The Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit tax credit under Section 45W of the IRS tax code may be gone, but it’s not forgotten! A number of states and utilities are stepping up with their own programs – and Oregon is the latest, offering rebates of up to $120,000 per vehicle for fleets looking to electrify their operations.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently launched the Zero-Emissions Rebates for Oregon Fleets Program which helps business- and public-sector fleets looking to electrify their operations overcome the initial cost difference of BEVs compared to diesels.
“We’ve priced the rebates to bring those prices of the new zero-emission vehicles closer to a price point that their gas or diesel counterpart might be at, and we really start to see that price difference between the gas or diesel version or the zero-emission version increase as the class of vehicle goes up,” explains Dalton Sheppard, Oregon DEQ’s MD- and HDEV rebate coordinator. “So that’s why we increase our rebate amount incrementally as well to follow that price increase by weight class.”
The DEQ claims Oregons’ transportation sector accounts for more than a full third of the state’s overall greenhouse gas emissions, making it the single largest carbon-emitting sector in Oregon. Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, despite representing a relatively small number of the vehicles on the road, are responsible for half of those on-road emissions. Sheppard believes the state’s new incentives will help fleet operators to significantly curb those emissions in the years ahead.
“They have been showing us a lot of excitement, and they’re anticipating buying vehicles,” he explains. “They have been waiting until the rebate program opens to make those vehicles more appropriate for their business needs.”
Oregon’s new fleet incentive program is offering up to $17 million total, with different rebate levels available for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty electric vehicles, with $120,000 per HDEV being the maximum. Each applicant can qualify for up to five vehicle rebates per calendar year.
“We are really excited to introduce this program and get more electric vehicles on the road,” continues Sheppard. “Especially in this section of weight classes, [we can] help improve air quality.”
SOURCES | IMAGES: DEQ, PGE, and OPB.
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