With the Climate Bill that includes funding for EV buying incentives approaching its final round of voting and news about possible details on the funding running rampant, I will attempt to consolidate as much knowledge as possible into one place.
First of all, I and others here at Teslarati have written numerous articles covering EV incentives. These articles will help you understand how incentives have been voted on recently and how EV incentives in the US compared to the rest of the world. Some of the most notable include this article about US State level EV incentives, this article about how the “union made” incentive was scrapped earlier this year and this opinion piece about what Elon Musk thinks about EV incentives and how he hopes the US will move away from ICE vehicles.
A personal favorite from outside of Teslarati, Martyn Lee of the EV News Daily podcast has laid out a couple of perspectives from Twitter in one of his most recent episodes.
Martyn does a fantastic job of laying out a couple of perspectives on the EV incentives, how some are proposing to pay for them, and reading from experts examining the bill. One such expert is Tom Randall of Reuters, who has posted numerous Twitter threads on the topic. His most notable is the one linked below, where he covers the basics of incentives, who will qualify, and other notes surrounding the legislative process/votes.
Interesting EV tax credit details in the new Manchin deal: $7.5k credit per new vehicle and $4k for a used EV (or 30% of price, whichever is less). The credits expire at the end of 2032—with no manufacturer caps. A bunch of new limitations include ?1/
— Tom Randall (@tsrandall) July 28, 2022
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Some important notes from the thread are that used cars will also qualify for a tax rebate of up to $4,000 (as long as your salary is below $75,000 individually or $150,000 for joint filers), and new cars will only qualify if they are under $55,000, new SUVs and trucks will have to be below $80,000, and used vehicles must cost less than $25,000 to qualify.
For those who need a consolidated explanation of what will allow a vehicle to access the incentive, u/mad691 on the r/Electric Vehicles subreddit has posted a spreadsheet that includes all current plugin models and their possible federal rebates if the bill, in its current form, passes. The sheet consists of the qualifications that manufacturers must meet for customers to access the tax rebate along the top row.
Listed on the left are the current incentives available for each model. Then the following five columns highlight whether the vehicle may qualify in the future under the new proposal. These qualifications would disqualify the vehicle from the incentives. Finally, on the right are two columns that highlight the possible rebate of the vehicle and the change in rebate from the current system (red being negative, black being positive change).
Possible Federal EV Incentives from u/Mad691 on Reddit
While the sheet is not fleshed out completely, especially looking at the battery material clause and battery component clause columns, it can at least give a sense of what vehicles may qualify and which may not. Any of the three middle columns (Car Price, Truck+SUV Price, and Assembled in America) are instant disqualifiers and represent the vast majority of disqualifications from the incentives.
Some surprising results from the table include GM’s offerings that would once again be available for the rebate, the laundry list of vehicles not assembled in the US that would no longer qualify for the tax credits, as well as the long list of PHEVs that will continue to receive the full $7,500 in tax credits despite small batteries and lackluster fuel economy (specifically looking at the Jeep Wrangler 4xe with 14 miles of EV range and the BMW X5 with 30 miles of EV range).
This news should be taken with a huge grain of salt as voting and editing the bill have not yet been completed. However, it can give a basic understanding of what incentives may become available if the bill were to pass.
What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!
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Tesla Energy has introduced the Powerwall Lease in conjunction with Tesla Electric, making the service available in Texas. This new option delivers whole-home backup power using two Powerwall units for a net monthly cost of $35 after credits, accompanied by a low fixed electricity rate.
Under the lease terms, customers pay a one-time order fee of $100. The base lease payment for the two Powerwalls is approximately $122 per month during the first year, subject to a 3 percent annual escalator thereafter. Enrollment in a qualifying Tesla Electric Backup plan or Virtual Power Plant plan provides an $87 monthly credit.
Powerwall Lease is now available with Tesla Electric in Texas
Whole-home backup for $35/month, with a low fixed electricity rate
– Two Powerwalls, $0 installation
– Storm Watch outage protection
– One app to manage it all pic.twitter.com/oTzqc6K3aF— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 13, 2026
This credit lowers the effective cost to roughly $35 per month plus applicable tax.
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Installation of the standard system carries no additional charge. The package features Storm Watch for outage protection and allows complete management through a single Tesla application. The system supplies continuous whole-home backup capability.
