousand reports of related repairs to vehicles. The company said a cable bushing may degrade after prolonged exposure to high ambient heat and humidity.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: People shop at Macy’s Department store in New York City, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 18, 2019
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. retail sales increased by the most in 1-1/2 years in March as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and a range of other goods, the latest indication that economic growth picked up in the first quarter after a false start.
The Commerce Department said on Thursday retail sales surged 1.6 percent last month. That was the biggest increase since September 2017 and followed an unrevised 0.2 percent drop in February.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales would accelerate 0.9 percent in March. Retail sales in March advanced 3.6 percent from a year ago.
With March’s rebound, retail sales have now erased December’s plunge, which had put consumer spending and the overall economy on a sharply lower growth trajectory. Retail sales last month were probably lifted by tax refunds, even though they have been smaller than in previous years, following the revamping of the U.S. tax code in January 2018.
Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales rebounded 1.0 percent in March after a downwardly revised 0.3 percent decline in February. These so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product.
They were previously reported to have decreased 0.2 percent in February. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, and strong core retail sales in March could result in the further upgrading of first-quarter GDP estimates.
Growth forecasts for the first quarter were boosted to around a 2.4 percent annualized rate on Wednesday after data showed the U.S. trade deficit narrowed for a second straight month in February.
First-quarter growth forecasts have been raised from as low as a 0.5 percent rate following fairly upbeat reports on trade, inventories and construction spending. The economy grew at a 2.2 percent pace in the fourth quarter.
A report from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday described the economic activity as expanding “at a slight-to-moderate pace in March and early April. The Fed’s “Beige Book” report of anecdotal information on business activity collected from contacts nationwide showed a “few” of the U.S. central bank’s districts reported “some strengthening.”
Stronger growth in the first quarter will probably not change the view that the economy will slow this year as the stimulus from a $1.5 trillion tax cut package diminishes and the impact of interest rates hikes over the last few years lingers.
In March, sales at auto dealerships jumped 3.1 percent, the most since September 2017. Receipts at service stations increased 3.5 percent, likely reflecting higher gasoline prices. Sales at building materials and garden equipment and supplies dealers rose 0.3 percent.
Receipts at clothing stores shot up 2.0 percent, the largest increase since last May. There were also increases in sales at furniture outlets, electronics and appliances shops, and food and beverage stores.
Online and mail-order retail sales increased 1.2 percent last month. Sales at restaurants and bars rose 0.8 percent, the most since last July. But receipts at hobby, musical instrument and book stores fell 0.3 percent.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani Editing by Paul Simao)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A woman photographs cars on display at the 2019 New York International Auto Show in New York City, New York, U.S, April 17, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
April 17, 2019
By Nick Carey and David Shepardson
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major automakers are bullish on the outlook for the U.S. economy and auto sales, but one big question remains – will President Donald Trump throw a grenade into the sector by imposing sweeping tariffs of up to 25 percent on car and auto parts imports?
The industry is in “wait-and-see mode,” but the tariffs would be a bad idea, Bob Carter, head of U.S. sales at Toyota Motor Corp, told Reuters on Wednesday.
“If the tariff happened on the auto industry, quite frankly that’s pulling the pin out of the grenade,” he said at a conference on Tuesday held in conjunction with the New York International Auto Show. “I don’t believe the U.S. economy can run out of the room fast enough if that happens.”
Carter said in an interview he was optimistic the Trump administration would decide against tariffs, yet “uncomfortable” given the president’s decision last year to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Trump ran for office in 2016 on a protectionist platform aimed at shoring up U.S. manufacturing jobs. He has said in the past he was considering tariffs on autos and auto parts of up to 25 percent.
In February, the U.S. Commerce Department sent recommendations to Trump, which auto industry officials expect to include at least some tariffs on fully assembled vehicles or on critical technologies and components related to electric, automated, connected and shared vehicles.
Such tariffs would have a deeper impact on car prices and consumers than earlier metals tariffs that were imposed. The steel and aluminum tariffs cost Detroit automakers General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co $1 billion each and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said they could add up to $350 million in costs in 2019.
