Georgia May Make Somewhat Mixed Second Stab at Electric Car Incentives

Although it isn’t talked about a lot these days, the state of Georgia used to be one of the booming locations for electric vehicles in the United States. Georgia’s electric vehicle sales climbed high on the back of a generous state tax credit in addition to the federal one, flooding the southern state with zero-emission cars.

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However, the reason it isn’t talked about that much now is that, back in 2015, changing state politics led to the tax credit’s demise, along with a new tax specifically for electric cars to replace money no longer collected through gas taxes. Predictably, electric car sales plummeted.

Now, though, it seems that the Peach State is taking another jab that that whole, “getting people to buy electric cars” thing, as state representatives Spencer Frye, Todd Jones, and Allen Peake announced House Bill 98, which would create a $2,500 tax credit for electric car buyers in the state, likely to start in 2019. This isn’t nearly as strong as the previous incentive, which offered an income-tax credit of $5,000, but it does line up with incentives currently offered in the electric car capital of the US, California.

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It should be noted, though, that even if Georgia does replace the tax credit, the state still imposes a $200 registration fee on battery-electric cars, which has the distinction of being more than a Georgia driver would pay in gas taxes if they drove an average 25-mpg combined vehicle for 15,000 miles, which would add up to $165. This makes Georgia one of two states (the other being Virginia) to charge electric vehicle owners more in taxes to drive their cars than owners of gas or diesel cars would.

News Source: Green Car Reports