Tesla Model Y five-seater might be ineligible for new electric vehicle (EV) tax credit, the list of qualified that the IRS released reveals.
Elon Musk questioned it, saying that it is "bizarre."
(Photo : FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures during the unveiling of the new Tesla Model Y in Hawthorne, California on March 14, 2019.
As such, if you have been holding back from purchasing the five-seater Model Y EV until the new year, you might be waiting for nothing.
Tesla Model Y Not Qualified for New EV Tax Credit
As per the latest report by The Verge, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released the list of cars that are eligible for the new EV tax credit.
The incentive for 2023 goes as high as $7,500. However, buyers of the five-seater variant of the Tesla Model Y will be missing out on it.
While the Model Y entered the list, its Long Range five-seater configuration did not make it. Here's why.
The Verge reports that the federal specifications do not consider the five-seater Tesla crossover a "non-passenger automobile."
And on top of that, the said version of the Model Y failed to make it to the main SUV qualifier of the IRS.
It turns out that the IRS requires SUVs to weigh at least 6,000 pounds. However, the five-seater Model Y is light enough to reach the requirement. The Verge notes that the EV only flaunts a gross weight of 4,403 pounds, which is way below the qualifier of the federal revenue service.
All that said, the IRS does not even categorize the five-seater Model Y as an SUV. As such, the price ceiling for it to qualify is only $55,000, making it too expensive as the Long Range retails for roughly $66,000.
So it seems that the Model Y Long Range is overweight and overpriced based on the qualifications of the new EV tax credit. With that, buyers of the five-seater crossover will be missing out on the $7,500 incentive. Unless the all-electric automaker does something about it.
Elon Musk Says it's Bizarre
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla, Musk, took to Twitter, which he now owns, to respond to the ineligibility of the Model Y Long Range for the EV tax credit.
The billionaire entrepreneur questions if the automaker is being "penalized for making our SUV too mass-efficient? The tech exec finds it to be "bizarre."
Tesla Model 3 Performance Ineligible Too
According to a report by Inside EVs, the Model 3 sedan Performance variant also does not qualify for the new tax incentives as it is too expensive for the price limit of the IRS, which is only $55,000.
It is worth noting that the Model 3 Performance starts at around $70,000.
