North Carolina has cruised past the 70,000 mark for registered electric vehicles as a growing number of the state’s drivers take advantage of EV-related tax credits included in last year’s federal Inflation Reduction Act.
In the first seven months of 2023, the state had already added more plug-in vehicles (nearly 18,000) than it did for all of 2022 (16,940), according to data from the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Over the same period, EV ownership surged 28% in both Guilford and Forsyth counties. As of July 31, Guilford’s electric-vehicle registrations had climbed to 2,887 and Forsyth’s reached 1,770.
In terms of saturation, Guilford also led the way among Triad counties with 74 EVs per 10,000 registered vehicles while Forsyth’s rate was 61 per 10,000.
However, North Carolina’s two largest counties continue to drive the shift to plug-in cars and trucks. Wake and Mecklenburg accounted for nearly 42% of all the state’s registered EVs. Wake hit 208 vehicles per 10,000 registrations and Mecklenburg was at 158 for every 10,000.
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The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022, offered instant incentive for drivers to plug in to the electric-vehicle market through tax credits of up to $7,500 for the purchase of qualifying EVs.
To be subject to the full credit, an EV must be assembled at a North American facility, at least half of its battery components must be produced in North America and 40% of the battery’s critical minerals — like graphite, lithium and cobalt — must originate in the U.S. or with a recognized trade partner. Both percentages increase incrementally in the coming years.
IRA impact
Julie and Stan Meiburg of Winston-Salem were part of the post-IRA electric-vehicle infusion. The couple, already owners of an 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, decided earlier this year to replace a gas-powered vehicle they’d driven more than 200,000 miles.
“We had been thinking about this for a while, and when the Inflation Reduction Act passed, we thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s time to think about this,’” said Stan, former deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and now executive director of the Sabin Family Center for Environment and Sustainability at Wake Forest University. “We kind of understood how electric works and were looking for a car that would be a little more useful on long trips.”
They settled on a Tesla Y model, partly because it qualified for the full tax credit but also because Tesla has invested in its own system of chargers.
“With the Bolt, you’re still relying on a charging network that isn’t as well developed as Tesla’s,” said Julie.
The Meiburgs also use up less time when they stop to plug in their Tesla, which takes 25 minutes for the same level of charge the Bolt would need an hour to reach.
However, they have no plans to get rid of the Bolt, which has served them well and prepared them for the shift to an EV as their primary vehicle.
“It was easier for us having one electric vehicle already to look at a second one because all of the anxieties that people have about range and things like that, we were already able to work through,” Stan explained. “It was an incremental change to behaviors we were already doing.”
The Bolt’s lack of required maintenance also has been a plus.
“No oil changes, no timing belts, no transmission fluid, none of that stuff,” Stan said.
John Deem covers climate change and the environment in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina. His work is funded by a grant from the 1Earth Fund and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
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