On facebook Brammo
posts this:
Iindeed and we are still working to get the Federal incentive - renewed for 2 wheel EV's.
Personally, I'm of a mixed mind about the incentives - especially weaker ones like the previous 10% motorcycle credit.
1. Inconsistent implementation can stall adoption. Someone considering a 2012 emoto purchase may delay if they expect to see new incentives, particularly if those incentives are not retroactive. Furthermore, future incentives reduce the future residual value of the bikes.
2. I suspect weaker credits like the 10% credit do little to encourage the sale of emotos. I think the population of people that would buy (for example) an Empulse 10.0 at $12600 but not $14000 is quite small.
3. Explicit federal subsidies for emotos (and EVs in general) are ammunition against emoto advocacy. I'd just as soon end the explicit EV subsidies, end the more subtle gas subsidies (including Exxon-type tax loopholes), and introduce a gradually ramping gas tax that covers externalities.
Here's my idea for a new gas tax:
* Gradually introduce the tax to avoid economic shocks and allow people to plan with a known fuel cost.
* The gax tax is on top of crude oil pricing, and is set so that the total market + tax number is fixed. As crude falls in price, the tax ramps up. As crude increases in price, the tax decreases. Again, this allows people to plan budgets and vehicle purchases with a known fuel cost.
* Tie the tax to a sliding window average of crude and re-evaluate every two years.
* The gas tax pays for environmental cleanup and lost jobs beyond a certain cap (see BP) and for "national defense" actions tied to securing gas resources abroad.