My read of the bill is you need a “written sales order,” or a “binding” sales agreement signed before the president signs the bill into law and the vehicle must be delivered by Dec 31, 2023 in order to be grandfathered into the old law. In other words, find an I5/EV6 that isn’t already claimed in the next few days.
My story is I have an order for an ioniq 5 with anticipated delivery in “4-6mo” placed about a month ago (before this new legislation was announced) without a deposit (dealer out of area who is not charging a $5k markup as 90% of Hyundai and Kia dealers are now). They have subsequently told me this is not a “written sales order,” so will not qualify as such under new law. I simultaneously ordered a M3 SR+ for $250 nonrefundable deposit also with a 4-6mo delivery. I figured I would let fate decide which vehicle would be my next, though deep down, as a former engineer and with taking a new job requiring 140mi of commuting a day mostly on roads that WON’T be LiDAR mapped by a Tesla competitors, I really want the Tesla to see what FSD can do. Then MANCHIN! Now the M3 SR+ might qualify and the ioniq 5 won’t (assembled in S. Korea), WHAT?
Then I get into the weeds of CATL LFP battery (which, btw big fan of LFP vs NCA - slightly less performance, but cost less, better durability, and can feel OK charging to 100%, sign me up!), also read
this, which, while dated, supports one of the above poster’s suppositions that Tesla doesn’t really know where it gets it’s minerals from. Then also learn that CATL might open an
assembly facility in the US, as another one of the posters above mentioned (unfortunately, not until 2026 :-(). So my head is swimming in NCA, LFP, M3 SR+, I5, LIPO4, LiNiCo, DC fast charging La La land.
So the short answer here is, I should buy an ioniq 5 if I can in the next few days (to qualify under the old law), or hold out and see if my M3 SR+ happens to qualify/just buy it because it’s what I want. Then, because my delivery date is Nov 18-Dec 31, find a way to delay delivery until Jan 1 without getting kicked out of the Tesla club because I dragged my feet for 30 days, only to find out some congressional committee that doesn’t like Elon Musk decided to enforce the “intent” of the law such that my M3 SR+ no longer qualifies after I took a price hike by changing my order to make sure my delivery date was after Dec 31 to not waste my $250 bucks and all the while the only winner is Elon Musk (and maybe me when I’m cursing Elon for simultaneously being an buffoon and a genius).
I chose a crazy time to buy an EV! Maybe I should just throw in the towel, keep my paid off VW TDI Sportwagen 6MT and drive myself to work for the rest of my employed life.
What do y’all think?