The state of California has a long track record of supporting electric cars and doing everything possible to ensure plug-in vehicles can be obtained by the largest number of drivers. Aside from the Federal income-tax credits available nationally, the state of California has its own purchase rebates. Local utilities have also begun to incentivize... CA bill would make up for federal electric-car incentives as they expire
The state of California has a long track record of supporting electric cars and doing everything possible to ensure plug-in vehicles can be obtained by the largest number of drivers. Aside from the Federal income-tax credits available nationally, the state of California has its own purchase rebates. Local utilities have also begun to incentivize... ![Tesla owners & supporters gather in Statehouse in Austin to support company [photo: John Griswell]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/tesla-owners-supporters-gather-in-statehouse-in-austin-to-support-company-photo-john-griswell_100424739_t.gif)
Ah, Texas, the state that was formerly a nation and continues to do things slightly differently. Its politics is bare-knuckle, its hats are big, and so are its ranches. It also generates more renewable wind energy than any other state in the union. Its auto-dealer lobbyists, however, are equally large and powerful. DON'T MISS: Tesla Loses Legal... ![2015 Nissan Leaf with CHAdeMO fast-charging cable plugged in [photo John Briggs]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/2015-nissan-leaf-with-chademo-fast-charging-cable-plugged-in-photo-john-briggs_100558582_t.gif)
California already offers generous incentives to get consumers into electric vehicles, but now the electric utility Southern California Edison has joined in. SCE has announced what it calls the Clean Fuel Rewards Program to offer a $450 purchase rebate for battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners. The utility company isn't limiting the... ![Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland [photo: Forth]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/chevrolet-bolt-ev-being-charged-outside-go-forth-electric-car-showroom-portland-photo-forth_100606247_t.gif)
It's clear that incentives to buy specific cars work best when they can be applied directly at the time of sale. That's why purchase rebates are widely preferred by electric-car advocates to tax credits, which may take up to 15 months to be usable, depending on the timing of the purchase and tax filing. While the federal electric-car incentive is... 
New York State is known for a lack of transparency, backroom dealings, and little public input into the deliberations that lead to legislation produced by its state legislature. So it wasn't too surprising that after Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an electric-car incentive program in April 2016, radio silence ensued. Thankfully, the legislation...