New Jersey is making a huge push for electric car adoption in the state with a new bill being signed last Friday that will introduce massive incentives for EV buyers. We recently reported on this bill shortly before it was set to be voted on, so we’re excited to see this new program going into effect. Today we’ll be giving you all the finalized details on this new incentives program and what it means for New Jersey EV buyers.
A hefty tax rebate
This one is gonna be the biggest incentive for people looking to make the switch to electric. Thankfully the details of this rebate are exactly what we expected. This bill introduces a sizeable rebate of up to $5000 when they buy or lease an all-electric or plug-in hybrid car.
Unfortunately this rebate is based on the range of the car, disincentivizing plug-in hybrid sales. The rebate is calculated at $25 per mile of EPA estimated battery range, so any car with a range of over 200 miles will receive the full $5000 rebate. But since the range of plug-in hybrids is often as little as 30 miles people who buy these cars won’t get nearly as much of an incentive.
With New Jersey planning to aggressively push EV adoption in the state, they might be hampering their progress with this approach. Plug-in hybrids can help new adoption of electric tremendously. Without having to worry about range consumers can make a smoother transition to electric while still hardly even having to burn gas while commuting. Even though this approach is a bit disappointing this new rebate program set to go into effect in July is very exciting for anyone looking to go electric.
More chargers
Maybe we don’t need plug-in hybrid cars to help with range anxiety though. Maybe we just need more chargers. And New Jersey motorists are getting exactly that. This bill is set to add 400 fast-charging locations at 200 locations near major highways by 2025. There are also goals to add more charging locations at apartments and hotels.
And very unexpectedly those of us charging at home will be benefiting too. An often overlooked expense of going electric if the cost of installing a charging station. A lot of people don’t realize that for a proper fast charger you need a special high voltage 240v outlet. These aren’t common, so you often have to pay an electrician to install one for you. Well this new program even helps out with that, further lowering the barrier to buying electric. You can receive up to $500 per person for the purchase and installation of new charging equipment.
In the long term the state plans for 85% of all new car sales to be electric by 2040. They’ll be leading by example as they start to phase in purchasing of electric buses. 100% of all new bus purchases will be electric by 2032. I think this program will towards that goal and help push EV adoption in the state. I just hope that other states follow suit in offering generous incentives programs like this.
