incentives
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Audi and corporate parent Volkswagen believe clean diesels are being ignored by government regulations and incentive programs that promote hybrids and pure electric cars.
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Electric-Car Guide, State-By-State Specifics From Sierra Club
What's your first resource for electric-car information? We're hoping you answer Green Car Reports (of course!), but in reality there are quite a few by now. Today, the conservation group Sierra Club has launched its own Electric Vehicle Guide--and one of its key features is the ability to learn...
John Voelcker -
CA Bill To Cut Sales-Tax, License Fees On Electric, Alt-Fuel Cars
Today, electric cars and other vehicles that run on alternative fuels simply cost more. That's a fact. Now a new bill introduced in the California Assembly aims to trim a bit more off the costs of buying and registering these cars by reducing their assessed value. The brainchild of Assemblyman Al...
John Voelcker -
2012 Tax Credits For Electric Cars And Charging Stations
One month from today is Tax Day, April 15. Let us repeat that: Your Federal income taxes (and your state and local taxes too, if you live in places with their own income taxes) must be filed 31 days from today. So consider this our friendly reminder to start getting your paperwork in order if you...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Offers Leaf Owners $1,000 To Buy Other, Non-Electric Models Too
Own a Nissan Leaf? Nissan wants to thank you for it. 2011 and 2012 Nissan Leaf owners, for their loyalty, will be eligible for $1,000 off any model in Nissan's lineup. The offer runs through December 31, 2014, so you've plenty of time to decide. Nissan's research shows most Leaf owners are new to...
Antony Ingram -
CA Bill Would Extend Carpool Lane Access Perk For 10 Years
It's one of the most valued perks for plug-in electric car buyers in California: the coveted green or white sticker that lets them travel in the carpool lane with just a single person in the car. But under current law, those stickers expire on January 1, 2015--just as the yellow stickers for...
John Voelcker -
How many times have you gone car shopping to hear the salesman promise to give you free gas for a few weeks or months as a deal sweetener? In the days of $4-a-gallon gasoline, those kind of deals aren’t as common as they once were, but now Californian electric automaker Coda Automotive has revived the practice to entice customers into its 2012 Coda Sedan. Naturally, Coda isn’t offering free gasoline: instead, it wants to give customers 10,000 miles of free electricity. Buy a 2012 Coda Sedan during the month of October, and the automaker will give you a $552 rebate towards the cost...
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High Gas Prices, High Incentives Boost Electric Car Sales In CA
If you drive a regular gasoline car in California, you’ll know that the past week has been far from easy, with gas prices peaking at over $5 a gallon in places. But while many car drivers were suffering unbelievably high gas prices, plug-in and electric car dealers across the state have...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Incentives Good For Chevy, Volt Customers, And Dealers, Says Industry Reporter
Last month, Chevrolet sold a record-breaking 2,831 of its Volt plug-in hybrids, making it the top-selling plug-in car in the U.S. to date. No doubt helped by its recent ‘Happy Owner’ online ad campaign, as well as deals offering prices as low as $249 per month or less for a 24-month...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
How Can China Boost Hybrid Sales? Guangzhou City Offers Cash
Several years ago, you could get a Federal tax credit for buying a hybrid-electric vehicle. That program has ended. Several manufacturers--Toyota, Honda, and Ford among them--reached their cap of 60,000 hybrids sold, and now hybrids represent 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. market without Federal...
John Voelcker -
It's Tax Time: Have You Filed For Your Green-Car Credits?
One month from today, your 2011 Federal and state tax returns will be due. (It would have been a month from yesterday, but April 15 falls on a Sunday this year.) So consider this your friendly reminder to make sure that if you bought a plug-in car during 2011, you remember to apply for the Federal...
John Voelcker -
Obama: Add Rebates On Natural-Gas Cars, Oil Is 'Fuel Of Past'
Continuing his efforts to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil, President Barack Obama yesterday proposed expanding tax credits now offered to buyers of plug-in cars to those who buy natural-gas vehicles as well. Given the ugly politics around electric cars and the presidential election season...