HEAVY LOBBYING
Trump is supposed to make a decision by mid-May, but some officials think the administration will find a way to delay final action, using the threat as leverage to try to win concessions on autos in trade talks with Japan and the European Union.
Joe Eberhardt, chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover North America, said a 25 percent tariff on all imported vehicles would cost the company “billions.” If the tariffs were on parts, it would also hit U.S. automakers hard, he noted.
“We just hope that reason will prevail,” he said.
Toyota and other automakers have been lobbying heavily to block any new tariffs on imported vehicles, arguing the industry’s global supply chain is so intertwined that tariffs would raise prices, hurt sales and thus damage the economy.
IMPACT ON PRICES
At a conference held ahead of the New York auto show this week, IHS Markit’s chief U.S. economist, Joel Prakken, forecast 2019 U.S. new vehicle sales of 16.8 million units, down about 500,000 units from 2018 but still high historically.
However, tariffs could reduce sales by another 2 million vehicles and shave half to two-thirds of a percentage point off U.S. gross domestic product, he said.
“It would be horrible for the automotive industry, it will be horrible for consumers and it will be horrible for the U.S. economy,” said Fred Diaz, the U.S. chief executive of Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
In one example, Carter said 72 percent of the parts for the Camry sedan that Toyota makes in Kentucky come from U.S. suppliers, but 28 percent are imported. A 25 percent tariff would cause that car’s price to rise $1,800 overnight.
“There is no such thing as a 100 percent U.S. vehicle,” he told Reuters.
According to industry estimates, broad tariffs could add an average of $4,000 to a new car’s sticker price.
Nissan Motor Co Ltd’s North American chairman, Jose Valls, said the automaker has “invested very heavily in the U.S. and they (the Trump administration) need to take into account our customers and our employees.”
“We’ll adjust,” Valls said. “But we’re not taking decisions on things that haven’t been finalized yet.”
Mitsubishi’s Diaz said industry groups are lobbying hard against the tariffs.
“The feedback is that we’re being heard,” he said. “But fundamentally, how do you really know?”
(Reporting by Nick Carey and David Shepardson in New York; Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Apple is seen at a store in Zurich, Switzerland January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
April 17, 2019
By Stephen Nellis
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc has held talks with at least four companies as possible suppliers for next-generation lidar sensors in self-driving cars, evaluating the companies’ technology while also still working on its own lidar unit, three people familiar with the discussions said.
The moves provide fresh evidence of Apple’s renewed ambitions to enter the autonomous vehicle derby, an effort it calls Project Titan. The talks are focused on next-generation lidar, a sensor that provides a three-dimensional look at the road.
Apple is seeking lidar units that would be smaller, cheaper and more easily mass produced than current technology, the three people said. The iPhone maker is setting a high bar with demands for a “revolutionary design,” one of the people familiar with the talks said. The people declined to name the companies Apple has approached.
The sensor effort means Apple wants to develop the entire chain of hardware to guide autonomous vehicles and has joined automakers and investors in the race to find winning technologies.
Current lidar systems, including units from Velodyne Inc mounted on Apple’s fleet of self-driving test vehicles, use laser light pulses to render precise images of the environment around the car. But the systems can cost $100,000 and use mechanical parts to sweep the laser scanners across the road.
That makes them too bulky and prone to failure for use in mass-produced vehicles. The shortcomings have spurred $1 billion in investment at dozens of startups and mature companies alike to make lidar smaller, cheaper and more robust.
Apple’s interest in next-generation lidar sensors comes as it has sharply increased its road testing while bringing on key hires from Tesla Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google.
It remains unclear whether the goal of Apple’s Project Titan is to build its own vehicle or supply the hardware and software elements of self-driving car while pairing with a partner for the entire vehicle.
