California prides itself as being a green mecca, inviting inventions and high technology and grooming early adopters with special HOV lane access and tax credits on alternative fuel vehicles. Well, mostly. It seems like California has soured on hybrids in HOV lanes, recently revoking the Prius’s access to this less-traveled road.
At least the Prius was allowed in for a time though. In a rather shocking turn, California has not only denied the Chevy Volt access to the HOV lane, it also won’t get any state tax credits. Zing!
I am a pretty patriotic dude. I love America, and I tend to have a pro-America bias, especially when it comes to cars. So it really baffles me that California would just totally shut the Volt out, especially when it is giving the Nissan LEAF both HOV access and makes it eligible for a $5,000 state tax credit. That means the Nissan LEAF will cost around $20,000 in California when it goes on sale and gets access to Cali’s HOV lanes… even though its range means it won’t be traveling long highway trips, as that battery will go down quickly at highway speeds.
Of course some of the fault lies with GM. The bigwigs there decided they would rather get the Volt to production by the fall of 2010 than take the extra time aligning the Volt with California’s strict emissions requirements. Given that just 800 LEAFs will be able to tap into the $5,000 tax credit, maybe GM was right to concentrate on getting the Volt to market ASAP. Still, I’m miffed that Nissan gets these tax credits, and the Volt gets shut-out. Way to go California.
Source: Green Car Reports
Chris DeMorro is a car enthusiast, blogger, and all-around crazy man who is as passionate about hybrids as he is about Hemis. You can follow his constant misadventures at Three Months In A Mustang.
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Chevrolet is going to make a hybrid variant. Big deal. All this hype for a variant of a hybrid. While this blogger figured it out, many journalists seem to have a hard time calling the Volt a gasoline / electric hybrid. This hybrid variant simply disconnected the gasoline engine from the transmission and ran an electric plug from the batteries to the gasoline generator. This does not impress.
$27,160 Camry Hybrid
$41,000 Volt Hybrid.
Why would I ever?
Chevrolet is going to make a hybrid variant. Big deal. All this hype for a variant of a hybrid. While this blogger figured it out, many journalists seem to have a hard time calling the Volt a gasoline / electric hybrid. This hybrid variant simply disconnected the gasoline engine from the transmission and ran an electric plug from the batteries to the gasoline generator. This does not impress.
$27,160 Camry Hybrid
$41,000 Volt Hybrid.
Why would I ever?
I’m no fan of GM, and I’m not remotely interested in the Volt, but there comes a time where our Government needs to step-in and start supporting our own country. California receives Federal aid…cut more of the purse strings unless California makes some concessions for the Volt.
I’m no fan of GM, and I’m not remotely interested in the Volt, but there comes a time where our Government needs to step-in and start supporting our own country. California receives Federal aid…cut more of the purse strings unless California makes some concessions for the Volt.
Chris,
I am really disappointed in this article. You have voiced an opinion that California has soured on hybrids and slighted the Chevy Volt, but that’s not even remotely close to accurate.
California’s incentive program for Hybrids was very sucessful in encouraging their adoption. So sucessful in fact that a hybrid with an HOV sticker had a $1,500 higher resale than one without. That program was specifically designed to phase out and it has. Now that there are two million Priuses sold, many in California, the program has done it’s job.
Now, the incentive program has shifted to EVs and I hope it works as well for them. Since the Volt is a plug in hybrid and not a pure EV, it doesn’t qualify and neither will the new plug in Prius. If GM hadn’t crushed the EV1s or they had developed a new EV, they would qualify for the credits. Instead, Ford and Nissan buyers will get credits and HOV access.
Chris,
I am really disappointed in this article. You have voiced an opinion that California has soured on hybrids and slighted the Chevy Volt, but that’s not even remotely close to accurate.
California’s incentive program for Hybrids was very sucessful in encouraging their adoption. So sucessful in fact that a hybrid with an HOV sticker had a $1,500 higher resale than one without. That program was specifically designed to phase out and it has. Now that there are two million Priuses sold, many in California, the program has done it’s job.
Now, the incentive program has shifted to EVs and I hope it works as well for them. Since the Volt is a plug in hybrid and not a pure EV, it doesn’t qualify and neither will the new plug in Prius. If GM hadn’t crushed the EV1s or they had developed a new EV, they would qualify for the credits. Instead, Ford and Nissan buyers will get credits and HOV access.
California is in financial trouble…something has to get cut. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the reason rather than less environmentally-minded votes being cast in the state legislature.
California is in financial trouble…something has to get cut. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the reason rather than less environmentally-minded votes being cast in the state legislature.
i like these comments
i like these comments
This has nothing to do with which company or what country it is from. It’s CA promoting EVs over hybrids. GM knew the deal and picked their path.
This has nothing to do with which company or what country it is from. It’s CA promoting EVs over hybrids. GM knew the deal and picked their path.