Clean-energy advocates optimistic that updated tax credit will help boost EV adoption

The federal government has some good news for those looking to set up at-home charging for their EVs.

The Treasury Department recently released guidance clarifying eligibility for something called the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit, or 30C. The tax credit is designed to help offset the cost of installing equipment like EV chargers on both public and private property, for businesses and consumers alike.

The tax credit, extended and modified by the Inflation Reduction Act, is just one facet of the Biden administration’s ambitious push to boost EVs to half of all new-car sales by 2030 and install 500,000 public chargers by then.

The guidance is significant, clean-energy advocates said, because it makes the credit more widely available.

“The guidance was a huge positive step in the right direction in getting a lot more infrastructure in the ground,” Albert Gore III, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, told Tech Brew.

Gore said that the updated guidance expands access to the credit both geographically and makes it available on a per-item basis rather than per location.

“That’s going to dramatically increase the value of the credit,” he said. “What it means to the public is that there will be a lot more charging available as a result of this credit.” Later, he added that “it’s a really huge deal for transportation infrastructure.”

The program offers a credit of up to 30% of the cost of installing equipment like EV chargers. Businesses can claim up to $100,000, while credits for installation on personal property is capped at $1,000, per the Treasury.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, estimates that the Treasury guidance will open up access to the credit to some 32 million people who might have been denied under the previous guidance that required the equipment to be installed in low-income and “non-urban” census tracts. The New York Times reported that “qualified areas cover roughly two-thirds of the US population.”

“It’s a good day to charge in America,” Max Baumhefner, an NRDC lawyer, wrote in a blog post.

In other charging news: The Postal Service last week unveiled its first EV charging stations at a sorting and delivery center in Atlanta. It plans similar installations at “hundreds” of USPS facilities across the country this year as part of the Biden administration’s initiative to decarbonize the federal fleet. With hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road, the USPS is slated to play a significant role in this effort.

“As we transform our operating processes and invest in new automation, new technologies, and upgraded facilities and vehicles, we will generate significant efficiencies that reduce our costs, slash our carbon footprint, and minimize waste,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement.

The agency plans to convert some 400 sorting and delivery centers across the country into hubs from which it can send EVs out on local carrier routes. The Postal Service plans to have 66,000 EVs in its delivery fleet by 2028.