With the new electric vehicle federal tax credit rules for 2024 capping eligibility at $80,000 MSRP and introducing new conditions for where battery minerals are sourced and processed, many vehicles, even ones built in the US that previously qualified, no longer met the requirements. At the start of 2024, GM announced that it would cover the lost federal tax credit for models that became ineligible by offering its own incentive program through what it calls the Ultium Promise Bonus.
For the Chevrolet Silverado EV, none of the currently available trims qualify to get $7,500 off from the federal government. Still, GM is stepping up to offer its own $7,500 discount for some of the ineligible model variants.
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The Silverado EV is expensive to buy, so just lease one
With an asking price of nearly $100,000 for the Silverado EV RST, the only available variant, Chevrolet's first electric pickup is expensive. It's probably better to lease one since its lease price recently dropped to $1,449 for 39 months, with $4,099 due upfront.
CarsDirect points to a memo that GM sent to dealers last week announcing that the 3WT and the 4WT trims could be bought (not leased) with the aforementioned discount and that the offer lasts until January 1, 2025. These models, whose “WT” designation means they are sold as work trucks, are aimed at fleets, so private buyers won’t be able to take advantage of this offer.
GM seems to be especially interested in selling Silverado EV work trucks. In June, CarsDirect said it obtained a bulletin sent to dealers that said they would be paid $2,500 for each electric Silverado work truck they sold, up from $1,000 before that date. This kind of manufacturer-to-dealer deal is not made public, but it is said to last until January 2, 2025.
For the $74,800 3WT and $78,900 4WT trims, it’s not the price that keeps them from receiving the federal tax credit but the new battery mineral sourcing rules that were introduced in 2024. The only other available variant is the RST model, whose steep $96,495 price puts it way above the maximum for the 2024 federal tax credit, regardless of where its battery minerals come from.
The RST doesn’t currently get GM’s Ultium Promise Bonus, so you have to pay the hefty full asking price, even though GM’s January announcement asked dealers to offer $7,500 “for any vehicles that became ineligible due to the new guidelines,” according to Reuters.
Suppose you want a GM EV that does qualify for government money. In that case, there are several models to choose from, including the simplified Cadillac Lyriq and Chevrolet Blazer EV (both of which were briefly ineligible but are now eligible after a component sourcing change), as well as the brand-new Chevrolet Blazer, which we recently got behind the wheel of.
