Written by Rachel Fussell, Vermont Sierra Club Executive Committee Member, Stowe Vermont
Sierra Club Vermont has been hard at work trying to the worst effects of climate change through better and more equitable transportation solutions for all Vermonters. Along with Vermont Sierra Club’s Transportation Team and annual events, including our Drive Electric Week, we are eagerly awaiting the passage of the Build Back Better Act to be passed by the Senate and signed by President Biden.
Over the past decade, the U.S. has made some progress in adopting electric cars by subsidizing the purchase of electric vehicles through tax credits. However, none of those efforts has gone to the world’s best-selling and fastest-growing form of electric vehicle—a dynamic people-mover more efficient than any Tesla or Chevy Bolt. I’m referring, of course, to the electric bicycle!
But under the Build Back Better (BBB) spending bill, which passed the House last month and awaits action in the Senate, e-bikes could, for the first time, get a push from the federal government. Tucked among its more than 2,000 pages is a tax credit of up to $900 for e-bikes (as it stands now). (Vermont residents and electric customers may also be eligible for an incentive by your utility, see Green Mountain Power's E-Bike Program and the state of Vermont's $200 incentive to be launched in the coming months.)
Its inclusion in the BBB is a testament to the growing power of e-bikes to replace short car trips and keep Americans moving with ease and efficiency — all without harmful carbon emissions. The bicycle commuter benefit included in the Build Back Better Act mirrors the Bicycle Commuter Act of 2021, meaning commuters could receive $81/month (adjusted for inflation) as a pre-tax benefit for biking to work. This could be used in harmony with parking and transit benefits and would cover costs associated with bike share, micromobility, and electric bicycles. Employees could take advantage of nearly $1,000/year pre-tax for biking to work!
Additionally, the BBB includes:
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A 30% tax credit for businesses to install micromobility charging stations.
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$4 billion for the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program.
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$3 billion for the Community Climate Incentive Grant Program.
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Of course, because this is Congress, the political reality for moving the BBB through the Senate and onto President Biden’s desk remains shaky. As a partisan bill moving through the process known as reconciliation, passing the BBB requires all Democratic senators’ support, which remains unclear. If you are passionate about electric bicycles and climate action, you can ask your senators to support the Build Back Better Act and the bike incentive and infrastructure provisions and support the Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club’s work on clean and climate-friendly transportation.
