Higher Rebate for EV/PHV Proposed in 2012 Budget

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It is not clear how they are going to raise it. Will they keep the same formula and simply raise the maximum?

The current structure is $2,500 for 4kWh and $417 for additional kWh. Since the maximum is $7,500, the biggest battery size come out to 16 kWh (magically Volt has it).

If they keep the same "formula", then it'll take 22 kWh to reach the $10,000 max. Since Leaf has 24 kWh, it'll get the full $10,000 but Volt will stay at $7,500. Prius PHV will also remain at $2,500 with the 4.4 kWh pack.

It is likely that this new bill is to support GM and bring the price of Volt to below $30k. I would bet Volt will qualify for the full $10,000.

If it is for green energy, the measurement stick should not be the battery size. It should depend on the carbon emission per mile (efficiency) and the size of the vehicle.

 

And since it isn't for green energy it is irrelevant. It is to quit relying so much on petroleum.

 

It should be a rebate, not a tax credit.

 

Rebates give money to people with lower tax bills. Tax credits give it preferentially to rich people. Since Congress is made up of rich people, they always prefer tax credits. "Of the people, by the people, and for the people," really, in the case of the U.S. of A. means "Of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich."

If they really wanted to make the country less dependent on oil, they should forget about any kind of purchase credits, and instead spend the money on battery R&D, develop cheaper and denser batteries, and put the technology into the public domain.

 

These tax incentive and carpool policies work. They definitely incentivize consumers to buy cars with these new technologies.

 

Just ignore it; there is no chance of this becoming law.

 

California is not the United States. Please deal with this reality and stop asking me to subsidize whatever utopian fantasies you happen to be focused on today. Got it?

 

...thank you OP it is nice to know what is in the Obama budget re: cars.
Not much we can say now except wait and see how it develops.
I am starting to worry about US treasury bonds losing further credit rating, I do not want to go there.

 

No worries, bonds are the promise of future money, not actual money.
The key is credit, as there is no more money, just the promise of future money (did you get all of that? )

 

I think increasing taxation on oil would be more appropriate. Spending money specifically on battery R&D is the government choosing a winner. For example, if there's a fuel cell breakthrough, should it possibly lose out to batteries simply b/c the government chose to subsidize battery? The free market and price signal are strong if used correctly. Both externalities of oil and spending money on specific R&D break that.

 

Energy independence is not a utopian fantasy. It is a way to increase national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The US has spent a lot of money in military action in the Middle East the past decades b/c we have to be concerned with stability for our energy supply. Sever that link and we stop spending taxpayer money on military action and reduce sending money out of the country to buy a consumable resource. Reducing taxpayer spending grows the pie and reducing spending on foreign oil increases the fraction of the pie that stays in the US. Got it?

 

And all those tax credits and grants to end up like A123 being manufactured in Korea and China ........

 

We will never achieve energy independence by saddling future generations with debt just so that a handful of very wealthy people can get a $10,000 tax break on a Chevy Volt or other silly vehicle. Got it?

 

Yes, they get a few more people to buy cars. But how many, and at what cost? How many buyers would have bought anyway? The Prius got a tax deduction at a time when demand so far exceeded supply that every Prius Toyota could build would have been sold without the deduction. And I'd have bought my Tesla with or without the $7,500 tax credit.

OTOH, if research could bring down the cost of batteries (and putting the technology in the public domain would eliminate monopolistic prices when one company develops and patents a battery, or worse, takes it off the market as happened with NiMH!) then the prices of the cars would come down.

I think we'd get more bang for the buck with research than with tax give-aways to people many of whom would buy the cars even without the give-away.

 

Cut energy subsidies of *ALL KINDS*, and tax to cover externalities.

Period.

Obama is wrong here. As for the repukicans -- they live under a rock.

 

The proposed budget does also finally start to reduce subsidies to oil companies, so its a step in the right direction.