Congress Quietly Considers A De Facto Bailout For Tesla And GM
David Blackmon
Dec 16, 2019, 08:30am As many of us scramble in the next few days to finish our holiday shopping, Congress is also scrambling to make up for a year of legislative inaction with its own Christmas presents for some important constituents. The items on Congress’s wish list include a new budget deal, President Trump’s new North American trade deal, and re-authorization of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Also quietly included in those budget considerations is potentially an expanded carve out – effectively a bailout – for a few electric vehicle (EVs) manufacturers like Tesla and General Motors.
When President Obama announced during his 2011 State of the Union address that the United States would see 1 million EVs on our roads by 2015, that prediction came with heavy payouts to EV owners and manufacturers, to the tune of as much as $7,500 per vehicle. But even with that added incentive, dozens of new EV models, and frequently reduced pricing, that promise fell far short. Only about 400,000 EVs were on American roadways by the end of 2015.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2019/12/16/congress-quietly-considers-a-de-facto-bailout-for-tesla-and-gm/?fbclid=IwAR14JyfNtdJ76Is3cNg46HVnb6hunyWRuS9GbSNeq93GqWtL6R3_ZuE54tM#1e6ef6ac697f