Today's the Last Day To Order a Tesla and Get a Full Tax Rebate

Today, October 15, is the final day to order a Tesla electric car and receive the full $7,500 federal tax credit in the United States. Tesla has posted a schedule of how the tax credits will break down for customers on its website, Reuters reported Friday.

The reason for the October 15 deadline is to ensure Tesla will deliver each car before the end of the year. Vehicles delivered by the of the year will receive the full tax credit, but Tesla’s production process will likely push Model S and Model X buyers into sometime in November. Model 3 buyers could face an eight-week-long delivery process.

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Federal tax credits are available to every automaker doing business in the United States. Up to $7,500 is available based on the car’s battery pack size and the figure is good until an automaker sells 200,000 qualifying vehicles. Tesla was the first automaker to reach the cap earlier this year. Starting January 2019, only $3,750 will be available to buyers. Then, in July 2019, the tax credit halves itself again with only $1,875 available. Come January 2020, Tesla will not be eligible for any tax credits.

And the credits themselves hang in the balance. A Republican senator has introduced a bill to kill the federal tax credit entirely, while a Democratic congressman has introduced a bill to lift the 200,000-vehicle cap in the U.S. House. Automakers have lobbied for increasing the tax credit, specifically, General Motors. GM is expected to reach the cap in early 2019 and it will become the first legacy automaker to do so.

[Source: Reuters]

A version of this story originally appeared on Hybrid Cars.