Who Qualifies
The credit is available to individuals and their businesses.
To qualify, you must:
- Buy it for your own use, not for resale
- Use it primarily in the U.S.
In addition, your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) may not exceed:
- $300,000 for married couples filing jointly
- $225,000 for heads of households
- $150,000 for all other filers
You can use your modified AGI from the year you take delivery of the vehicle or the year before, whichever is less. If your modified AGI is below the threshold in one of the two years, you can claim the credit. Your modified AGI is the amount from line 11 of your Form 1040 plus:
- Any amount on line 45 or line 50 of Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income.
- Any amount excluded from gross income because it was received from sources in Puerto Rico or American Samoa.
The credit is nonrefundable, so you can't get back more on the credit than you owe in taxes. You can't apply any excess credit to future tax years.
Qualified Vehicles
General Requirements
To qualify, a vehicle must:
- Have a battery capacity of at least 7 kilowatt hours
- Have a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 14,000 pounds
- Be made by a qualified manufacturer.
Note that fuel cell vehicles do not need to be made by a qualified manufacturer to be eligible. See Rev. Proc. 2022-42 for more detailed guidance.
Vehicles on this list will meet the above three requirements.
The sale qualifies only if:
- You buy the vehicle new. New means it hasn't previously been purchased, registered, titled, or used for any purpose.
- The seller reports required information to you at the time of sale and to the IRS. Sellers are required to report your name and taxpayer identification number to the IRS for you to be eligible to claim the credit.
For vehicles placed in service on or after January 1, 2024, the dealer must be registered with IRS Energy Credits Online, and the vehicle must be approved through Energy Credits Online at the time of sale.
Final Assembly Requirement
The vehicle must undergo final assembly in North America.
You can find your vehicle's weight, battery capacity, final assembly location (listed as “final assembly point”) and VIN on the vehicle's window sticker.
To check online if a specific vehicle meets the requirements for final assembly location, go to the Department of Energy's page on Electric Vehicles with Final Assembly in North America and use the VIN Decoder tool under "Specific Assembly Location Based on VIN."
Critical Minerals and Battery Component Requirements
For vehicles placed in service (delivered to the consumer) on or after April 18, 2023, the credit amount will depend on the vehicle meeting the critical minerals sourcing and/or battery components sourcing requirements. A vehicle meeting both sourcing requirements may be eligible for the full $7,500 credit, and a vehicle meeting only one of these sourcing requirements may be eligible for a credit of $3,750. A vehicle meeting neither requirement will not be eligible for a credit.
In some instances, you may need to check with your dealer regarding the eligibility of and credit amount for a specific vehicle.
MSRP Requirement
The vehicle's manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) can't exceed:
- $80,000 for vans, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks
- $55,000 for other vehicles
The MSRP is the base retail price suggested by the manufacturer, plus the retail price suggested by the manufacturer for each accessory or item of optional equipment physically attached to the vehicle at the time of delivery to the dealer. It does not include destination charges, the cost of optional items added by the dealer, or taxes and fees. In addition, manufacturer/dealer incentives and trade-ins do not affect MSRP.
See New Clean Vehicle Tax Credit Checklist: How to qualify for the New Clean Vehicle Tax Credit.
