The expensive electric vehicle that Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm used during her ill-fated summer road trip is no longer eligible for federal tax credits thanks to a new rule that pulls subsidies for cars made with certain Chinese components.
As of Jan. 1, American buyers will no longer receive a $7,500 Biden administration tax credit when they purchase a Cadillac Lyriq, General Motors confirmed. At issue are Treasury Department battery sourcing rules, which forbid tax credits from going to electric vehicles that contain battery components from China and other foreign nations of concern. Those rules went into effect Monday.
The development comes as a blow to Granholm, who toured the country in a Cadillac Lyriq during her infamous June electric vehicle road trip, which was aimed at encouraging Americans to purchase electric vehicles. At one point, the pricey Cadillac—which can cost upwards of $60,000—developed a "hardware issue" that made it difficult to charge.
During another leg of the trip, Granholm planned to stop at a public charging station outside of Augusta, Georgia, but her staff determined before her arrival that there were not enough open stations to accommodate her. As a result, Granholm's team used a gas-powered car to block the public from accessing the station's only available charger, which Granholm eventually used to charge her Lyriq. One woman was so frustrated by the move that she called the police.
"Hi, I'm calling because I'm in the Grovetown Walmart at the charging station, and there's literally a non-electric car that is taking up the space, they said they're holding the space for somebody else, and it's holding up a whole bunch of people who need to charge their cars," said the caller, according to a 911 call first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
Granholm nonetheless praised the Lyriq and the other electric vehicles that made up her road trip caravan, calling the trip "incredible" and "amazing" in a string of social media posts.
"I just love these electric vehicles," Granholm posted at the time. Her office did not return a request for comment.
General Motors is working to offset the tax credit loss by offering its own $7,500 incentive on the Lyriq and other electric models deemed ineligible under the new rules. Company spokeswoman Liz Winter said the Lyriq lost out on the credit "because of two minor components" and predicted that the vehicle "will be eligible for the full incentive in early 2024."
John Podesta, who serves as senior adviser to President Joe Biden for clean energy, said the rules targeting Chinese battery components will help "reverse the decades-long trend of letting jobs and factories go overseas to China."
"Thanks to the Investing in America agenda and today's important guidance from Treasury and the Department of Energy, we're helping ensure that the electric vehicle future will be made in America," he said in December.