But what is clear from Apple’s interest in cheaper lidar systems is that it wants to control the “perception stack” of sensors, computers and software to drive an autonomous vehicle, regardless of who makes the vehicle, another person familiar with the talks said. The three people familiar with the talks declined to be identified because the discussions are not public.
In addition to evaluating potential outside suppliers, Apple is believed to have its own internal lidar sensor under development, two of the people said.
Alphabet-owned Waymo has taken a similar path, assembling a sensor and computer system while inking deals to buy vehicles from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Apple gets “a lot of optionality by working on the perception stack,” said the second person familiar with the talks. “Bringing a passenger car to the market is really, really hard, and there’s no reason right now they need to jump into it.”
REDUCING COSTS
The designs Apple is seeking could potentially be made with conventional semiconductor manufacturing techniques, all four people familiar with the talks said.
That has the potential to lower prices from the many thousands to the hundreds of dollars as the sensors are produced in larger numbers, similar to chips in phones and other devices. Apple also wants sensors that can see several hundred meters (yards) down the road.
The long-distance requirement shows Apple is interested in fully self-driving vehicles, versus the more limited features such as adaptive cruise control used today, two people familiar with the matter said.
“They’re not happy with most of what they see,” the first person familiar with the matter said. “They’re looking for a revolutionary design.”
A third person familiar with the matter said Apple is seeking a “design-oriented” sensor that would be sleek and unobtrusive enough to fit into the overall lines of a vehicle.
Apple declined to comment.
Apple once investigated building its own vehicle. The company had a team of more than a dozen engineers dedicated to detailed work such as ensuring doors closed quietly instead of slamming shut, a fourth person briefed on the matter said.
Apple last year re-hired Doug Field, an Apple veteran who was serving as Tesla’s engineering chief, to work on Project Titan. The project has about 1,200 people, according to a count in court documents.
Field has been putting his stamp on the effort, laying off about 190 workers but also bringing on key hires such as Michael Schwekutsch, who oversaw electric drive train technology at Telsa. Apple also ramped up its testing miles in California, driving nearly 80,000 last year compared to 800 the year before.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Cynthia Osterman)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: John Elkann, Chairman of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Group attends the presentation of the Science Gateway, a new facility dedicated to scientific education and outreach, by architet Renzo Piano at the CERN in Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland, April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
April 12, 2019
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The chairman of Fiat Chrysler John Elkann said on Friday he was ready for bold and creative decisions to help build a solid and attractive future for the carmaker.
Speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting Elkann said the group was ready to play a part in the “new and exciting” era for the auto industry.
Recent media reports have said France’s Renault could be eyeing a bid for Fiat while in March the president of Peugeot family holding company FFP said he would support a new deal and suggested Fiat Chrysler was among the options.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; writing by Stephen Jewkes; editing by Francesca Landini)
Source: OANN
A Toyota Mirai fuel cell vehicle awaits final inspection at a Toyota Motor Corp. factory in Toyota in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Joe White
April 12, 2019
By Naomi Tajitsu and Joseph White
TOYOTA CITY (Reuters) – The head of Toyota Motor Corp’s electric vehicle (EV) business told Reuters the automaker has received enquiries from more than 50 companies since announcing last week that it would offer free access to patents for EV motors and power control units.
The executive also said Toyota aims to use partnerships to cut by as much as half the outlays for expanded electric and hybrid vehicle components production in the United States, China and Japan.
“Until now we have been a tier 1 automaker, but now we also intend to become a tier 2 supplier of hybrid systems,” Toyota Executive Vice President Shigeki Terashi said.
Supplying rivals would greatly expand the scale of production for hardware such as power control units and electric motors that are used in gasoline-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fully electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles, he added.
Toyota last week outlined plans to offer automakers and auto suppliers royalty-free access to nearly 24,000 electrified vehicle technologies patented by the Japanese auto giant.
In an interview on Thursday at Toyota’s global headquarters in Toyota City, Japan, Terashi provided new details of Toyota’s strategy, and its anticipated impact on the company’s investment plans.
