New [Proposed] Federal 10% Credit

[protomech]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120803/AUTO01/208030348/1148/AUTO01/Senate-panel-passes-electric-bike-credit

10% up to $2500. I guess the Lightnings and the Brutus bikes can max out the credit.

No word yet on whether this applies to bikes purchased in 2012, but it almost certainly will apply to bikes in 2013.

Apparently part of a big bundle of tax credits and incentives. Don't know if this goes anyplace else after or if it's good as is. It'd be a good guess that Brammo and their Oregon representatives pushed hard for this.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/senate_panel_revives_dozens_of.html

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a longtime sponsor of tax reform, won a committee vote to revive a tax credit of $2,500 for purchasers of electric motorcycles. Oregon is home to two manufacturers of high-end electric motorcycles, Arcimoto and Brammo Inc. “I’ve spent 10 years working for tax reform,” Wyden said after the vote. “But until you get it, you’re not a purist who sits around and says, ‘Oh, my constituents don’t matter.’”

Edit: It looks like this covers bikes purchased in 2012 and 2013.
http://www.finance.senate.gov/newsroom/chairman/release/?id=e3290a69-8fa4-4a6d-8c3a-756ea03a4224

Plug-in Electric Motorcycles and Highway Vehicles.  The provision reforms and extends for two years, through 2013, the individual income tax credit for highway-capable plug-in motorcycles and 3-wheeled vehicles.  This proposal replaces a 10 percent tax credit that expired at the end of 2011 for plug-in electric motorcycles, three-wheeled vehicles and low-speed vehicles.  Thus it repeals the ability for golf carts and other low-speed vehicles to qualify for the credit.  Revenue estimate pending.

I bought the Zero without expectation of a tax incentive, but I'm not too proud to take one when available.

[Gavin]

Great news...I had a number of people asking about the tax credit when I was "playing" at being a Brammo Employee at Laguna Seca.

Every bit helps.

And great news that it passed.

Gavin

[Gavin]

Plus at 10,995 becomes just under 10k, a good number (9995 is better that 10000 for some reason)

Empulse drops almost 2k...bringing it back to the original price range.

very nice.

Is it an instant "rebate" or money off on your tax returns. Instant rebate would be really really nice.

Gavin

[Deadly Silent Ninja]

Awesome! 

Now, if Virginia added another discount on top of that... 

Empulse drops almost 2k...bringing it back to the original price range.

Sorry, but it does not. It will still be over $15K, which is above the highest original price for the Empulse.

The Empulse R doesn't even get close.

Anyway, great news and anyone living in a decent forward-looking state should be happy. The Plus under $10K is the biggest piece of news, I think. That makes it a great elmoto within the affordability threshold many people expected. Hmmm... a clip-on on that eclipse black... Nah... I've been waiting for too long. I'm pretty sure 2013 will bring some amazing and affordable elmotos.

[Gavin]

"Range"...I gave some leeway

Gavin

[EmpulseRider]

Not an instant rebate in the past, so unless they changed that this time around (dont think so), its the same deal. I know they were working on making the federal EV rebate an instant one, but have not heard anything else about it.

Almost drops 2k from the Empulse R!!!

18995 - 1899 = 17095

Cost to the taxpayer 15 million... chump change to kickstart the e-bike industry. Especially considering that the states will benefit from sales tax and licensing fees from the increased sales. I really cant see the downside to this when you consider all the benefits.

[860]

This is good to hear, but there is still a long way to go for this be become law.  Heck, it hasn't even been assigned a Senate Bill number yet.

This bill still has to go to the full Senate for a vote.  Then the House has to do their thing.  Final votes aren't expected until September according to one source.

Still a long-shot.

[protomech]

Makes sense. This bill was passed by the committee just before Congress high-tails it out of town for a five week break.

[860]

This bill has gotten a Senate Bill number assigned to it, for anyone who wants to track its progress (mostly just me?)

S. 3521    The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:s.3521:

The US House will be going home at the end of this week until after the elections, so even if this bill got out of the Senate this week, it won't even hit the House until after the elections.  Between the beginning of August and the November elections, the US House is only going to be in session in Washington for about 2 weeks total.     

http://www.house.gov/legislative/date/2012-09-21 

[860]

This bill looks dead.  Here is the last status on it:

"Latest Major Action: 9/19/2012 Senate floor actions. Status: Motion to proceed to consideration of measure withdrawn in Senate."

