Golf Carts—Sorry, LSVs—Win Big in Stimulus

Electric car credit goes to street-legal carts
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 28, 2009 12:29 PM CDT
Golf Carts—Sorry, LSVs —Win Big in Stimulus
They even transport firefighters.   (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

The federal government really wants to buy you a golf cart—as long as you don’t call it a golf cart. The stimulus contains a tax credit of up to $7,500 for anyone buying an electric vehicle, provided it’s primarily used on the road. So dealers are selling “LSVs” (low-speed vehicles)—cheap, street-legal buggies that happen to look and drive an awful lot like golf carts, ABC News reports.

The vehicles cost a fraction of a real electric car. One that ABC test drove cost just $8,000, and was eligible for a $6,000 write-off—which, if you’re keeping track, is more cash than anyone got for their clunker. It’s probably not what Congress had in mind when it wrote up the provision, but the IRS recently certified the vehicles as eligible for the credit, though it stresses that they’re definitely not golf carts. (More economic stimulus package stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X