The sunny state of California has placed increasing emphasis on its desire to go all-green by 2040, when it hopes 100 percent of all cars purchased in the state will have zero tailpipe emissions. However, on their way to that lofty end goal, they still have to popularize these vehicles, and what better way of doing so than an extension of the familiar tax credits awarded to those who buy an all-electric or plug-in car now.
Thus, The Detroit News is reporting that the local legislature has approved the continuation of the current plan which requires the raising of $2 billion (€1.48 billion) in order to keep supporting the rebates, as well as build 100 hydrogen fueling stations to make the latter a viable option as well.
The money would be spent over the next decade, by the end of which, all 100 stations should be up and running, and until then, all Californians who purchase electrified vehicles will be eligible to get as much as $2,500 back from the state on top of federal and dealer rebates.
We’ll just have to wait and see how quickly they get the hydrogen stations online, and if they will have any sort of impact on manufacturers’ willingness to invest even more than they are doing at the moment in the research of the supporting technology. Toyota is still the major player here, but Honda has been working with the element for many years too, and more recently, Hyundai joined the bandwagon, after having launched a special version of its ix35.
If all goes according to plan, the year 2025 should see 15.4 percent of all new cars bought in California labeled as zero-emission, or at least plug-in models, adding to the expected 1.4-million such vehicles already on the road by then, en route to the ultimate 2040 goal mentioned in the opening paragraph.
