Author: EVAI

California will provide its residents with $7,500 rebates for electric vehicles if the incoming Trump administration eliminates the federal EV tax credit, Governor Gavin Newsom declared Monday. And it may seek to exclude Tesla from the subsidy.

Trump’s transition team has indicated that killing the federal EV tax credit is a priority, as it’s viewed as an easy target in a likely Republican-controlled Congress and could provide some cost savings to help offset trillions of dollars in soon-to-expire tax cuts the incoming administration is expected to renew.

2025 Volkswagen ID.4

The release about the potential program noted that it “would include changes to promote innovation and competition in the ZEV market.” Several news outlets, including Reuters, later on Monday cited the California governor’s office in pointing to market share as the potential reason for a cap affecting Tesla.

The EV maker, as of the third quarter, has a 56% market share of EV sales in the state. And it’s the only automaker who makes EVs in the state on a volume basis.

That prompted Tesla CEO Elon Musk, to write on his X social media platform: “Even though Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California! This is insane.”

If Trump does nix a $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs, Newsom laid out aims to provide an equivalent amount to California residents with a revival of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP). That program, phased out in 2023, funded more than 594,000 vehicles and saved more than 456 million gallons of fossil fuels since its launch in 2010.

The proposed rebates “would include changes to promote innovation and competition” in the EV market, according to a press release, and could be paid for out of California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which draws its money from the state’s cap-and-trade program.

2024 Nissan Ariya

It’s unclear if California might factor income into rebate qualification. Income and MSRP caps were added to the CVRP in its later years to limit the number of rebates going to the highest-income drivers. And in 2023 the California Air Resources Board (CARB)—which oversees the state’s EV incentive programs—said it would expand the Clean Cars 4 All program aimed at lower-income drivers as a replacement for the CVRP.

Also left out of this incentive would be all the other states that have opted to follow California’s Advanced Clean Cars II framework for vehicle emissions—and its mandate for plug-in vehicles.

The federal tax credit added income and MSRP caps as part of its revamp under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which also made it an instant dealership rebate, but sourcing requirements that went into effect at the beginning of 2024 also limited the number of EVs that qualify.

Yet the IRA also left the so-called “leasing loophole,” which applies a $7,500 rebate toward leased EVs even if they wouldn’t otherwise qualify for a tax credit. That’s something unlikely to be revived by even California.

UPDATED 5:45 p.m. to include citations pointing to market share and Musk’s response.

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• Tesla’s installing longer cables on its Superchargers
• Superchargers can now detect when a non-Tesla EV is plugged in
• Tesla’s Supercharger software will take into where a vehicle’s charge port is located

Tesla is installing longer cables and making other changes to accommodate EVs from other brands at its Supercharger DC fast-charging stations.

The official Tesla Charging account on X (formerly known as Twitter) the social media network owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, recently posted that the automaker is increasing the number of longer-cable V4 chargers and expects them to outnumber short-cable chargers within the next 18 months.

Tesla has also modified over 1,500 sites to avoid drivers blocking a charging space to reach a charger, and has updated the software that tells Tesla drivers which charging stalls are available, according to the same post.

Chevrolet EVs at a Tesla Supercharger station

To further account for EVs potentially blocking spaces to plug into chargers with short cables, Tesla claims it can now detect when an EV with a charge port located somewhere other than the left rear or right front of the vehicle is plugged in at shorter-cable spots in an effort not to overpromise on charger availability.

This is possible because Tesla can now detect what type of vehicle is plugged in, Max de Zegher, Tesla’s director of charging in North American said in an X post, adding that the charger-availability algorithm now refreshes about every 15 seconds.

Polestar 3 at a Tesla Supercharger station

A migration of most major car brands to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) began in May 2023 with Ford, followed the formalization of NACS as a true standard by the SAE and the backing of that standard by the Biden administration, which has prioritized funding for expansion of public charging. Musk, meanwhile, nearly shuttered the Supercharger team earlier this year before backtracking and promising a $500 million expansion of the network.

Such expansion will likely be needed as more automakers equip their EVs to charge at Supercharger stations. To date, Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Polestar, and Volvo have made adapters available to customers, while the first non-Tesla EVs with built-in NACS ports are expected to appear in 2025.