By offering to supply rival automakers with parts used in Toyota’s gasoline-sipping hybrid vehicles, the Japanese automaker sees a way to slash capital outlay by roughly half for new plants required to build electric car components for future models, Terashi said.
“We believe that this approach will reduce investment costs significantly,” he said.
Terashi said Toyota projects a surge in demand for electrified vehicles globally as regulators insist new vehicles emit substantially less carbon dioxide, and that working with Toyota would offer others a low-cost path to compliance.
Toyota’s internal goal is to sell 5.5 million electrified, Toyota-brand vehicles annually by 2030, up from about 1.6 million vehicles now, he said.
Already, Terashi said, Toyota believes it could reach the 5.5 million target as early as 2025. The company is working on plans for a new round of capital spending to expand capacity for producing the hardware required.
By offering to supply electric vehicle hardware, and the know-how to integrate it into vehicles, Terashi said Toyota wants to reduce its capital outlay, and create a new source of revenue.
“We anticipate that there will probably be very few automakers who use our patents to develop their own hybrids from scratch, so by using our system and our components, and offering our support, we can work together to develop these cars,” Terashi said.
In the last 20 years, Toyota has managed to dominate the global market for hybrid cars by constantly improving and lowering the cost of the technology it pioneered in the Prius – and keeping this expertise a closely guarded secret.
Toyota’s new business foray underlines the challenges facing even the largest global automakers as they confront some of the most profound technological changes for automobiles in a century.
Toyota is now trying to take advantage of its lead in refining hybrid vehicles, even as it runs behind global rivals such as Volkswagen AG and Tesla Inc in bringing fully electric vehicles to showrooms.
Since pioneering the Prius in 1997, Toyota has sold more than 13 million hybrids, which twin a conventional gasoline engine and electric motor, saving fuel by capturing energy during coasting and breaking and using it to power the motor.
Roughly 15 percent of Toyota’s annual global sales are hybrids, including the Corolla and the RAV4. Last year it sold 1.6 million hybrids globally, more than the 1.3 million all-battery EVs sold by Tesla Inc, Nissan Motor Co and all other automakers combined.
To meet the expected surge in hybrid demand, Terashi said he is planning to increase production capacity for hybrid components mainly by adding capacity at existing plants.
Toyota has initially courted its partner automakers. It already supplies the plug-in hybrid system for Subaru Corp’s Crosstrek SUV crossover model, and last month Toyota announced that it would be a global supplier of hybrid systems to compact car maker Suzuki Motor Co.
The success of the Prius has helped to brand Toyota as a maker of affordable, reliable green cars and has been key to the automaker’s reputation as a leader in low-emissions vehicle technology.
Terashi brushed off the risk that Toyota could lose this edge by offering its hybrid technology to other automakers, arguing that it held a crucial, 20-year head start over its rivals.
“Even if an automaker is able to develop and produce a car using our systems and parts which complies with emissions regulations, its overall performance would never be the same as ours,” he said.
(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu and Joseph White; Additional reporting by Maki Shiraki; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
Source: OANN
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is introducing legislation to expand the electric vehicle tax credit by 400,000 vehicles per manufacturer, according to Reuters.
The legislation is expected to be introduced on Wednesday and could give companies like Tesla and General Motors a substantial boost.
The bill is sponsored by Democrats Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins and Democratic Representative Dan Kildee. The passage of such a bill could catalyze more purchases of electric vehicles from automakers who are now sinking billions of capital into EVs.
The existing tax credit, which is $7500, phases out over 15 months after an automaker hits a cumulative 200,000 in sales of electric vehicles. GM’s tax credit was cut on April 1 of this year and Tesla’s tax credit was cut on January 1 of this year. Both credits now stand at $3,750. GM’s credit falls to $1,875 in October and will disappear in April 2020, while Tesla’s credit drops to $1,875 in July and expires at the end of 2019.
Like every bill, this one has a ridiculous name with a stupid pun: it’s being called the “Driving America Forward Act” and would grant each automaker a $7,000 credit for another 400,000 vehicles on top of the already existing 200,000 vehicles eligible. On the other hand, it would shorten the phase out schedule to 9 months from one year.
