New "stimulus Plan" Tax Incentives For Buyers Of Electric Scooters

Energy conscious consumers considering purchase of electric vehicles and electric scooters have an increased incentive to purchase these vehicles due to a tax credit buried in the recent Economic and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Incentives for plug- in hybrid vehicles take effect in 2010 but incentives for smaller electric vehicles take effect with the passage of the bill. The 7 Billion bill passed by the Congress, and signed by the President gives a tax credit incentive to purchasers of electric vehicles of different types.

All electric powered vehicles benefit from the new tax credit. Immediately benefiting are buyers purchasing a category of vehicles known as light electric vehicles or LEV's. The LEV category includes four wheeled Neighborhood Electric Vehicles or NEV, and two and three wheel electric powered scooters.

The criteria for qualifying are based on the electric energy storage capacity of the battery. For two and three wheel vehicles the minimum size battery storage that qualifies must be rated at a minimum of 2.5kwh of stored energy capacity. For a NEV type vehicle the minimum battery storage capacity that qualifies is 4 kWh. To determine if the vehicle you are considering qualifies take the amp hour capacity rating of the battery times the battery voltage and divide by 1000. If the result is 2.5 or greater, the scooter, or three wheel vehicle, will qualify for the credit. For example if the specifications on the scooter you are considering has a battery rated: 5X12V/50 Ah the calculation is as follows: (5X12v) 60 X 50 Ah = 3000 Divided by 1000 = 3 KWh, which exceeds the 2.5 kWh minimum criteria.

For vehicles that qualify there is a 10% tax credit on electric vehicles up to a maximum purchase price of ,000 which would result in a maximum credit of ,500 on a vehicle costing ,000. This tax credit may be in addition to local tax or purchase incentives that may be in place in some local municipalities, and is effective for purchases made after the date the bill was signed

The tax credit incentive will be welcome news to anyone considering purchase of an electric scooter.