TIMES RECORD • August 15, 2022
Millions of dollars in state and federal funds are currently working to promote electric vehicle adoption in Maine. According to “Maine Won’t Wait,” the state’s climate plan, Maine must increase the number of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the road to 219,000 by 2030 in order to meet its goal of cutting carbon emissions by 45%. That’s an ambitious goal for a state that currently has only about 7,000 EVs. Yet according to local dealers, there’s no shortage of demand for eco-friendly vehicles. But a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act could backfire and reduce demand by limiting the $7,500 federal tax credit to American-made cars, apartment-dwellers without garages might find charging electric vehicles to be a hassle, and even with state and federal rebates, many middle-class buyers can’t afford even the cheapest EVs.