Electric-car winds in China shift again: goals to be cut after sales fall?

BYD Yuan. Photo by Indian Autos Blog.Eight weeks ago, China seemed to be preparing to loosen its famously strict car-manufacturing rules for foreign makers. The government leaders who direct economic policy had seemingly concluded that Chinese makers could not succeed in selling cars in Europe and North America. So the country proposed to relax joint-venture rules for so-called New...

New York state electric-car rebate program to launch this month

2017 Nissan Leaf  New York state has finally issued details on its effort to step up its efforts to promote electric cars. The Empire State is one of eight so-called "ZEV states" that have adopted California emissions standards. But New York does not mandate automakers to sell zero-emission vehicles within its borders, and currently does not offer purchase...

Biofuel, fossil-fuel lobbyists join to fight electric-car incentives

Big square baler harvesting wheat straw for production of cellulosic ethanolAs the old saying goes: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The biofuel and fossil-fuel lobbies have argued in the past over the blending of biofuels with the general fuel supply. But now the two groups have found something they can agree on. DON'T MISS: Sierra Club to sue EPA over failure to report on ethanol A U.S. biofuel-lobbying group is...

Will GM or Tesla buyers lose electric-car tax credits first?

Tesla Model 3A major contributor to electric-car sales is the program under which buyers of new electric cars qualify for a federal income-tax credit of up to $7,500. But these tax credits are not unlimited. Once a manufacturer reaches sales of 200,000 plug-in electric cars (after December 31, 2009), the credits start to phase out for that company's cars...

Ontario, BC update electric-car incentives for Canadian buyers

2016 Nissan LeafTwo Canadian provinces are now offering more generous incentives to electric-car buyers. Ontario is eliminating certain price caps in its electric-car incentive program, while a British Columbia not-for-profit is boosting its "cash-for-clunkers"-style program. Ontario announced its updated incentives February 1, but they apply retroactively to...

South Korea to extend electric-car subsidy to long-range vehicles too

2017 Tesla Model SSouth Korea currently offers electric-car subsidies, but only to shorter-range vehicles. This somewhat unusual provision was put in place in 2012, the government says, to encourage sales of electric cars with convenient charging times. Under the current rule, electric cars that can fully charge in under 10 hours on standard household current...

China to crack down on green-car subsidy cheating: report

ChinaOver the past few years, both national and state Chinese governments have heavily subsidized electric cars in an aggressive attempt to promote mass adoption. Electric cars are seen as an important way to combat the country's notorious air pollution, and develop the domestic auto industry. So far, the various subsidies and purchase incentives have...

Electric-car group buying programs spread into new states

2017 Nissan Leaf  Group-buying programs have proven to be a very effective tool to get more people to purchase and drive electric cars. These programs—typically partnerships between local governments and dealers, but sometimes undertaken by private groups—leverage collective buying power to lower vehicle prices for individual consumers. Similar to...

Which type of Green Car Reports articles are least valuable? Poll results

2017 Toyota Prius Prime test drive, Ojai, California, Sep 2016Last week, we wrote about the results of a Twitter poll we put up to get a feel for what our readers like best about the site. The flipside of "most valuable" is "least valuable," so we put up the same list of choices again, this time asking survey respondents to rank their least favorite types of articles. Surprisingly, however, the results...

Which Green Car Reports articles are most valuable? Poll results

Chevrolet's Steve Majoros (R) accepts Green Car Reports 2017 Best Car To Buy award for Chevy Bolt EVWe've now been running a series of Twitter polls for several weeks, and last week we decided to use one poll for a different purpose. We wanted to survey our audience, which we haven't done in any large-scale or systematic way. A Twitter poll isn't particularly scientific, but like reading the comments on articles, we thought it might give us a...

China decides maybe hybrids could help its emissions too

ChinaWhen it comes to electric cars, China has some of the most generous incentives of any country. But in its attempt to promote greener vehicles, China has largely ignored hybrids to focus on cars with plugs. Efforts so far have concentrated on what the government calls "New Energy Vehicles," a category that encompasses electric cars, plug-in...

California removes limit on carpool access for plug-in hybrids

Green HOV-Lane StickerOf California's many incentives for green cars, one of the most popular is solo access to the state's carpool lanes for drivers of electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and certain other vehicles. But while California will distribute an unlimited number of "white stickers" for electric cars—as well as vehicles using hydrogen fuel cells and...