You’re thinking about getting an electric bike but you keep hearing about maybe there’s gonna be a rebate. Should you e-wait for the e-bate? 

To get people to ditch their cars and lower their carbon footprint, there’s lots of new legislation floating around at the state and federal level. A bill has been introduced to Congress offering a rebate of up to $1500 on e-bike purchases. And here in the PNW, there’s WA state proposal to exempt ebikes from sales tax, which at around 10 percent would save hundreds of dollars off a typical ebike purchase. 

OK this bill being promoted by a Portland-area and a NorCal congressmen has gotten tons of attention, especially for something that as of right now is mostly a wing and a prayer. There’s no actual bill language available for scrutiny, and some really crucial details have not been spelled out. So it qualifies as a classic trial balloon, and we know what happens to most balloons.

Here’s what’s been put forward so far, in a somewhat sketchy 2 page press release that cutely names the potential bill the Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment. That’s right, E-BIKE for short. Purchasers of an e-bike, as long as it does not exceed 750 watts (pretty powerful) and $8,000 price (fairly speedy), will get a third of the purchase price up to $1,500 as a consumer tax rebate, similar to what’s done with electric cars.