Federal Tax Credit For Two-Wheeled EVs – Yes, Please!

Those of you who love two-wheeled transportation – and there are a lot of you – have one more reason to go green.  The Senate Finance Committee approved a federal tax credit for purchasers of electric bikes and motorcycles last week.

The bill hasn’t passed, as of this point, but if it does, anyone who buys a new bike or motorcycle gets back 10% of the purchase price, up to $2500 (which, coincidentally, is exactly what you get for a Prius Plug-In).  Most two-wheeled EVs aren’t priced high enough to stop you from getting your full 10%, either, which seems to make this a pretty sweet deal.

Will It Help The American Market?

The big question up for debate is whether or not the e-bikes are worth our time and money; while huge in places like China (which has had oodles – and yes, that is a scientific term – of all sorts of bikes on the road for decades), they’re much less common in the United States. Regular Gas2 readers may be familiar withBrammo, BRD, and Zero Motorcycles, three companies selling electric bikes in the States, but a tax credit might help broaden that market (seriously, how many of you have bought something because it was discounted? Same idea).

The second question – much broader than the first – is whether or not federal tax credits are helpful at all in establishing a new product. So far, it’s a little hard to say; the Volt is selling well, the Leaf not so much, and the one million electric vehicles on the road goal is just not happening.

Focusing on the up side, though, is that if when this bill passes, it’s the perfect excusereason to go out and buy that electric motorcycle. There are so many. They’re better for the environment. They’re cheaper to operate and maintain. They’re quieter. They’ve got great torque. Plus the tax credit. It’s hard to go wrong.

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Source: Gas2.0