House Democrat Bill Would Double the EV Tax Credit to $15,000

Image: Architect of the Capitol

A House Democrat has filed a bill that would bring back the federal EV tax credit and raise the new-vehicle payout from $7,500 to $15,000, more than a year after Congress scrapped the incentive for cars bought after September 30, 2025.

Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio introduced the 21st Century Vehicle Choice Act, H.R. 10881, on Thursday, October 22. His office says the bill would double the new clean vehicle credit to $15,000, raise the used EV credit from $4,000 to as much as $8,000, lift the home and public charger credit from 30 percent to 50 percent of eligible costs, and make all three incentives permanent.

“We have to make life more affordable and give folks more choices,” Landsman said in the release. “Our bill would make electric vehicles more accessible and help families save money on gas.”

The bill text on Congress.gov matches that pitch. Each of the two $3,750 pieces of the old new-EV credit would rise to $7,500. Income caps would drop to $225,000 for married couples filing jointly, $169,000 for heads of household, and $112,500 for single filers. Buyers who already claimed the new-EV credit in a prior year, or earlier in the same year, would get $0 on the next one. The changes would apply only to vehicles placed in service after the bill became law.

Nothing in the introduced text carves Tesla out. It also does not rewrite the older North American assembly and battery-content tests that sat inside the Inflation Reduction Act version of the credit, so any revived program would still have to clear those rules unless a later amendment changes them. Tesla still sells more than half of America’s EVs, and its U.S. cars are built in California and Texas.

Passage is a long shot for now. The measure has no cosponsors, sits in Ways and Means plus Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources, and would still need the Senate and a signature from President Trump, who signed the 2025 law that ended the credits. Separate Democratic bills, including a broader House package with more than 160 cosponsors and a Senate measure from Catherine Cortez Masto, have also sought to restore clean vehicle incentives, but party leaders have not locked in a 2027 plan around EVs.

When the credit’s end was approaching last year, Tesla buyers raced to order before the September 30 cutoff. On the company’s July 2025 earnings call, Elon Musk said the loss of U.S. EV support could mean “a few rough quarters,” while pointing to autonomy and Robotaxi revenue as the longer path. His framing still lines up with how Tesla talks about growth today, including Musk’s claim that the company will eventually drive most passenger miles on Earth.

Would a $15,000 permanent credit change how many Americans buy a Tesla, or has the company already moved past needing the subsidy?