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For now, at least, people who lease or buy an electric vehicle can get a federal tax credit worth thousands of dollars. The incoming Trump administration has signaled that it wants to change that. NPR's Camila Domonoske takes a look at what car shoppers should know.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: Alex Lawrence runs an unusual car dealership in Bountiful, Utah, dedicated just to selling used EVs. If you walked in right now, you'd hear Christmas music and meet a bernedoodle. It's a funky vibe.
ALEX LAWRENCE: A couple of really cool Teslas right now are in the showroom that you can see. It's a big graffiti wall with Nikola Tesla, a whole bunch of old license plates.
DOMONOSKE: I asked him if he's had a surge of shoppers trying to lock down those valuable tax credits while they can. He says, not exactly, because the tax credits aren't common knowledge.
LAWRENCE: There are still many, many, many, many, many more people that don't even know this exists. But of the ones that do, there is concern that it's going to go away, and so they are acting on it sooner, most definitely.
DOMONOSKE: According to Cox Automotive, sales of EVs went up 10% in November after very slight growth most of this year. Now, the tax credit is a law, but Congress could completely eliminate it. Or, even without changing the law, the Trump administration could tweak the rules to make the credit harder to get. What happens and when? I don't know. John Higham is on the board of the Electric Vehicle Association, a group of advocates and enthusiasts. He doesn't represent automakers or dealers, but he's a longtime driver and fan of EVs.
JOHN HIGHAM: So in my view, if you're in the market to purchase, you probably want to do it before December 31.
DOMONOSKE: To be clear, that's being cautious, assuming a law change might be made retroactive. And there is a lobbying push by automakers and dealers to keep the credit. It might stay, but Higham argues this is the only way to be absolutely sure you get the credit.
HIGHAM: After that, we're just going to have to wait and see.
DOMONOSKE: If you've been eyeing an EV, we've got a tax credit explainer on npr.org that lays out the requirements. There's a leasing credit of $7,500 and a new vehicle purchase credit of up to 7,500. And there's a used vehicle credit for up to four grand. You can get all these tax credits up front now, at the time of purchase. Lawrence, the dealer, says that's a particularly big deal for working- and middle-class buyers accessing that used car credit.
LAWRENCE: A lot of them are credit-challenged, or their income requires them to have a big down payment that otherwise they wouldn't have.
DOMONOSKE: But with the EV tax credit upfront, that four grand can be that down payment. The used vehicle credit didn't used to exist. It was added in part because previous clean-car credits went mostly to the rich. Overall, this year, buyers claimed more than $2 billion in EV credits, including some who would've bought an EV anyway, one reason why Republicans have long denounced this as a poor use of taxpayer dollars. Of course, car shoppers enjoy the credits. As for the industry, Stephanie Valdez Streaty with Cox Automotive says, if the tax credits do go away, it would likely bring down U.S. sales. But...
STEPHANIE VALDEZ STREATY: EV - the ship is going, right? It's not turning around. It's just the pace of adoption. The timelines are probably going to shift.
DOMONOSKE: The industry would move slower, she said, but still in the same direction.
Camila Domonoske, NPR News.
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