Early last month, President Biden signed into law a monumental piece of legislation called the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This package tackles issues like high prescription drug costs, clean energy production, environmental justice, greenhouse gas reduction and more, all while raising an additional $204 billion in revenue with a net increase of $124 billion of revenue raised by the government. There is a lot to be excited about in this bill.
I am particularly happy to see more resources made available to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. As we learned from the Maine Climate Council’s work in 2019, the transportation sector is responsible for over 50% of Maine’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. To meet our emissions reduction goals by the timelines outlined in the Maine Won’t Wait Climate Action Plan, we need to make serious changes to the way we travel and transport goods across the state.
For a state as big as ours and with limited public transportation options available, we need to make cleaner, lower emissions cars more accessible to more folks. Whether we’re commuting to work or taking a trip with the family up to camp, Mainers have a lot of ground to cover and most of us do that by car. Transitioning to cleaner cars makes sense from an environmental perspective and when thinking about our wallets. Although gas prices are coming down, we can’t rely on those costs to ever be stable. Transitioning to lower emission vehicles will empower us to save money in the long run and protect our environment. The IRA helps us do that by providing tax credits to make purchasing electric vehicles (EVs) more feasible.
The full tax credit would include a $4,000 incentive for the purchase of a used EV and $7,500 for the purchase of a new EV. This program will open in 2024 and will be available until 2032. Those eligible for the credit must be buyers with incomes at or below $150,000 for a single filer and $300,000 for joint filers for new EVs, and at $75,000 and $150,000 for used EVs.
While establishing tax credits to help folks purchase EVs is critically important to reducing our transportation emissions, ensuring that we have infrastructure to support these new vehicles is also key. As an owner of an EV, I can attest to the cost savings that result from not having to pay for gas; however, finding locations to charge my car when traveling to Houlton, Ellsworth or anywhere else beyond Cumberland and York Counties can be challenging.
Thanks to an $8 million investment from Gov. Mills’ Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan and additional funds from The Nature Conservancy, Efficiency Maine Trust has launched a new initiative that will support the installation of public EV charging stations in rural communities across the state. The initiative provides funding for the development of Level 2 EV chargers which adds 20 to 40 miles of range per hour and can be placed at hotels, restaurants, retail stores and public parking lots.
Having served on the board of Efficiency Maine Trust for three years until resigning to serve in the Legislature, I have been eagerly following the developments of this initiative and am pleased to see this incredible funding opportunity coming to fruition. This work, in concert with the tax credits from the IRA, will empower Mainers in every corner of the state to contribute to a true clean transportation transition and will enable us to meet our ambitious climate goals.
Rep. Jim Boyle, D-Gorham, is serving his first term in the Maine House of Representatives and previously served two years in the Maine State Senate. He is a member of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Contact him at Jim.Boyle@legislature.maine.gov.