House Representatives Panetta & Blumenauer introduce "e-bike Act" federal tax credit

[Asher]

To get the maximum benefit, you'd have to spend $5k, which is pretty high. A 50% $1k incentive (so it tops out at $2k) would be a lot fairer to people buying cheaper bikes. A $5k price for full incentive benefits might also induce bike shops to play games like including a service contract to get more of that incentive money.

Also, considering the point is promoting bikes for transport, it stands to reason the bikes should have basic features to make them fit for purpose - integrated lighting and fender, rack mounts. People are always going to bike at night without putting lights on, so all the better if we can get manufacturers to put them on.

Wait a minute. We have a 25% tariff on most ebikes b/c they come from China, so now we may have a 30% tax credit on most ebikes to offset the tariff. With lots of additional paperwork. Sure, that sounds like the most efficient way to do things. Only in DC.

Is there any news on Biden rolling this back? I haven't seen anything, and definitely agree with you.

 

[Art Deco]

To get the maximum benefit, you'd have to spend $5k, which is pretty high. A 50% $1k incentive (so it tops out at $2k) would be a lot fairer to people buying cheaper bikes. A $5k price for full incentive benefits might also induce bike shops to play games like including a service contract to get more of that incentive money.

Also, considering the point is promoting bikes for transport, it stands to reason the bikes should have basic features to make them fit for purpose - integrated lighting and fender, rack mounts. People are always going to bike at night without putting lights on, so all the better if we can get manufacturers to put them on.


Is there any news on Biden rolling this back? I haven't seen anything, and definitely agree with you.

I doubt that President Biden has time for Trump's tariff war, he's probably busy enough trying to avoid a real shooting war with China right now, but that's all above my pay grade.

 

[J.R.]

The ebike industry was granted an exclusion from tariffs.

Customs ruling means e-bikes excluded from tariffs

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has ruled that e-bikes fall under the same category as electric motorcycles and therefore share an exclusion, granted in September, from the Trump administration's Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports. Importers of Chinese e-bikes are now...

www.bicycleretailer.com

US customs rules electric bicycles are motorcycles, granting tariff exclusion

In the latest twist in the ongoing saga of Trump’s trade war with China, US Customs and Border Protection has...

electrek.co

A company only needed to apply for the exclusion and extensions. Importing is a complicated business, the trade group People for Bikes has helped the industry navigate through the process.

PeopleForBikes’ Work on Section 301 Tariffs Saves Bike Industry Millions

BOULDER, CO (Oct. 20, 2020) — PeopleForBikes, with the assistance of their nearly 300 member companies, saved the bike industry more than $130 million in

www.snewsnet.com

The ebike exclusion has been extended during the entire 2+ year tariff program on bike products from China. And for companies like Pedego who moved their operations to Taiwan, they have been automatically excluded all along, as the tariffs only applied to products from China.

 

[Art Deco]

Thanks, J.R..One of the great things about EBR is that sooner or later, someone who knows what they are talking about will usually jump in.
So if there aren't tariffs on ebikes, the price hikes must be just plain supply and demand, and the incentives could be very effective (as the calculator linked above shows).
Keeping a car in a major city is expensive, public transit in a pandemic isn't a good option, and we would all benefit from less cars on the streets. Sounds like this bill could be a good thing for everyone except oil companies. Am I missing something?

 

[Asher]

The ebike industry was granted an exclusion from tariffs.

Customs ruling means e-bikes excluded from tariffs

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has ruled that e-bikes fall under the same category as electric motorcycles and therefore share an exclusion, granted in September, from the Trump administration's Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports. Importers of Chinese e-bikes are now...

www.bicycleretailer.com

US customs rules electric bicycles are motorcycles, granting tariff exclusion

In the latest twist in the ongoing saga of Trump’s trade war with China, US Customs and Border Protection has...

electrek.co

A company only needed to apply for the exclusion and extensions. Importing is a complicated business, the trade group People for Bikes has helped the industry navigate through the process.

PeopleForBikes’ Work on Section 301 Tariffs Saves Bike Industry Millions

BOULDER, CO (Oct. 20, 2020) — PeopleForBikes, with the assistance of their nearly 300 member companies, saved the bike industry more than $130 million in

www.snewsnet.com

The ebike exclusion has been extended during the entire 2+ year tariff program on bike products from China. And for companies like Pedego who moved their operations to Taiwan, they have been automatically excluded all along, as the tariffs only applied to products from China.

Those exemptions ended in December. I'm not sure they've been extended.

Eg Ride1Up CEO:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/264729534163214/permalink/733742620595234/?comment_id=733831583919671

 

[J.R.]

Those exemptions ended in December. I'm not sure they've been extended.

