Mulling an electric car? PA DEP will pay you $3,000
The state's alternative fuel rebate program is being extended.
Mulling an electric car? PA DEP will pay you $3,000
Sandy Bauers, Inquirer GreenSpace Columnist
As part of its Alternative Fuel Rebate Program, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has been dishing out $3,500 in rebates to people who buy electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids with large batteries.
Now, with the agency expecting to reach its limit of 500 rebates in late February, the program is being extended, albeit with a lesser amount.
The DEP will offer $3,000 rebates to people who buy large-battery electric cars, such as the Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus and Chevy Volt. Rebates of $1,000 will be offered for plug-in hybrids and electric cars with smaller batteries, such as the Toyota Prius plug-in and Ford C-Max Energi.
(No, it's not automatic. You have to apply. Click here to learn more. To qualify, the vehicle must be registered in Pennsylvania, operated primarily in-state and be purchased no more than six months before the rebate application is submitted.)
Rebates of $1,000 are being offered for natural gas, propane, hydrogen or fuel-cell vehicles. A $500 rebate is available for electric motorcycles and scooters.
Gee, I didn't know the state had extra money to hand out as gifts. Government works in strange ways.— Falls Ed- Then you'll get taxed because you don't buy gas enough. I think government may have killed the electric car.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- Hybrids and electrics account for less than 1% of all vehicles sold in the US...and that is despite ENDLESS government cash to both manufacturer & consumer to attempt to artifically create a demand. Nobody wants these ridiculous overpriced golf carts. Let the free market and consumer demand dictate which cars manufacturers make. Stop urinating away taxpayer cash (governments at all levels are flat broke!) on trying to force upon consumers products they simply DO NOT WANT! Enough already with this stupidity.— kelprod2-freemarket
- Thanks to my Nissan LEAF (my preferred overpriced golf cart) I deliver four kids to school and proceed to visit an assortment of clients totaling up to about 85 miles when I get back home. I enjoy a quiet, stable and powerful ride over hills, at freeway speed and through city traffic with no need for your overpriced, poisonous, explosive gasoline. My fuel costs less than three dollars for the day and recharges while I sleep.
To claim gasoline efficient is simply delusional. Most of that energy you buy at a gas station is wasted as heat and toxic emissions before the wheels even begin to turn. I can drive twenty four miles using just the electricity needed to refine one gallon of gas. Why bother to drill for oil, burn gas and pay so much extra when a truly efficient drive train is available?— Steve EV
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science. Reach Sandy at sbauers@phillynews.com.
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