12-09-2024 4:56am

Blink exec: Company would be unaffected if Trump cuts EV tax credit

Blink Charging President and CEO Brendan Jones is retiring but will continue as a board member and executive adviser at the Bowie-based company. Photo courtesy of Blink

Blink Charging President and CEO Brendan Jones is upbeat about the direction of the Bowie-based company despite uncertainty around the federal electric vehicle tax credit.

Jones said the company would be unaffected if President-elect Donald Trump revoked the EV tax credit. “It’s going to have no impact,” he said.

The company would “keep going” even if the EV tax credit were to be cut under Trump, Jones said.

As Reuters reported last month, the Trump transition team plans to repeal the federal EV tax credits provided in the Inflation Reduction Act that President Biden signed into law. Taxpayers who purchase a new electric vehicle currently can receive tax credits of $7,500 or up to $4,000 for used EVs.

The automotive industry should not rely solely on tax credits but explore other ways to make electric cars affordable, Jones said. Automakers already have worked to bring down the cost of EV batteries, making them more affordable over the past decade, he said.

“There are proponents that say the EV tax credit is going to help, it certainly will,” said Jones. “But it’s up to the industry to make cars more affordable.”

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group that represents major car manufacturers, sent a letter to Trump in November in support of EV tax credits, Reuters reported.

“Provisions in the tax code support the development of next-generation automotive technologies, including EVs, in the U.S.,” John Bozzella, president and CEO of AAI, said in the letter. “These incentives have fueled investment in domestic EV and battery manufacturing and increased good-paying jobs in automotive communities across the industrial base,” Bozzella wrote.

Blink is a politically neutral company, Jones said, and he sees less of a political divide around the desire to create American manufacturing jobs. “EVs have created a manufacturing base in the South, which is all red states,” he said, pointing to Tennessee and investment from automakers in south Florida, Georgia and other Southern states.

He described EV jobs as "great for the economy" and "high-tech jobs that pay a livable wage.”

News of the Trump transition team's stance on EV tax credits comes as Blink prepares for the January grand opening of its new global headquarters in Bowie and as Jones prepares to retire Jan. 31, 2025.

Michael Battaglia, the company's chief operating officer, will be promoted to the role of president and CEO Feb. 1.

Jones started as CEO of Blink in 2020, the start of the Biden administration, and says the company has transformed since they started four years ago from around 40 employees to 650 today and several acquisitions.

Jones, who will transition to a board member and executive adviser at Blink following his retirement, said the company anticipates continued long-term growth in Bowie and has already brought jobs such as sales, communications, IT and engineering.

Blink opened new headquarters at the Melford Town Center in March. The publicly traded company previously was based in Miami Beach, Florida.

"We're just going to keep going, because we're supplying charging to a whole bunch of different protocols,” Jones said. “We supply it to EV fleets, we supply it to multi-family dwellings, we supply direct current fast chargers to dealerships.”

Although funding is no longer available for a state excise tax credit for EVs, Maryland and utilities in the state offer other incentives to purchase these vehicles and battery components, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation.

“Maryland continues to offer generous state grants and incentives that support EV sales and EV charging deployments,” Jones wrote in an email response.

Xavier Board covers Bowie as a student reporter for the UMD Local News Network.

CORRECTION: This article corrects the title of Brendan Jones, who was referred to as president of Blink Charging. He is president and CEO of the company.