The bill would also seek to extend the hydrogen fuel cell credit through 2028.
And since taxpayers will foot the bill, here is the damage: the EV tax credits are estimated to cost $11.4 billion if the bill is passed.
Debbie Stabenow said: “We have a cap that’s got to go up. I want to get this done as soon as possible.” It wasn’t exactly clear why it it has “got to go up”, exactly?
Meanwhile, this proposal runs in stark contrast to the White House, who proposed immediately eliminating the $7,500 existing tax credit last month. It said this would save the US government $2.5 billion over a decade. Senator John Barrasso, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, proposed legislation in February to end the credit and to impose a highway user fee on electric vehicles to pay for road repairs.
This new bill is predictably backed by most automakers including GM, Tesla, Toyota Motor Corp, Ford Motor Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co, BMW AG, Nissan Motor Co and Volkswagen. In fact, GM President Mark Reuss said: “…the EV tax credit provides customers with a proven incentive as we work to establish the U.S. as a leader in electrification.”
And what would a proposed $11 billion in government spending be without the Sierra Club weighing in? Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said: “…as we build and grow the clean energy economy, we must continue to invest in tackling the sector that generates the most pollution: transportation.”
Tesla stock rose 2% on the news, even though it was not clear what were the odds of the bill’s ultimate passage into law.
Here’s why politicians were no match for Candice Owens because she’s more authentic.
Source: InfoWars
FILE PHOTO: A 2019 Chevrolet Bolt plug-in electric vehicle is displayed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
April 10, 2019
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers will introduce legislation on Wednesday to expand the electric vehicle tax credit by 400,000 vehicles per manufacturer, a provision that would give a boost to General Motors Co and Tesla Inc before the existing credit comes to an end for them.
The bill is sponsored by Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins and Democratic Representative Dan Kildee, the sponsors told Reuters ahead of its official introduction.
The bill could lift electric vehicle sales in a boost for automakers that have committed tens of billions of dollars to meet rising global emissions requirements.
The existing $7,500 EV tax credit, which allows tax payers to deduct part of the cost of buying an electric car, phases out over 15 months once an automaker hits 200,000 cumulative EV sales. GM saw its tax credit cut to $3,750 on April 1. Tesla’s tax credit fell to $3,750 on Jan. 1 and will end entirely at year’s end.
The bill dubbed the “Driving America Forward Act” would grant each automaker a $7,000 tax credit for an additional 400,000 vehicles on top of the existing 200,000 vehicles eligible for $7,500 tax credits. It would shorten the phase-out schedule to nine months.
The bill would also extend the hydrogen fuel cell credit through 2028. The bill is estimated to cost $11.4 billion, with all but $91 million of that tally to extend the EV tax credit.
“We have a cap that’s got to go up,” Stabenow told a group of automakers at a dinner last week. “I want to get this done as soon as possible.”
The proposal has strong backing from automakers, environmental groups and others, but will face opposition.
Last month, the White House proposed immediately eliminating the $7,500 tax credit, a move it said would save the U.S. government $2.5 billion over a decade.
Senator John Barrasso, a Republican who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, in February proposed legislation to end the credit and impose a highway user fee on EVs to pay for road repairs.
The bill is backed by major automakers including GM, Tesla, Toyota Motor Corp, Ford Motor Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co, BMW AG, Nissan Motor Co, Volkswagen AG and utilities.
GM President Mark Reuss said in a statement “the EV tax credit provides customers with a proven incentive as we work to establish the U.S. as a leader in electrification.”
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said “as we build and grow the clean energy economy, we must continue to invest in tackling the sector that generates the most pollution: transportation.”
Both GM and Tesla have been lobbying Congress for more than a year to extend or expand the EV tax credit.
GM’s credit drops to $1,875 in October and will completely disappear by April 2020, while Tesla’s credit falls to $1,875 in July and expires at the end of the year.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Source: OANN
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