incentives
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Incentives to get drivers to buy highly fuel-efficient cars have taken many forms, one of the most popular being single-occupant access to carpool lanes on crowded freeways. Hybrid-electric vehicles were some of the first beneficiaries of these policies, but now they're being elbowed aside by zero-emission vehicles powered by electricity or hydrogen. And now a new amendment to a proposed U.S. Senate bill that renews highway funding for six years has made the demotion official. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model S: 'Intergalactic SpaceBoat Of Light And Wonder' According to The Detroit News, Senator James...
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Texas Electric-Car Purchase Rebates Up To $2,500 To Start Soon
Texas plans to offer rebates to buyers of new electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and natural-gas vehicles.
Stephen Edelstein -
Rewarding Dealers Who Sell Electric Cars: Connecticut Takes The Lead
The Connecticut "Revolutionary Dealer Award" is meant to encourage the sale of electric cars.
Stephen Edelstein -
MD Boosts Electric-Car Tax Credit, CA Adds Funds To Rebate Program
California and Maryland put more money into electric-car incentives.
Stephen Edelstein -
In Effort To Sell RAV4 Electric SUVs, Toyota Puts 'Cash On Hood'
The all-electric Toyota RAV4 EV, even with its Tesla-designed powertrain, isn't exactly flying out of dealerships. While it's a low-volume compliance car sold to meet California regulations, Toyota still has to move 2,600 of them over a three-year period that began in September 2012. So Toyota is...
John Voelcker -
One Percent Of Norway's Cars Are Already Plug-In Electrics
Overshadowed by their spectacular sales success in March, electric vehicles hit a momentous milestone in Norway last month. Fully one percent of Norway's passenger-car fleet now consists of battery electric vehicles. And this isn't a case of rounding up, either – this is a full 1 percent. As...
Matthew Klippenstein -
Over the last few years, China has experienced some of the highest city pollution concentrations anywhere on earth--with concentrations of pollutants climbing far past dangerous levels on official scales. Roughly a quarter of that is due to heavy traffic, and it's prompted legislation to clean up the country's streets by any means possible. Electric cars are one suggestion, but so far sales have struggled--and that doesn't look likely to change any time soon, according to writer Alysha Webb, who follows electric-car activities in China. Like many other countries around the world, one of...
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CA Electric-Car Incentive Update: Funds Run Out, Green Stickers Gone
Access to carpool lanes on California's legendarily crowded freeways is a big perk. So is getting a check in the mail that cuts the purchase cost. These incentives were successful in spurring sales of hybrids years ago, and they've helped sales of modern battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars...
John Voelcker -
Electric-Car Sales Surge In South Korea, Supported By Subsidies
Sales of plug-in electric cars are very regional right now, globally as well as within the United States. Norway, for instance, has seen electric-car sales soar because it offers financial incentives and other benefits that aren't available to drivers of vehicles with combustion engines. Now we can...
John Voelcker -
Massachusetts To Offer Rebates For Plug-In Electric-Car Purchases
Massachusetts is the latest state to incentivize electric-car purchases.
Stephen Edelstein -
Georgia Advocates Ask Legislature To Keep Electric-Car Tax Benefit
Today, Georgia is among the best places in the country to buy an electric vehicle. Its electric-vehicle tax credit of $5,000 is among the highest offered by any state, and makes buying a battery-electric vehicle much more affordable. But advocates for the bill are now appealing to Georgia...
Antony Ingram -
CA Carpool-Lane Stickers For Plug-In Hybrids Run Out By May--Or Sooner
One of the major incentives for buying a plug-in electric car in California is the coveted sticker allowing single-occupant travel in the carpool lanes on the state's crowded freeways. Now, the supply of stickers for plug-in hybrids that can travel on battery power alone but also have an engine as...
John Voelcker -
As expected, the 2014 BMW i3 electric car has been awarded its "white sticker," the coveted permission to drive in High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes with only one occupant on California's crowded freeways. The range-extended version of the i3, however, has not yet appeared on the list--and there remains debate as to what kind of sticker it would be awarded. MORE: 2014 BMW i3 Electric-Car Orders Limited To Single Trim Level (For 3 Months) The California Air Resources Board publishes a list showing that no fewer than 24 vehicles from model year 2014 are now eligible for either green or white...
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China To Extend Electric-Vehicle Subsidies Beyond 2015 Expiration Date
After it expires, the Chinese government will replace its current subsidy regime with a new policy.
Stephen Edelstein -
Will Georgia Kill Its $5,000 Tax Credit For Electric-Car Purchases?
New legislation could shut down Georgia's electric-car tax credit by April 1.
Stephen Edelstein -
2014 BMW i3 Range Extender: No White CA Carpool-Lane Sticker, Here's Why
Incentives help drive the purchase of plug-in electric cars, which remain unfamiliar and expensive to many first-time buyers. But a recent article on The Street may have caused some confusion over which incentives will be granted to BMW's first electric car, the i3, when it goes on sale this...
John Voelcker -
Plug-In Electric Car Incentives Not Working? Report Slams 'Mainstream Market Bias'
A new paper argues that U.S. electric-car incentives are too focused on converting mainstream car buyers.
Stephen Edelstein -
Norway's Electric Cars: Already Too Popular?
Norway's electric-car incentives may be victims of their own success.
Stephen Edelstein -
If you live in parts of California, electric cars--from the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid all the way up to the Tesla Model S--are no longer uncommon. The streets of Palo Alto, in the center of Silicon Valley, are practically crawling with Teslas these days. But in other parts of the country, you may go months without seeing a single car with a plug. Three weeks ago, Mother Nature Network took a look at which states have the most plug-in electric cars, and why. California tops the list, of course, due to state rules that require sales of certain numbers of zero-emission vehicles by the six...
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Electric-Car Charging-Station Tax Credit Expires On Dec 31st
Consider this your last warning: If you're planning on getting a charging station for a plug-in electric car, you only have 30 days. More specifically, at least, you'll have to get it up and running by December 31 this year in order to take advantage of a Federal income-tax credit of 30 percent of...
John Voelcker -
Grading Canada's Progress In Plug-In Electric Cars So Far
Modern electric cars went on sale three years ago, and now we're starting to see assessments of their progress from a variety of perspectives. Last year, WWF Canada (the panda people, not the professional wrestlers) set a goal of having 600,000 electric vehicles on Canadian roads by 2020 – or...
Matthew Klippenstein -
How One Electric Utility Encouraged Employees To Use Plug-In Cars
While workplace charging is still a work in progress at most companies, a few progressive corporations and nonprofits now offer incentives to employees to commute in plug-in electric cars. One example is PSEG, the publicly-owned New Jersey electric and gas utility, which has seen employee usage of...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Offers $15,000 For New Electric-Car Quick Chargers By Dec 31
With the long-term business model for public charging stations increasingly unclear, at least one carmaker beyond Tesla is boosting its efforts to promote the rollout of quick-charging stations for electric cars. Nissan's EV Advantage program offers $10,000 to companies, groups, and others who...
John Voelcker -
China Adds More Electric-Car Subsidies, Still Ignores Hybrids
Under its "new energy vehicle" policy, China will subsidize the purchase of electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen cars, but not hybrids.
Stephen Edelstein