Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, has submitted a bill that would extend electric car tax credits to Tallmadge's Myers Motors and makers of other three-wheeled electric vehicles.
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Tallmadge's Myers Motors is hoping that a new bill by Rep. Tim Ryan will extend $7,500 federal tax credits to its line of electric vehicles. Pictured is an artist's rendering of the Myers Motors DuO, an electric vehicle due early next year.TALLMADGE, Ohio -- A bill introduced in Congress by Rep. Tim Ryan would extend a federal tax credit for electric cars to three-wheeled vehicles such as the upcoming DuO from Myers Motors in Tallmadge.
Without that change to the tax credit, now available only on purchases of four-wheeled electric cars, small companies like Myers Motors could not effectively compete with bigger automakers, company owner Dana Myers said.
Later this year, General Motors plans to start selling its Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric car for somewhere between $35,000 and $40,000. With the $7,500 tax credit, the cost to the buyer could fall below $30,000.
The DuO two-seater is scheduled to go on sale next year for about $25,000.
"If it was just us vs. GM, we could attract some business because we're going to be $11,000 cheaper" on the sticker price, Myers said. But with the tax credit, the Volt could sell for within $5,000 of the DuO. Given that the Volt is larger and has two more seats, the small price difference could be a major challenge, he added.
If his cars qualified for the same tax credits, the cost to customers could fall well below $20,000, making Myers' three-wheeled vehicles a much more affordable choice, he said.
Ryan, a Democrat of Niles, submitted his bill early this month, and it was immediately sent to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, a body headed by Detroit Democrat Sander Levin.
Myers said he's worried that such a staunch ally of traditional automakers is in charge of the committee handling the bill, but Ryan's office said it expects the bill to get fair consideration. Ryan spokeswoman Janna Pea said the congressman did not expect the committee to act immediately.
"We're on the right track in just getting it to the committee at this point," Pea said.
Ryan's bill has only one co-sponsor -- Rep. Betty Sutton, a Copley Township Democrat.
Not having access to the electric vehicle tax credits is only the latest challenge for Myers Motors. In 2004, Myers bought the assets of Corbin, a California company that had been selling a three-wheeled, one-seat vehicle called the Sparrow. Myers moved the operation to Tallmadge and renamed the vehicle the NmG, for No more Gas.
Instead of getting the vehicle to market quickly, Myers ended up spending the next four years redesigning the car's faulty electrical system and trying to make the hand-built vehicle easier to produce.
Just as he was getting a few vehicles on the road, Myers ran into legal challenges in 2008 when Ohio refused to issue license plates for the vehicle. Federal rules classified the NmG as a motorcycle. But under Ohio law, the NmG couldn't be licensed as a motorcycle because it didn't have a saddle-style seat or as a car because it only had three wheels. Lawmakers changed Ohio's statutes to fit the new vehicle.
Late last year, Myers announced plans to launch the DuO -- for Doesn't use Oil -- sometime this year. Myers later had to delay the launch of the DuO until early next year.
