General Motors hit 0.2 million (200,000) total electric vehicles sold in the United States by the end of 2018, reaching a threshold that triggers a phase-out of a $7,500 federal tax credit over the next 15 months, a person briefed on the matter said Wednesday.
The largest US automaker reached the figure in the fourth quarter of 2018, which means the credit will fall to $3,750 in April, and then drop to $1,875 in October for six months. The credit will completely disappear by April 2020. The 0.2 million figure covers GM’s cumulative EV sales since 2010, reports Reuters.
The tax credit is aimed at defraying the cost of electric vehicles that are more expensive than similarly sized internal combustion engine vehicles. In 2009, Congress set the phase-out threshold at 0.2 million vehicles per manufacturer.
GM, which said previously it expected to reach the 0.2 million sales figure before the end of 2018, declined to comment ahead of the release of its quarterly sales results today (Thursday).
GM and Tesla, which hit the 0.2 million figure in July 2018, have both lobbied Congress to lift the cap or extend the existing tax credit. Tesla’s EV tax credit fell to $3,750 on Tuesday and Tesla said it was cutting prices on its EVs by $2,000 to partially offset the lower tax credit.
Earlier in March, GM Chief Executive Mary Barra called on Congress to expand the consumer tax credit for electric vehicles as the company boosted production of the EV Bolt in response to consumer demand. She repeated the request last month during a visit to Capitol Hill.
