Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy, USA



Maybe we've been going about this all wrong. Navigant Research says a recently introduced program in Connecticut that incentivizes dealers instead of EV customers could be effective because it changes the pressure points for electric vehicles. Navigant (formerly Pike) Research notes that the policy could push dealers to put a little more effort into marketing plug-in vehicles that have, in many cases, taken a back seat to more conventional vehicles largely because explaining the technology behind these cars is simply more time intensive. In fact, Green Car Reports estimates that plug-in vehicles can take as long as five times the amount of days to sell as a conventional vehicle.

The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) recently unveiled what it calls its Connecticut Revolutionary Dealer Award and, in the process, became the first state in the nation to incentivize dealers. The state will be giving out one award to the dealer with the most plug-in vehicles sold during the six months ending July 31, and another award for the dealer with the highest percentage of plug-ins sold.

Connecticut is trying the dealer-centric method instead of offering a customer tax credit or rebate the way that states like California and the federal government do (the fed's credit is obviously still available to Connecticut EV buyers). Connecticut has also given out more than $177,000 in incentives to entities that deploy plug-in vehicle charging stations. This is all to assist the state's goal of having electric vehicles represent at least 10 percent of new vehicles sold by 2022. Check out Navigant's press release below.Continue reading CT incentivizing dealers instead of buyers to sell more EVs

CT incentivizing dealers instead of buyers to sell more EVs originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 06 May 2014 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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If governments really want to popularize ev's and hybrids, they would raise the taxes on gas. But powerful interests will make sure anyone who does that will not get re-elected.