Nice article from MIT -- Is Slate Auto’s new electric truck the EV Americans need? [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS]

[ElectricShitbox]

*Looks at the crumbling foot bridge that leads to my house and sighs*

 

[AZFox]

I don't believe what they said was out of line.

Maybe that's because the political opinion, stated as though it's a fact, is similar to your own.

The contradiction I called out was a paragraph of political opinion followed by "I think it's best to leave politics at the door".

Contradict yourself much?

Seriously?

 

[AZFox]

They correctly pointed out that the EV tax credit was discontinued under Trump 2. How exactly is reporting the facts a hit piece?

While I think "hit piece" is a slightly stronger way of putting it than the article deserves, it was indeed politically biased, starting with the first paragraph.

Something can be factually correct and biased at the same time.

One way that's accomplished is by excluding context.

The context around why the the tax credit was stopped early was missing. It was removed as part of legislation that re-aligned federal policy to promote domestic manufacturing.

The tax credit discriminated against lower-income households because taxpayers needed to owe at least $7,500 in federal income tax to take full advantage of the credit. If you only owe $5,000 in federal income taxes you pay $2,500 more for your EV. That kinda sucks.

Maybe that's why EVs for people with $7,500 or more federal income tax liability have been the norm, and affordable EVs for workers with low tax liability have been few and far between, and they haven't sold particularly well.

The credit was replaced with an Auto Loan Interest Deduction on loans for USA-manufactured vehicles.

• Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), eligible taxpayers can deduct up to $10,000 in car loan interest on their federal tax return for vehicles purchased between 2025 and 2028.
• To qualify, the vehicle must be new, assembled in the U.S., and include the VIN on your tax return.

Source: https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/adjustments-and-deductions/deducting-car-loan-interest/


Notice this: The Slate FN's configuration is greatly improved with the tax credit gone.

Slate lowered the price of the FN by $2,500 by switching to LFP batteries that provide much greater daily-usable range and battery longevity.

Beyond that, LFP's have better heat tolerance properties that allowed Slate to double the towing capacity from something practically useless (1,000#) to something useful (2,000#).

 

[KevinRS]

While I think "hit piece" is a slightly stronger way of putting it than the article deserves, it was indeed politically biased, starting with the first paragraph.

Something can be factually correct and biased at the same time.

One way that's accomplished is by excluding context.

The context around why the the tax credit was stopped early was missing. It was removed as part of legislation that re-aligned federal policy to promote domestic manufacturing.

The tax credit discriminated against lower-income households because taxpayers needed to owe at least $7,500 in federal income tax to take full advantage of the credit. If you only owe $5,000 in federal income taxes you pay $2,500 more for your EV. That kinda sucks.

Maybe that's why EVs for people with $7,500 or more federal income tax liability have been the norm, and affordable EVs for workers with low tax liability have been few and far between, and they haven't sold particularly well.

The credit was replaced with an Auto Loan Interest Deduction on loans for USA-manufactured vehicles.

• Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), eligible taxpayers can deduct up to $10,000 in car loan interest on their federal tax return for vehicles purchased between 2025 and 2028.
• To qualify, the vehicle must be new, assembled in the U.S., and include the VIN on your tax return.

Source: https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/adjustments-and-deductions/deducting-car-loan-interest/


Notice this: The Slate FN's configuration is greatly improved with the tax credit gone.

Slate lowered the price of the FN by $2,500 by switching to LFP batteries that provide much greater daily-usable range and battery longevity.

Beyond that, LFP's have better heat tolerance properties that allowed Slate to double the towing capacity from something practically useless (1,000#) to something useful (2,000#).

That auto loan interest deduction has the same issues with income levels. Who is going to pay even close to $10,000 in interest on a new car auto loan. Lower income people are paying much less in dollar interest than that, if they even can buy new. Then they still have to have the tax liability.
The people who are likely taking full advantage of the interest credit are people buying very expensive cars, who don't have "earned income" pushing them out of qualifying.

The prior deduction was requiring US produced components, which was part of why Slate was going with the other batteries.
If they really wanted to help lower income people, funding home and apartment charging stations would have helped more than any of this.

 

[atx_ev]

Guarantee you that some politicians or think tank right now is trying to figure out how to tax the work being done by AI that was formerly done by tax paying worker bees.

what are you even talking about? If the AI generates profits, those get taxed as income tax.

Data centers are incredibly valuable so will generally incur property taxes.

Some of the transactions of people paying for AI will incur sales tax.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

While I think "hit piece" is a slightly stronger way of putting it than the article deserves, it was indeed politically biased, starting with the first paragraph.

Something can be factually correct and biased at the same time.

One way that's accomplished is by excluding context.

The context around why the the tax credit was stopped early was missing. It was removed as part of legislation that re-aligned federal policy to promote domestic manufacturing.

The tax credit discriminated against lower-income households because taxpayers needed to owe at least $7,500 in federal income tax to take full advantage of the credit. If you only owe $5,000 in federal income taxes you pay $2,500 more for your EV. That kinda sucks.

Maybe that's why EVs for people with $7,500 or more federal income tax liability have been the norm, and affordable EVs for workers with low tax liability have been few and far between, and they haven't sold particularly well.

The credit was replaced with an Auto Loan Interest Deduction on loans for USA-manufactured vehicles.

• Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), eligible taxpayers can deduct up to $10,000 in car loan interest on their federal tax return for vehicles purchased between 2025 and 2028.
• To qualify, the vehicle must be new, assembled in the U.S., and include the VIN on your tax return.

Source: https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/filing/adjustments-and-deductions/deducting-car-loan-interest/


Notice this: The Slate FN's configuration is greatly improved with the tax credit gone.

Slate lowered the price of the FN by $2,500 by switching to LFP batteries that provide much greater daily-usable range and battery longevity.

Beyond that, LFP's have better heat tolerance properties that allowed Slate to double the towing capacity from something practically useless (1,000#) to something useful (2,000#).

Actually the $7500 was an impossible bogey for those with high incomes too…how many high earners were playing games with leases in order to sort of get access to it?

It was a contortionist’s finance job to push leasing as the loophole for low and high earners alike. One result was depreciation of used EV that accelerated and we will see the fruits of those 3 year leases this fall and beyond. (Wish I had a 5-car garage as would love to have an off-lease IX or I5 that is worth 50% or less than MSRP, but I digress).

Anyway, I’m completely dispassionate about how we got here. We’re here. In 2 years, we will be elsewhere and I’m betting that we will be clever enough to adapt accordingly. This DIY crowd is built that way.

I’d like to think that I’ll be just as fond of my Cali friends as my damned yankee friends as my wacky FL friends and my southern homies when it comes to Slates (and my Islander bros!). Would appreciate the same courtesy too.

Mini rant over.