Converted EV drivers want federal rebates too

By Cornelius Nunev


An increasing number of car owners are paying to have their old internal combustion vehicles changed into electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. So shouldn't they don't get a tax break from Uncle Sam, like the buyers of factory-assembled EVs and PHEVs do?

Canadian conversion

Brian Kirk showed off his 1983 Porsche 944 that were converted to an EV at the EV Fest Electric Vehicle show last week in Canada. He was advertising for his business Singular Motion EV and hopes to make it a big business. It probably will be considering the electric conversion business will most likely take off.

The Porsche is apparently faster than before, Kirk pointed out:

"We wanted to prove the point that electric cars are not slow."

Another conversion business, Epic Car Conversions, got some press at the same occasion when Don Singh showed off his EV-converted 1985 Jaguar XJ6.

EV tax refunds

Getting a rebate on an EV conversion is not yet possible, but one can assume that eventually there will be refunds associated with it since it decreases the nation's dependence on foreign oil. An individual can get a $7,500 rebate from the federal government for getting a Focus from Ford, Brooklyn to San Diego. That means a rebate for conversion is likely to show up eventually.

Tax rebate options

There is an EV conversion drivers group petitioning for a tax rebate called the Equal Incentives for Conversions petition. It states:

"While the Federal government should continue providing Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicles tax incentives for new plug-in vehicles, they should extend the same incentives to EV/plug-in conversions. Conversions target 250M existing vehicles on the roads, can save over 40 percent of fuel use or no fuel at all, have a smaller carbon footprint than new car since they reuse most of the original vehicle, and cost less to buy as an incremental expense, making plug-in more affordable."

Could meet resistance

Torque News explained that EV conversions are good but they do not meet with the government's real goal of mass-producing EVs. The goal is to get rid of gasoline cars entirely, so giving a tax break to people who are converting cars already produced is not really in line with government goals.




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