World's Largest Rebate? Save $42,000 on Tesla Roadster in Colorado
Tesla Roadster - Click above image for high-res gallery
We didn't believe it until we verified it with our own eyes, but amazingly it's true: Colorado is offering a $42,083 rebate on the 2009 Tesla Roadster until December 31st. Carry the one, move the decimal point... yep, that's a 38-percent discount on what must be the most desirable electric car currently for sale in the United States.
So, exactly how did this come about? Is the thin air that's distorting people's better judgment? Not exactly. The incentive actually applies to a slew of qualifying hybrid and electric vehicles and will be paid in the form of an income tax credit that's calculated by determining the difference in price of the alt-fuel car or truck as compared to a competitive gas-powered model. In the case of the Tesla Roadster, Colorado figures the EV costs a whopping $50K more than its competitive set... which we imagine might be the Lotus Elise.
Want to take advantage of the rebate but not interested in a fully-electric sportscar? Buyers can also get a $20K rebate on the 2009 Lexus LS 600h L or about three grand on either the new Honda Insight or Toyota Prius. See the complete list in PDF form here.
Gallery: Jason Calacanis' Tesla Roadster
[Source: Green Car Reports]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark Kiernan 5:03PM (10/22/2009)
Damn will Tesla ship it to Italy via Bolder.
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Jeremy 5:14PM (10/22/2009)
This is a CO state income tax credit. If you are not paying CO state income tax, it will mean nothing to you. The $42k+ in tax credit carries forwards for 5 years if you do not make enough money to write all of that off in a single year.
You 1) HAVE to register the car by December 31st, which means you have to order NOW to make that happen. 2) Have to drive/keep it registered in CO for at least 6 months. Yes, this means that if you make enough money to take advantage of this income tax credit, you SHOULD purchase a Roadster because you can drive it for 6 months then SELL IT AT A PROFIT. It is a GOOD BUSINESS DECISION to purchase a Roadster in CO right now!!!!!
Why do you have to register by Dec 31st? Because on Jan 1st CO caps the credit to $6,000 maximum no matter what car you are buying.
BTW -- $42,xxx is the credit but if you can prove to the state of CO that your Roadster purchase causes a car 10 years or older to leave the CO roads (so you sell it out of state or junk it), they ADD another $6,000 to the credit! :-)
In CO? CALL UP TESLA IMMEDIATELY.
paulwesterberg 5:26PM (10/22/2009)
And the 2009 tesla roadster waiting list fills up in 3...2...
nixon 6:12PM (10/22/2009)
$42,083 / 5 years = $8,416.60/year in rebated income tax. Colorado has a 4.62% flat tax on income (after deductions). So you would have to make MORE THAN $181,785 taxable income a year to get the full tax rebate refunded to you.
Assuming Jeromy is right about the additional $6,000 for selling your 10+ year old car out of state or junking it, that is $48,083 in total tax rebates. $48,083 / 5 years = 9616.60/year in rebated income tax. At 4.62% flat income tax, that is $208,152 per year of taxable income.
You gotta make some serious coin in order to recoup this full tax refund. And you better have really good job security for the next 5 years. Because if you have to move or lose your Colorado job, your tax credit goes down the drain too.
Not exactly the easiest get rich quick scheme.
Step 1) Get a job making a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year.
Step 2) ???
Step 3) PROFITS!!
You might hold up a bit on that call to Tesla... Because it might be easier to make profits stealing underpants than trying to buy and resell a Tesla.
Laurens 5:18PM (10/22/2009)
And the subsidy per tonne CO2 saved is? That stuff is trading for 25 Euro's. No wonder tax payers are very quickly becoming fed up with the EV rant. Especially when they are a pain in the ass from a usability point of view!
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Mark Kiernan 5:22PM (10/22/2009)
What is your alternative to EVs Laurens?
Mark Kiernan 5:22PM (10/22/2009)
I was joking I don't even have the money after the tax credit ;)
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Sean 5:26PM (10/22/2009)
This is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money.
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meme 5:48PM (10/22/2009)
I can't wait to see Tim's reaction to this. Heck, I'm a major EV advocate and absolutely believe we should have strong subsidies, but this takes the cake!
Boyprodigy1 6:51PM (10/22/2009)
Sean, do you live in Colorado? If not than you can quit your whining. Being from Colorado and having seen the way that the tax credit was put in place I know that the majority of Colorado wants it there, and I am more than happy to see my tax money go to this.
Tim 5:47PM (10/22/2009)
What a CROCK! Tax credits so the rich can buy luxury cars? (Corporatism)
Coloradans who can't afford luxury cars such as Teslas because they lost their jobs due to Progressive Central Planning which caused and then collapsed a real-estate bubble facilitated by the Federal Reserve pumping liquidity and artificially lowering interest rates to comply with the federally mandated Community Reinvestment Act which forced Fanny & Freddy to buy subprime loans that the mortgage banks were FORCED (by law) to give to people who could not repay are now going to be forced to pay for Colorado's tax shortfall with more lost jobs and straight up tax redistribution because Progressives are "green" with compassion?
Hey, Progressive MORONS! Yea, YOU! Both the Democrat & NeoCon fools!
Learn from history. Keynesian Central Planning comes with Unintended Consequences.
HELLO!!!! YOU ARE DROWNING OUR FUTURE IN DEBT AND DESTROYING THE DOLLAR!!
STOP SQUANDERING OUR FUTURE!!
With compassion like yours, we don't NEED terrorists to collapse America! (maybe this was the Progressives plan all along to bring-in global corporate-fascism.)
Liberty is not going down without a fight!!!
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Mark Kiernan 5:55PM (10/22/2009)
LAMO
Spiffster 7:12PM (10/22/2009)
Damn, I live in CO and got the cash, just not the income. Hoping for a big fat rebate on the Model S though. Anybody know anything about what we can expect here in CO for that bad boy? Gonna put in my deposit soon...
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Larry 7:18AM (10/23/2009)
Jeremy, thanks for your clarification. Just two questions:
If you drive/keep it registered in CO for 7 months, will you still get the tax credit for all 5 years?
Where did you get this information about the 6 months period (I have tried to find info about it with no success)?
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JWLBoulder 12:32AM (10/27/2009)
I was at the Tesla Boulder Gallery opening Friday night, and the cocktail party was certainly the hit of the town. You can read a little about it on my blog at www.boulderreport.typepad.com. One of the Tesla board members lives here in Boulder.
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