Eg Ride1Up CEO:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/264729534163214/permalink/733742620595234/?comment_id=733831583919671

There's been a lot of ebike brands posting to FB and Twitter through the entire 2+ years claiming tariff charges. I don't consider that fact based news. They make the claim to justify higher prices. The latest news offered by the industry is the exemptions are still in place and we likely won't have any real news on the issue until the end of the first quarter of the year. Some companies didn't even apply for the exemption and still others that imported bike parts and assembled the bikes here don't qualify for the exemption.

All we can judge is what has happened up until the end of Q4 of 2020. Those are the only facts we have.

 

[Art Deco]

Those exemptions ended in December. I'm not sure they've been extended.

Eg Ride1Up CEO:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/264729534163214/permalink/733742620595234/?comment_id=733831583919671

Asher could you copy paste that statement? I don't do Facebook. Thanks.

 

[Dewey]

Counterpoint: what if the US government instead put the cash towards basics like bicycle infrastructure, clean power production, new battery technology, subsidise young people‘s education who are considering dual mechanical/electrical engineering courses, the big expensive hard stuff?

 

[Asher]

Asher could you copy paste that statement? I don't do Facebook. Thanks.

Sure. See attached.

Counterpoint: what if the US government instead put the cash towards basics like bicycle infrastructure, clean power production, new battery technology, subsidise young people‘s education who are considering dual mechanical/electrical engineering courses, the big expensive hard stuff?

Aside from bike infrastructure, those are far more expensive and tangential, plus there's already huge industrial interests pushing in that direction with billions.

Bike lanes are great but they don't get built because they take space from cars, ie it's a political battle, not an absence of available funds. They're also more explicitly a state/local responsibility. Access to e-bikes is much more explicitly about money, and pricing as a barrier to adoption.

That said, secure urban bike parking is sorely needed.

And as good as this rebate would be, an employer parking cash out as DC recently passed would be vastly more effective. Cliffs: if employers pay for car parking, they have to pay employees who don't use car parking, the value of that car parking. Of course we could do both, it's just an interesting, promising policy tool.

Redirect Notice

 

[bigcanoe]

Would this apply to purchases already made in 2021 or only purchases after the bill is passed...do I need to wait to buy my bike?

 

[Lightning 123]

Counterpoint: what if the US government instead put the cash towards basics like bicycle infrastructure, clean power production, new battery technology, subsidise young people‘s education who are considering dual mechanical/electrical engineering courses, the big expensive hard stuff?

How about they get the ball rolling by giving people the incentive to purchase ebikes and then start working on solutions to ease the impact of having more non motor vehicle traffic.

 

[Art Deco]

Would this apply to purchases already made in 2021 or only purchases after the bill is passed...do I need to wait to buy my bike?

If you can buy your bike now, I'd do so. Supply of real bikes is going to matter a lot more than a theoretical rebate.

 

[harryS]

Would this apply to purchases already made in 2021 or only purchases after the bill is passed...do I need to wait to buy my bike?

Probably hasn't even got out of committee, Now would be a good tme to email your Congressman about this bill, Panetta's E-BIKE act.

Meanwhile, buy the bike. I doubt bill this would ever pass.

 

[Lightning 123]

Because it's green and doesn't cost that much I think it's got a pretty good chance of passing.

 

[Art Deco]

Because it's green and doesn't cost that much I think it's got a pretty good chance of passing.

Agreed. The opposition ( fossil fuel companies) have much bigger issues to fight.

 

[Asher]

From someone who helped write the bill (industry lobbyist):

 

[Dewey]

From someone who helped write the bill (industry lobbyist):

Thanks for posting, reading her other take on the bill is also interesting:
"E-cargo bicycles are fastest growing sector of the electric bicycle market (2 my knowledge) and intent of this subsidy is to incentivize car trip displacement, most likely done with e-cargo. Lot could change in the bill before it ever becomes law, more compromises likely."
Source:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1359523627021045767

 

[Asher]

Thanks for posting, reading her other take on the bill is also interesting:
"E-cargo bicycles are fastest growing sector of the electric bicycle market (2 my knowledge) and intent of this subsidy is to incentivize car trip displacement, most likely done with e-cargo. Lot could change in the bill before it ever becomes law, more compromises likely."
Source:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1359523627021045767

Yeah, I think it's dubious to make the subsidy be such a low percentage (I think the absolute amount of $1500 is fine, I'd be okay with $1000 if it were 50%). The bike lobby is mostly funded by the conventional retail bike brands (and Priority), so that may play a role as well in favoring more expensive ebikes. You shouldn't have to spend more than $3k to get the maximum benefit.

 

[Dewey]

Form for contacting your Representative to support the E-Bike Act

Support the E-BIKE Act today!

The Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment (E-BIKE) Act would relieve 30% of the cost (up to $1,500) of a new electric bicycle for consumers. Encourage your representative to co-sponsor the bill today!

action.peopleforbikes.org

 

[tomjasz]

ebike industry was granted an exclusion from tariffs.

Half true. Components are still getting hit.