Mail Call. According to Politico, “Thirteen attorneys general on Friday demanded in a letter to Wheeler that his agency withdraw an order to manufacturers of glider trucks that the agency will not enforce a strict 300-unit production cap for 2018 and 2019, which was issued by Pruitt on his last day. The AGs call the move ‘clearly unlawful’ and a violation of EPA’s policy against ‘no action assurances.’ In a statement, New York AG Barbara Underwood said Pruitt gave ‘a parting gift to polluters on his very last day as EPA Administrator — bolstering the Trump Administration’s legacy of siding with corporations over people.’ New York, along with California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington, signed onto the letter, as did the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the California Air Resources Board. — GOP Reps. Greg Walden, Gregg Harper and John Shimkus wrote to Wheeler on Friday, seeking additional information on EPA’s process for reviewing grant applications. Read the letter here.” [Politico, 7/16/18 (=)]

 

Tesla Reaches Sales Milestone, Set To Lose $7,500 Tax Credit. According to E&E News, “Tesla Inc. customers who want tax credits for buying an electric vehicle may soon be out of luck. The $7,500 EV tax break is set to expire at the end of this year because the company announced delivering its 200,000th vehicle in the United States this month. The program is expected to be terminated at the end of 2019. The tax credits helped the popularity of EVs, but the vehicles still only make up 1.1 percent of the market. The federal government incentives were designed to taper off once manufacturers achieved higher levels and reduced their costs. ‘The good news is that there will be increased demand in the short term once consumers realize the credit will disappear,’ Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster wrote. ‘On the other hand, future demand has been pulled to the present, so Tesla may face a headwind in 2019.’ Musk denied delaying deliveries in the United States as a way to stall reaching the 200,000-car mark.” [E&E News, 7/16/18 (=)]

 

China Points To Tesla, BMW As Evidence Of Opening. According to E&E News, “The United States and China may be in the midst of a trade war. But two of the globe’s most important automakers are getting ready to expand their Chinese operations. Tesla Inc. announced last week that it would open its first factory outside of the United States, in Shanghai, while BMW AG will soon become the first foreign automaker to take majority control of a joint venture in China. Both companies stand to lose much from Chinese import tariffs on American cars, since so much of their production is based in the United States. Those two initiatives would seem to support China’s claim that it is on the path to opening its markets to greater outside control. It plans to end the rule limiting foreign automakers to a 50 percent share of joint ventures by 2022. ‘This is not only an achievement of China’s self-initiated opening up, it is also an embodiment of win-win economic cooperation between China and the U.S.,’ said Gao Feng, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce.” [E&E News, 7/16/18 (=)]