• 145,235 Hyundai and Genesis EVs have been recalled
• The recall stems from a potential issue with the onboard charger
• The issue results in a potential loss in drive power

Hyundai is recalling 145,235 electric vehicles from its main brand and Genesis luxury brand because of a potential issue with onboard chargers that could cause vehicles to enter a fail-safe driving mode with reduced power.

The recall includes 2022-2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5, 2023-2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6, and 2023-2025 Genesis GV60 models. Those three are based on the same E-GMP dedicated EV platform. Other vehicles in the recall population, including 2023-2025 Genesis Electrified GV70 SUVs and 2023-2024 Genesis Electrified G80 sedans, are electric variants of internal-combustion models.

Integrated charging control units in the affected vehicles may become damaged by certain electrical loads, preventing them from charging the vehicles’ 12-volt batteries, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This triggers the fail-safe mode, which initially allows full power but gradually decreases available power over time.

2024 Genesis GV60

Drivers will see warnings on the dashboard and hear audible chimes if this fault occurs, the NHTSA said, adding that other vehicle functions such as steering and brake assist, as well as airbags, will remain functional.

The remedy involves updating the charging control unit’s software, as well as inspection of the unit and its fuse, with replacement as needed. All of this will be done free of charge by Hyundai and Genesis dealers.

Hyundai plans to mail owner notification letters Jan. 17, 2025. Owners can also contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460 or Genesis customer service at 1-844-340-9741. Reference numbers are 272 for Hyundai and 025G for Genesis. Some of the recalled vehicles are involved in a previous recall, but will need to have the new recall work completed as well, according to the NHTSA.

2024 Hyundai Ioniq 6

Automakers have been very slow to get rid of 12-volt electrical systems in new vehicles. One of the few vehicles to have made the switch so far is the Tesla Cybertruck, which uses 48-volt hardware that Tesla is now shopping around to other automakers.

Omission of 48-volt electronics is particularly surprising in Hyundai’s E-GMP vehicles, which incorporate various other advancements like 800-volt charging. Hyundai has even introduced a solution that does away with the old-style lead-acid 12-volt battery in some of its hybrids—but not any of its EVs thus far.

• Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe pointed to a “horrific state-by-state level of rules”
• Dealers’ lobbying efforts have made it hard for Rivian to interact directly with customers
• Rivian’s aware it has a service backlog, views it as a short-term problem

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe isn’t a fan of U.S. dealership franchise laws. These laws work against the EV maker, which has a direct-sales model rather than franchised dealers.

On Wednesday during a roundtable with Green Car Reports and other media Scaringe said “we have this horrific state-by-state level of rules that are as close as you can get to corruption.”

The CEO was referring to franchise laws for car dealers, which are widely protected by heavy lobbying efforts.

“You essentially have lots of dealers that paid for lots of laws that make it really hard for us to interact directly with the customer,” Scaringe said. 

Scaringe had been asked whether, after VW’s recent investment of $5.8 billion into Rivian, the U.S. EV maker might be able to leverage the dealer network of one of the world’s largest automakers.

Rivian’s CEO then noted with an upbeat smile that “Europe doesn’t have the same rules,” and “there’s certainly opportunities there.” Rivian plans to sell both the smaller upcoming R2 and R3 crossover SUVs in Europe, but the R1T and R1S are deemed too large for that market.

“Service is the bigger thing,” continued Scaringe. “You don’t need 5,000 retail location in the U.S. to sell 3 or 4 million cars a year. Tesla’s a good example,” he said.

“You do need a lot of service infrastructure,” Scaringe went on to say. But even that’s changing because historically a customer needed to go into a dealer anytime a car made a clicking noise.

Often, depending what is needed, that service can come to you. Rivian handles more than half of its service with its in-house mobile service crews going to customers rather than customers coming to them.

Scaringe admitted the automaker has a service backlog in the U.S., as it tries to build as much service infrastructure as fast as it can. But in some U.S. markets the product is scaling faster than the automaker can build out the infrastructure.

“That’s a short-term anomaly,” Scaringe said. Long-term the executive said the team believes it’s going to build a robust service infrastructure.

In Europe, Scaringe said there’s a question whether Rivian partners with someone for service. “It’s certainly an opportunity,” he added.

But in America, with the franchise laws, the possibility of Rivian partnering with anyone else for service would be complicated.

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