Readout of White House Convening on Used Electric Vehicles
Today, June 5th, 2024, the White House and the Treasury Department hosted private sector leaders in the pre-owned vehicle sales industry alongside clean car advocates and State and federal officials to recognize the momentum generated by the Inflation Reduction Act’s 25E used clean vehicle tax credit and encourage usage and adoption of the dealer transferability option that allows consumers to claim the tax credit at the point of sale. In attendance were John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, and other senior administration officials from the White House and the Treasury Department. Already, more than 13,000 dealerships have signed up to provide the tax credit at the point of sale, and 90% of EV buyers that qualify for the credit are opting to receive their cash immediately instead of waiting until tax season, saving buyers over $850 million this year alone. IRS is processing these advance payments quickly, with dealers generally receiving their payment within a week.
The Inflation Reduction Act’s 25E used clean vehicle tax credit provides up to $4,000 off qualified electric vehicles for taxpayers that fall below certain income limits—individual taxpayers making less than $75,000 or up to $150,000 for married taxpayers that are filing jointly.
Most Americans buy used cars instead of new, so this tax credit makes going electric more affordable and accessible. In addition, starting on January 1st, 2024, taxpayers have been able to take advantage of both the used and new clean vehicle tax credits when they purchase their vehicle at participating dealerships.
As part of today’s convening, companies large and small made major, new voluntary commitments to spur usage of the credit, including integrating the credit into their websites and other point of sale platforms, developing targeted campaigns, and developing new tools for consumers to learn more about the credit:
- Carvana commits to fully integrating the previously owned clean vehicle tax credit into its e-commerce experience by the end of the summer of 2024 so that customers can shop with transparency and instantly realize savings at checkout.
- By January 1, 2025, CarMax will place a badge on their website highlighting all potentially eligible vehicles for the federal Used Vehicle Tax Credit and allow customers to search specifically for such vehicles.
- Recharged commits to simplifying the EV buying experience by providing a comprehensive, education-focused platform that integrates buying, financing, and charging for households across the East Coast by the end of 2025.
- Incentivize commits to making over 50 new partnerships with businesses, non profits and other organizations by December 2025, so its EV Rebate Calculator is more widely available to consumers as an easy-to-use resource for comprehensive federal, state and local EV tax credit and rebate eligibility information.
- Recurrent, a provider of used EV history reports, commits to publishing vehicle eligibility for 25E rebates in its reports by July 2024 to accelerate used EV adoption by helping thousands of shoppers find rebate-eligible used inventory on national marketplaces and hundreds of regional dealerships.
- ZETA commits to developing and amplifying consumer-oriented educational materials to help raise awareness of the 25E credit and promote EV adoption by January 2025.
- As an automotive retail performance agency, Maritz Automotive Solutions commits to working with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and dealers to build partnerships with pre-owned automotive retailers and conduct at least 1,000 training sessions across the country by December 2030 that build competencies in EV product knowledge, charging solutions, customer communications and rebate management to support EV growth and help make the vehicles accessible to all consumers.
- American Express Global Business Travel commits to launching its 2024-25 Ground Monitor publication in June 2024 to advise corporates on how they can embed EVs into their travel program and corporate fleets.
- Sierra Club commits to developing informational materials and hosting events throughout 2024 to ensure that drivers are aware of and understand the eligible tax incentives for new and used electric vehicles, which are crucial for providing cost savings, cutting vehicle pollution, and achieving our climate goals.
- Plug In America commits to working with Google to develop an identifier that clean vehicle dealers can add to their Google business profile to flag the dealership as being registered with the IRS and participating in the advance payments by September 2024.
- The Environmental Defense Fund commitsto training 50 companies on fleet electrification between June 2024 and December 2025, using its Net Zero Action Accelerator (NZAA) hub as the basis for the training sessions.
- Plug In America and Recurrent Auto together commit to partnering to maintain a public-facing comprehensive directory of retailers and dealers participating in the used EV rebate program and ramping up PlugStar used EV sales training content, including on used EV incentives, to reach at least 500 retailer and dealer sales staff starting in July 2024.
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