Eli Schwartz is charging up his new electric vehicle at an outdoor mall in South Windsor, Connecticut, on a recent November morning. He bought the car right before federal EV tax credits expired in September.
“I know a lot of people who were scrambling to get cars. Just look at the sales data,” Schwartz said.
Across the U.S., EV sales hit a record high in the months leading up to the end of federal tax credits. It’s a sign there’s genuine interest in EVs, Schwartz said, despite the fact that they made up just 1.4% of all cars in the United States last year.
“Every time I say, ‘I have an EV,’ it's an immediate hour-and-a-half conversation. There's no lack of interest. No one goes, ‘Oh, that's boring,’ and they walk away,” Schwartz said.
But the federal government, for its part, is walking away – at least from the federal tax credits.
The credits offered buyers up to $7,500 off the price of a new EV and $4,000 off a used one. But those credits were cut by the Trump administration’s spending and tax package, which passed in July.
Nov. 30 will mark two months since the federal government pulled the plug on tax credits for electric vehicles. Connecticut offers its own rebates for EVs but had to lower some of them during a spike in sales.
Peter Ritter is also waiting at the charging station. His wife bought a Chevy Bolt, back when the state offered a standard rebate of $1,500. The rebate was rationed down to $500 in August as demand among EV buyers increased by more than 30%, according to Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. In October, the rebate went back up to $1,000, but it’s not clear if it’ll ever go back up to the full amount.
“There's really no clear indication of what's going to happen,” Ritter said.
While there was a surge in EV purchases leading up to the expiration of the credits, Connecticut is still far behind its 2020 goal of getting at least 120,000 EVs on the road by the end of this year. Currently, the number of EVs in Connecticut is around 60,000.
“They're not meeting their own goals, you know? The governor and the legislators are saying positive things, but yeah, haven't seen the action. So that's kind of sad unfortunately,” Ritter said.
Daniel Duffy and his wife Alyssa have two EVs. They also had solar panels and backup batteries at their last house. For Duffy, that kind of energy independence is the ultimate American dream.
“Energy independence is [for] both sides of the aisle,” he said. “So if the Republicans and Democrats can come together in Connecticut and support that issue. I think that would be great for everyone.”
But, he said, that kind of energy independence still isn’t affordable for many.
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member, covering the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public
