No $5K Rebate, HOV-Lane Access For CA Buyers of Chevrolet Volt
Now that we have pricing and details on the Leaf and Volt, we move onto other interesting considerations, including electric and overall range, as well as the plug-in perks that states like California offer to early adopters to encourage them to opt for electric cars.
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Source: No $5K Rebate, HOV-Lane Access For CA Buyers of Chevrolet Volt
Quote from the article:
This is where it gets interesting. While California loves the Nissan Leaf, current regulations deny Chevy Volt buyers two significant perks: a $5,000 rebate, and permission to drive solo in HOV Lanes. Both the 2011 Leaf and the 2011 Volt are eligible for the maximum $7,500 federal tax credit that goes to buyers of plug-in cars with battery packs of 16 kilowatt-hours or more. Some states add their own incentives as well. Georgia and Oregon, for example, offer state tax credits ($5,000 and $1,500 respectively). California offers a tax rebate instead, a measure considered more powerful than tax credits because the rebate check that comes in the mail effectively cuts the car's purchase price within weeks, rather than making buyers wait until they file their taxes. Are you an AT-PZEV, little car? The highest California rebate of $5,000 goes only to zero-emission vehicles, those cars with no tailpipes. The all-electric Nissan Leaf qualifies, but the Volt--whose range-extending gasoline engine switches on to provide electricity when the battery is depleted--does not. California's EV buyers had expected the Volt to qualify instead for a reduced rebate of roughly $3,000, says EV advocate Chelsea Sexton. But that hope was quashed when the Volt didn't qualify as an Advanced Technology Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV), a specific category of clean vehicle in the California's complicated taxonomy of emissions classes. In the eyes of California regulators, the plug-in 2011 Chevrolet Volt is no cleaner than the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze compact--despite its ability to run solely on grid power for up to 40 miles, including at freeway speeds. |
Source: No $5K Rebate, HOV-Lane Access For CA Buyers of Chevrolet Volt