John Voelcker -
It’s no secret that some parts of the U.S are more electric-car friendly than others, but what makes a certain town a better place to own an electric car than others? According to the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), four places across the U.S. are much more electric car friendly than the rest of the nation. Each, it claims, have encouraged electric car ownership with a combination of generous incentives and positive legislation. Here’s more about each of EDTA's nominated electric car city in turn, along with tips for cities that want to encourage more electric...
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Indiana Think Electric-Car Plant Stilled, Owners Quiet On Future
A year ago, we visited the Think electric-car plant in Elkhart, Indiana. At the time, several dozen workers were turning out a trickle of Think City electric vehicles assembled from kits shipped in from Finland--with big plans for ramping up production. That never happened. Instead, last June...
John Voelcker -
If You Want To Attack The Volt, Try To Get Your Math Right
Few things seem to set off a certain part of the political spectrum like the Chevrolet Volt, the extended-range electric car from General Motors. It's been on sale exactly one year, so we think it's rather too early to deem the Volt a success or a failure, though that hasn't stopped its critics...
John Voelcker -
China Wants Volt's Electric-Car Secrets; GM Says No; Tug Of War Ensues
It's been the official policy of the Chinese government-industrial complex for a while now that the country wants to dominate the electric-car business. While only a handful of highway-capable plug-in cars are sold today in China, the country's industrial overseers are nothing if not ambitious...
John Voelcker -
Chicago Will Get Nissan Leaf Early Because It Loves Electric Cars
The City of Chicago has put so much time and money into supporting electric cars that Nissan has decided to reward Illinois by moving forward the planned Chicago launch of its Leaf electric hatchback to this Fall. In February this year, Gov. Quinn of Illinois signed a bill investing $1 million in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Breathe Easy, Californians: Electric-Car Rebates Survive, Cut To $2,500
It came down to the wire, but in the end, California's program of purchase rebates for buyers of qualifying plug-in electric cars has survived the state's grim budget crisis. Last Thursday, we wrote about the decisions facing the California Air Resources Board: How much could it really afford to...
John Voelcker -
While the federal government has a blanket $7,500 tax credit available for anyone who purchases an eligible electric ca, each state is at liberty to apply its own incentives to encourage people to make the switch from gasoline to electric cars. The amount of additional incentives varies from state to state, but now residents of the town of Normal, IL will gain an additional rebate when buying an electric car worth an average of $300. The rebate is funded by the town council and is equivalent to a one percent reduction in the 7.75% sales tax levied in Normal. In other words, the more expensive...
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Daimler CEO: 1 Million Electric Cars in Germany by 2020? Not Likely
It may only be two weeks since Germany’s Chancellor Merkel announced that her government would help bring 1 million plug-in vehicles to the roads of Germany by 2020 but her bold goal is already being dismissed as impossible by the very automakers her Government is planning to help. Enter...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Germany Aims To Lead Electric Car Revolution, Doubles Funding
You may think that China is already on its way to becoming the world’s electric car leader thanks to its extremely large potential consumer market and industrial revolution, but it turns out Germany is also after the same accolade. In a move which aims to develop as many as 1 million plug-in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
China Rigs Electric-Car Incentives Against Chevy Volt, Foreign Cars
Here in the U.S. the government, both at the federal and state level, offers an array of incentives for eco friendly vehicles such as clean diesels, plug-in hybrids and electric cars. However, the U.S. isn’t the only major automotive market with such incentive programs in place. Over in China...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Obama Sticks With 1 Million Plug-Ins by 2015, Cuts Oil Sweetheart Deals
His party may be under increasing pressure from the Tea Party movement as it fights conservative attempts to stifle everything from healthcare reform to government spending, but President Obama is still keen to push the electric car revolution. Speaking at last night’s State of the Union...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Want To Buy a Toyota Prius Hybrid? This Is The Month To Do It
Auto executives always want you to buy their cars, today. That goes without saying. But it's slightly less common for them to say, in effect, "This is the month to buy, 'cause we're going to be discounting the heck out of 'em." Nonetheless, that was the message from Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice...
John Voelcker