Photo: Inspiration Mobility Group’s Josh Green
By Fleet Management Weekly Staff
June 18, 2025
Part of running a fleet involves embracing change, finding a way to incorporate new technology while maximizing its benefits and minimizing disruption. Electric vehicles are at the forefront of this change, spurring numerous fleets to make the transition to electric, with or without assistance. One of the biggest hurdles is the higher price tag, which, although offset by lower maintenance and fuel costs, can make it difficult for fleets to justify long-term savings over short-term investment. Thanks to the 45W tax credit passed in the Inflation Reduction Act, fleets can lower that cost and make the transition to EVs more quickly.
With a new Congress and administrative changes underway, the 45W tax credit is at risk of being eliminated. As the Founder and CEO of Inspiration Mobility Group, a company dedicated to helping fleets maximize the benefits of going electric, Josh Green has launched a new coalition designed to advocate for retaining the 45W tax credit. We sat down with Green to learn more about the 45W tax credit, why it’s so beneficial for fleets, and how he and other leaders in the fleet industry are trying to protect it.
What is the 45W tax credit? Why is it essential for fleets to have it protected?
The 45W is the Commercial Clean Vehicle Tax Credit, which offers a tax credit to fleets that adopt and use electric vehicles. The credit ranges from $7,500 for a light-duty vehicle up to $40,000 for a qualifying heavy-duty vehicle. It’s essential for the industry. We have many customers taking advantage of the credit to help reduce the initial cost difference between an electric vehicle and an internal combustion vehicle.
That cost difference is rapidly shrinking, more so in light-duty than in heavy-duty vehicles, but the price premium for EVs is lowering across all vehicle classes. The tax credit is something that allows EVs to compare even more favorably to ICE vehicles from the outset. Since EVs have a much lower operating cost due to lower fuel and maintenance expenses, the 45W tax credit helps bolster their case and enables fleets to adopt them more quickly. The credit also has many other knock-on effects that are important for the US economy, American employers, and our national competitiveness.
Tell us about the American Fleet Leadership Coalition you’ve launched.
Because of the importance of the 45W tax credit, we’ve come together with 14 other companies to launch the American Fleet Leadership Coalition. It’s a new coalition designed to educate and advocate for the protection of 45W in the upcoming budget reconciliation process on Capitol Hill. Over the last few months, I’ve spent a significant amount of time on Capitol Hill working with several other coalitions, and it became clear in those meetings that the 45W tax credit is perhaps the least known and least well-understood tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act. To those members of Congress who are familiar with it, it’s usually known for its most controversial aspect, which is the so-called leasing loophole that allows consumers to take advantage of the credit if they lease a vehicle.
It became clear that a new group and unified voice were needed to describe the benefits of electric vehicles for the business community and commercial businesses of all sizes across the country. Our goal is to increase the likelihood that 45W will be available as intended to support American businesses and to align with 45X, the clean manufacturing credit, thereby creating demand for the products we are incentivizing to be built here in America. Now that we’ve launched the coalition, we’re spending a considerable amount of time on Capitol Hill, and we’ve got new members joining every day.
There are four primary points we’re making to Congress about the benefits of the 45W tax credit. The first of these is that this is an issue of national security and U.S. economic competitiveness. Electric vehicle technology was invented here, but the leadership on EV production and technology has since migrated to China, where 60% of electric vehicles are now manufactured. They also dominate the manufacturing of batteries and mining for critical minerals, and the US doesn’t want to cede that important ground to China any further. These incentives are crucial to sustaining investments in US factories and preserving US jobs. Even the most diehard ICE advocates recognize that the vast majority of vehicles in the future will eventually be electric, whether that’s five years or 25 years from now. That is the drivetrain and technology of the future. Do we want to cede that to China?
The second argument centers on energy independence, or as this administration calls it, energy dominance. We’re pointing out to Congress that US electric vehicles are powered by electricity produced domestically. That is a much safer bet than relying on imported oil refineries and supply chains for gas and diesel, especially as we scale up electricity generation in this country with AI and hyperscale data centers. The third point is about energy resilience, as the more electric vehicles that are connected to the grid, the more resilient and flexible the grid becomes. This is because EVs act as a battery, allowing them to power homes and discharge energy into the grid when necessary.
Lastly, there are 40 million commercial vehicles on US roads. That affects many businesses and drivers. If we want to help those businesses be more competitive, lower costs (especially in a time of rising vehicle costs driven by tariffs), expand their businesses, and hire more drivers, then a major driver of that will be helping them transition to EVs the right way. These are some of the points we’re making on Capitol Hill in meetings both this week and next, and we believe we’re making an impact and being heard.