Romney just attacked everything green, making everything green into an even more partisan issue.  Short of an overwhelming Democratic electoral victory, the chances of getting this passed into law is almost none.

[protomech]

No further change in status.

Thanks for posting the thomas.loc.gov link, 860.

From the minority opinion (PDF) objecting to passing the bill on for consideration:

Minority Views of Senators Kyl, Coburn, and Burr [Republicans from AZ, NC, ID on the Committee]
...
In addition, it was our understanding that this package would only extend items that enjoyed broad consensus. We were disheartened to see provisions included that were supported only by members of one party. This continued during the amendment process, when members of the other party added back a subsidy for plugin motorcycles that we previously believed the committee had decided to end.

In other words, plugin credits continue to be a partisan whipping boy.

Per wiki, the Democrats picked up two more seats in the recent election (giving them a total of 53 seats, plus two independents who are expected to lean towards the Democrats). The Senate minority party leader, Senator Jon Kyl, retired and his seat was filled with another Republican.

If Senator Kyl was the primary roadblock to the bill in the Senate, it's possible this could be picked up again. I would be a little surprised, though; I figure most of the Congress's attention will be spent on haggling over the rapidly approaching "fiscal cliff".

Again, per wiki:

The year-over-year changes for fiscal years 2012–2013 include a 19.63% increase in tax revenue and 0.25% reduction in spending.

 

[protomech]

Looks like the 10% motorcycle credit got packaged into the HR8 bill that just passed the house. We'll see if it survives the senate.

See discussion on elmoto.

Short version: All new manufactured electric 2-3 wheeled vehicles with > 2.5 kWh and > 45 mph top speed acquired in 2012-2013 get a 10% credit up to a maximum credit of $2500.

[EmpulseRider]

OK, so Im gonna hold off on updating the TCO calculator until this all gets sorted out. Im just lazy and I dont want to have to upload the code twice in a matter of days.

The Colorado Income 67 document is up finally so I have that data... though i will have to calculate the exact numbers myself, since they are no longer listed for each vehicle.

No mention of the Empulse so thats way up in the air at this point. I believe Brian had mentioned that the comp they used was the Kawasaki 650R though (which coincidentally weighs 460 lbs)

In that case: (16995 - 7599) * .75 = 7047
So both models should qualify for the full 6000 rebate.

If the federal tax credit passes: 16995 - 6000 - 1699.50 = 9295.50 for a base Empulse in Colorado.

The only way you could do better than that was if you won one BUT who knows what Uncle Sam is going to want me to pay for that privilege.

UPDATE: THE CO TAX REBATE NO LONGER APPLIES TO ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLES:

http://brammoforum.com/index.php?topic=1764.0

[protomech]

Maybe add the 2013 Zero information too? : )

It might also be good to shift to the "highway commuting" combined city/highway range estimate as a default .. or allow the user to choose a primary usage scenario (city / suburban / highway / sport riding). It won't affect the EV bike cost much but it will affect the 80% original capacity lifetime spec.

The set of people purchasing an Empulse R and regularly getting 121 miles out of it (4 hours of riding per charge) is probably small. I don't get anywhere close to 114 miles from the Zero, but I'm also riding at higher speeds than the EPA UDDS test.

[EmpulseRider]

Maybe add the 2013 Zero information too? : )

It might also be good to shift to the "highway commuting" combined city/highway range estimate as a default .. or allow the user to choose a primary usage scenario (city / suburban / highway / sport riding). It won't affect the EV bike cost much but it will affect the 80% original capacity lifetime spec.

The set of people purchasing an Empulse R and regularly getting 121 miles out of it (4 hours of riding per charge) is probably small. I don't get anywhere close to 114 miles from the Zero, but I'm also riding at higher speeds than the EPA UDDS test.

The 2013 Zeros are already in my sandbox code. No more CO rebate I also need to verify other states still have their programs in effect too. I will upload the new code once the federal rebate is verified. Should help greatly with the TCO comps!