There’s a lot of taxpayer money flowing through that EV recharging cord.
Taxpayer subsidies for slow-selling, virtually non-existent EVs, 0r electric vehicles that are hardly electrifying to would be buyers keep coming. The latest involve handouts in Tennessee – home of the Nissan ‘fallen’ Leaf (9,238 sales year-to-date or -32.2%), and yet another Federal handout.
Later this month, Green Commuter will launch a fleet of 20 Nissan Leafs that will be parked at some 20 new charging stations at various locations in Chattanooga, which is the first mid-sized city in the United States to get an electric car sharing program. The Transportation Authority award to Green Commuter is part of a $3 million grant from the Tennessee Valley Authority to build solar-assisted car charging stations in Chattanooga.
The grant enabled Green Commuter to purchase the Nissan Leafs from a local dealer, and set up a local service and maintenance system. The taxpayer subsidies will allow the use of Green Commuter’s mobile phone app that enables licensed drivers – with a clean driving record and a credit card – to rent a car for as little as $9 an hour. The app allows commuters to find a nearby rental electric car, unlock the vehicle and start the engine.
At the federal level, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced new legislation “to allow employers to give workers with electric cars access to the same pre-tax transportation benefits many workers receive for traditional forms of transportation, such as public transportation allowances, parking fees, and public transit passes.”
S.3450 is a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include electric charging of certain vehicles as a qualified transportation fringe benefit excluded from gross income. Call it the Trump doesn’t pay taxes strategy. Employers would be able to give up to $250 per month in electric charging benefits without employees being taxed, allegedly making their benefit packages more competitive.
