Tesla doesn’t get subsidies anymore, they make too many cars.
No, these aren’t subsidies that I’m referring to, but Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), i.e. Renewable Fuel Credits.
TSLA wants to be able to use its vehicle production to generate RINs under the Renewable Fuel Standard, and to do so, it will require some lobbying, and a polishing of its appearance. Net effect - legacy oil&gas will be massively pissed if Elon is able to amass a stack of RINs. The chart is for the D3 RIN (at a multi-year high right now), but EVs would probably get a new designation. (There are a few different series, from D3 to D7, currently traded by obligated parties).
D3 RIN chart:
https://imgur.com/xgBRABO
Story from April 1:
White House asks EPA to study how EVs can generate renewable fuel credits
2021-04-01 15:58:09.872 GMT
White House asks EPA to study how EVs can generate renewable
fuel credits
April 1 (National Post) — NEW YORK - The White House has
directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study how
using renewable fuels to power electric vehicle charging could
generate tradeable credits under the nation’s biofuels program,
two sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
The move could give the fledgling U.S. electric vehicle
industry a big boost by granting it fresh incentives and a new
revenue stream. But the idea would introduce new actors like
Tesla Inc into a program that has already bitterly divided the
oil and corn industries.
Under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), oil refiners
must blend biofuels such as corn-based ethanol into their fuel
mix or buy tradable credits, known as RINs, from those that do.
The program was launched more than a decade ago to support
farmers and reduce petroleum imports.
If the program were expanded to include EVs the RINs would
come from charging the vehicle using electricity produced by a
renewable source of methane, like gas siphoned from landfills
or dairy operations, according to the sources.
There’s potentially a lot of that kind of fuel available:
Agriculture accounts for 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions,
with livestock making up more than a third of that, according
to EPA data. Landfills, meanwhile, are a major source of
methane.
Electricity from biogas is already technically eligible
for generating RINs under the RFS, but the EPA has never
approved applications to do so because the agency hasn’t yet
figured out the logistical issues.
The key questions are how to trace the credit-eligible
biogas from its origin all the way through to a car’s battery,
and who along that supply chain should be allowed to claim the
lucrative credits.
“There’s going to be a big fight between biomass
producers, charging station operators and EV carmakers like
Tesla over who gets custody of the RIN,” said one of the
sources.
The White House and the EPA declined to comment.
The existing RFS program is already a lightning rod of
contention between the oil and corn industries.
Refiners complain that complying with the regulation costs
them a fortune, while farmers and biofuel producers say the
program is essential for them to stay in business.
One source told Reuters that Tesla, which produces both
cars and charging stations, has been lobbying the Biden
administration to ensure it can generate and sell credits if
the new plan gets off the ground.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
“EPA seems to be hung up on who should generate the RINs -
but that should be easy enough for them to address,” said David
McCullough, who counsels on energy regulation at Eversheds
Sutherland.
CLIMATE AMBITION
Pumping up the electric vehicle market is a key priority
for the Biden administration as it seeks to decarbonize the
nation’s economy by 2050 to fight climate change.
Transportation is the leading source of U.S. greenhouse gas
emissions, just ahead of the power sector, according to the EPA.
Groups such as the Biomass Power Association have pushed
for the federal government to create a pathway for electricity
producers that source from qualified renewable feedstocks to
generate RINs.
That group, whose members include biomass companies and
associations, wrote to the Biden transition team in December as
part of the RFS Power Coalition, urging them to act quickly.
“When you’re putting electricity online from an RFS-
qualifying feedstock and that electricity goes toward powering
an electric vehicle, then that electricity producer should be
able to generate RINs just as an ethanol producer is able to
do,” said Carrie Annand, executive director of the Biomass
Power Association.
RINs generated in this way would likely be classified as
D3 biofuel credits, a category that the EPA has struggled to
expand in recent years.
Some oil refiners like CVR Energy’s Carl Icahn have been
highly critical of the D3 market, with some calling them
“unicorn” fuels because of their scarcity.
(Reporting by
Jarrett Renshaw and Stephanie Kelly Editing by Cynthia Osterman
and Sonya Hepinstall)