Limited Time Offer: $42,083 Off on Tesla Roadster in Colorado Until Dec. 31st

Monday, 26 October 2009 10:30

Now *That* Is a Tax Break
The state of Colorado is trying to encourage the adoption of "alternative fuel vehicles" by offering tax credits based on the difference in cost between the said vehicle and a comparable non-green version. This means you could get about $3k in tax credit on a 2010 Toyota Prius or 2010 Honda Insight, or even $3.8k on a Honda Civic GX that runs on compressed natural gas. But the real eye-popper is the rebate on the all-electric Tesla Roadster: $ 42,083. That's about 38% of the car's $109k sticker price!

How is the Tax Credit Calculated?
Colorado has been giving tax credits for alt-fuel vehicles for years, with the bigger ones going to "zero emissions vehicles" (at the tailpipe, anyway).

What they do is they calculate the difference in cost between the ZEV and "a comparable liquid-fuel automobile", in this case the gas-powered Lotus, and the tax credit is 85% of that price difference (I know some of you were hoping it was a fixed amount -- that would have been the deal of the century on the Model S, no?).

Since the Tesla is so much more expensive than the Lotus, this ends up being quite a lot of money ($42k).

Good timing for the brand new Tesla Motors store in Boulder... But if you're interested, hurry up because the special tax credit is due to end on December 31st.

For more details on which vehicles are eligible and how the tax credit works, see this document from Colorado's government.

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/colorado_offeri.php?dcitc=th_rss