The Powerwall system enables households to maintain electricity during severe storms that disrupt the utility grid. When outages occur, the batteries automatically provide seamless backup power to the home.
Tesla announces 100k Powerwalls are participating in Virtual Power Plants
Tesla Storm Watch monitors weather forecasts and ensures the units are fully charged ahead of anticipated severe weather events so that power remains available throughout the disruption, keeping lights, refrigeration, and other essential systems operating without interruption.
Availability is restricted to select Texas locations where retail electric choice exists. Participants must lease exactly two Powerwall units and maintain continuous enrollment with Tesla Electric. Solar panels cannot be included under this particular lease arrangement.
The monthly credit activates automatically once the system is installed, receives permission to operate, and enrollment is confirmed. To retain the credit, customers are required to stay enrolled in Tesla Electric and fulfill all program conditions.
Nonstandard installations that involve electrical upgrades or special permitting may lead to extra expenses and might impact eligibility for the credit, so be sure to check with either your installer or Tesla to ensure you will still qualify.
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Elon Musk continues to tease the unveiling event for the Tesla Roadster, a continuing trend that has grown into a bigger game of “When” for fans who have been waiting years for the car to finally enter production.
A video shared on X of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that Musk appeared on last year, teasing the Roadster unveiling, was shared once again on the social media platform. The poster said the Roadster event will be “unforgettable.”
Musk agreed:
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2026
The timing is interesting because just yesterday, Musk said that we will be getting flying cars, and for years, Tesla has hinted that it could develop a SpaceX cold gas thruster package that would help the car float or fly for a short period of time.
It would be reasonable to assume Tesla’s major delays with this unveiling event are likely caused by the company’s need to break the rules and push the envelope on nearly everything. Last July, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, said:
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“Roadster is definitely in development. We did talk about it last Sunday night. We are gearing up for a super cool demo. It’s going to be mind blowing. We showed Elon some cool demos last week of the tech we’ve been working on and he got a little excited.”
The latest updates that Tesla has given us are that the Roadster is in design development, and it did have several potential dates for an unveiling event this year, including April. It was then pushed to August.
However, there are no clues as to when Tesla will be ready, and fans are certainly getting frustrated with the delays.
For what it is worth, Franz von Holzhausen told Jay Leno this week that the event would be “very soon.”
We sure hope.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s driverless Cybercab just passed a big test with State Governor
Florida’s governor rode Tesla’s Cybercab at a closed test track and called the experience impressive.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rode in a Tesla Cybercab on a closed test track this week and came away impressed, posting on X that the vehicle “successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.” He called the ride “impressive.”
The stop was part of a broader event Monday at SunTrax, a 775 acre state owned proving ground in Auburndale that Florida built specifically to test autonomous and connected vehicles before they reach public roads. Standing next to a gold Cybercab, DeSantis described the car in plain terms: “You go in there and you just sit. You have a screen. There’s no steering wheel, no pedals. Clearly these things could be very beneficial.”
We took a ride on a robotaxi on the Suntrax course and it successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.
Impressive! https://t.co/FVAkzFLz3r
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) August 11, 2026
DeSantis paired the praise with a caveat that has followed autonomous vehicles since the category existed. “You don’t want to be in an autonomous vehicle and it drives you into a ditch. That would not be good,” he said, framing safety validation as the gate before wider deployment.
SunTrax, the 2.25 mile oval which the state calls the only high speed autonomous vehicle test track in the Southeast, can simulate rain, pedestrian crossings, hills and crowded urban conditions at highway speeds, letting companies push a car past what an early public rollout would risk. Tesla, Waymo and Beep all use the facility, and Florida’s regulatory approach, among the most permissive for autonomous vehicles in the country, doesn’t require a human operator inside a fully autonomous car.
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Tesla has reason to want the blessing of Florida and states beyond, as the Cybercab entered volume production at Gigafactory Texas this spring and has since self certified as SAE Level 4 under Texas law. Public road testing so far has kept a safety monitor in the passenger seat, and Florida is where Tesla has been expanding its existing Model Y based Robotaxi service instead, adding Miami in July and then Orlando and Tampa two weeks later. A closed track endorsement from a sitting governor doesn’t change any of that, but it does put Tesla’s newest hardware in front of a state that has already shown it will move fast on rules.
Tesla launches Powerwall Lease for affordable home backup
Elon Musk teases Tesla Roadster unveiling once again
