USA’s e-Bike tax credit moves along, but is halved

A proposed tax credit against the purchase of an e-Bike in the USA has made progress in Congress, but those eagerly awaiting a saving of nearly a third will be left reeling at the news the discount will now be no more than 15%.

First put before the House of Representatives in February, the original document pitched a 30% tax incentive on the purchase of new electric bikes. The idea is, that in a time of climate emergency, that low emissions vehicles should be made broadly more accessible to all incomes and in the case of electric bikes there was significant hope that actually car trips could be replaced too.

The E-BIKE Act, having this summer been presented with a companion bill, has since been sent to the House Ways and Means committee and we are now seeing the results of how the text has been reworked.

The halving of the incentive is sadly not the only revision reports Electrek; there now also exists an income based phase out of the credit applicable to those earning over $70,000, or $112,500 for heads of household and $150,000 if the submission is made on behalf of married couples.

In terms of retail price, the qualifiable limit on a purchase remains $8,000. Purchased bikes must carry a manufacturer’s vehicle identification number, which will be used on the e-bike tax credit claim form to identify the model.

There remains time for further amendments before Presidential sign off, so the e-Bike tax credit adaptations are not yet set in stone. For a full view on the changes made you can view the Ways and Means document here.

The NBDA, Sports Marketing Surveys and Human Powered Solutions are at the present time undertaking the large scale Bicycle Buying 2021 study in order too track American bicycle purchasing habits. The study is the first of its kind since 2014.