A Guide to Hybrid Incentives and Laws

Depending on when you bought a hybrid or other green car, which model you purchased, and how many deductions you are already taking, you might be entitled to a significant tax credit. We’ll continue to track federal, local and corporate hybrid incentives, and share it in these pages. You'll also find the latest government proposals and plans.

Start with these articles:

Top news inIncentives & Laws

Car Dealers Give Proposed New Fuel Economy Label a Failing Grade: The National Automobile Dealers Association has come out against a proposed letter-grade system for fuel economy, saying that it would confuse consumers and be "imbued with schoolyard memories of passing and failing."
China to Best U.S. in EVs, but Not Hybrids: Pike Research projects that between 2010 and 2015 China will have 1.85 million hybrids and EVs sold, with 1 million EVs on the road. In the U.S. more than 2.3 million hybrids will be sold during that time, and 840,000 plug-in and all-electric vehicles.
California Senate Gives HOV Access to Plug-in Hybrids, Extends Hybrids for 6 Months: The California Senate yesterday voted 28-3 to pass a bill to would extend the use of carpool lanes for solo hybrid drivers through June 30, 2011. The legislation, SB 535, would also provide HOV access to as many as 40,000 solo drivers of plug-in hybrids under the state’s Enhanced Advanced Technology Zero Emissions Vehicle (EAT-PZEV) designation. SB 535 now goes to the governor, who will have 12 days to sign or veto it.
Obama Touts Cleaner, Greener, Rebounding Auto Industry: [HCTITLE]
[HCDATE] President Obama travelled to Detroit today to tout the success of the auto bailouts and stimulus program in reviving the American automotive industry. By 2015, the White House says that the United States will have the capacity to build 500,000 electric vehicles per year, with 40 percent of the world's lithium ion battery production occurring domestically as well.
With Cap and Trade Dead, What's Left of the Energy Bill?: Senate leaders are said to be drafting a pared down energy bill that would create a handful of new incentives and programs but do nothing to cap greenhouse gas emissions.
Are E85 Vehicles Destined for Extinction?: Analysts say flex-fuel vehicles will soon be phased out, but automakers are pledging to follow through on plans to make half of their vehicles E85-capable. So what gives?
Corn and Cellulosic Ethanol Fight for Viability, Government Favor: The biofuels industry is in a state of flux. While corn ethanol has enjoyed early success, the political climate is beginning to shift against it despite numerous powerful allies and millions of dollars in annual lobbying and advertising spending. Cellulosic ethanol has also enjoyed a great deal of government support but has yet to make so much as a ripple in the market.
Carpool (HOV) Lanes: With the signing of the federal transportation bill by Pres. George Bush in Aug. 2005, states may now issue stickers to owners of hybrid vehicles, allowing them to drive solo in High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes.
Hybrids Set to Lose Carpool Access Perk: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 1500 Wednesday, providing a perk that allows owners of pure electric vehicles and cars running on compressed natural gas to drive solo in California carpool lanes until Jan. 1, 2015. That’s good news for owners of electric cars and the few who drive the Honda GX, which runs on compressed natural gas. But it’s bad news for the 85,000 or so drivers of the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight or Honda Civic Hybrid, who currently enjoy solo access to the diamond lanes.
China Subsidizes Electric Cars, But Small Efficient Gas Cars Too: In a tacit acknowledgment that the jump to hybrids and EVs may be a big step for many Chinese car buyers, the Chinese government incentives announced today go way beyond hybrids and electric cars. They include 71 different fuel-efficient vehicles. Could that broad incentive strategy work in the United States?