West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin – whose state’s banner industry, coal mining, has been largely unionized and been central to the US labor movement since soon after its inception – today called the proposed $4,500 union-made EV tax credit “wrong” and “not American.”

The $4,500 union-made EV credit is a portion of the proposed $12,500 federal EV tax credit, part of the pending Build Back Better act, which updates and expands on the current $7,500 federal EV tax credit available to EV purchasers.

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Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate passed its version of the Republican tax bill, which didn’t include the proposed language that would have removed the federal tax credit for electric vehicles.

Now the bill is being reconciled with the House bill, which reportedly still included the removal of the EV credit, but some Republicans are reportedly leaking that they will side with the Senate bill on the issue, along with keeping the incentive for wind power. expand full story

Tesla announced a new Build Plan for the Model 3 this week. According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it could result in the company manufacturing as many as 100,000 to 200,000 Model 3 vehicles during the second half of 2017, and around 500,000 cars in 2018 (Model 3, S and X). It’s a direct response to the storm of Model 3 reservations, now over 400,000, that Tesla received since unveiling the vehicle just over a month ago.

The ambitious plan would not only result in reservation holders getting the car sooner, but also in more (a lot more) American reservation holders having access to the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. expand full story