California

[Brammofan]

See this wonderfully entertaining and well written post:
Brammofan-tasy, California Style

[Silex]

Will the state tax credit extend beyond 2010? Nice to know the BB in El Segundo carries Brammo products! I'm in SD, but at least it's closer than the Bay Area. Now to just wait until they take delivery of the Empulse

[Brammofan]

Hey Silex!
According to the CVRP website:

Clean Vehicle Rebate Project funding will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.  Funding for the Project is expected through 2015, with specific funding amounts determined annually by the Air Resources Board.

[Brammofan]

Uh oh, Californian soon-to-be-Brammo-owners.  According to Jay Friedland, the legislative director of PlugInAmerica (and also the VP Strategy & Sustainability at Zero Motorcycles) says that the electric vehicle rebate is likely to run out of funds in the middle of 2011.

Will the Enertia Plus or the Empulse be out by then?  Maybe you should buy an Enertia and get the $2500 loyalty rebate (bird in the hand) just to be sure you get some cash back besides the 10% Federal tax credit.

[oobflyer]

When I bought my Vectrix in California (2008) I was promised the $1500 rebate, but when I applied for the rebate they had run out of money!
However, they sat on my application until more funding arrived... after one year I DID receive the rebate - better late than never 

[Kelly Olsen]

Isn't that really stupid. The first year a really plug in electric car (Nissan Leaf) is available from a main stream maker that costs less than $120,000 (Tesla) the fund for a rebate might go dry before the cars can even be sold.

[Richard230]

For those of that want to take advantage of the California EV incentive rebate, there is still money in the pot.  I mailed my application for a rebate for the purchase of my 2012 Zero S on February 13 and received a reply on February 15 from the California Center for Sustainable Energy informing me that my application was approved and I would be receiving a $900 check within 60 days.

The response came so fast, I got the feeling that they don't have much to do down at their office in San Diego right now.   

[Richard230]

I just received a check for $900 for the purchase of my 2012 Zero.    I think the amount of the rebate is the same for the Enertia. It took just over a month to receive the rebate from the "California Center for Sustainable Energy" (catchy title, huh?) after I received an email notification that it had been approved. 

[flar]

I noticed that the rebate form asks:

For eligible zero-emission motorcycles (ZEMs) ..., evidence of sealed maintenance-free batteries (if lead acid) and a 24-month warranty.

Has anyone submitted to CVRP for an Empulse yet?  What did you include for that part of the materials?

Note that the Empulse is listed as a ZEM on the CVRP web site with an asterisk which declares in a footnote:

* These rebate amounts only apply to vehicles with sealed, maintenance-free batteries and extended warranties as described on the program manual.

The program manual indicates that ZEMs must "complete the ZEM evaluation procedure in Attachment C" which has forms and big complicated testing procedures that must be performed in Pomona...huh?

[flar]

OK, I found a phone number and just got off the phone with CVRP.

The representative said that they should be able to determine eligibility of the Empulse from their own records since it comes with a 2-year warranty standard and has no lead acid batteries specified.

Unfortunately my form came with the model listed as "Enertia Empulse" and I pointed out to him that the Enertia only came with a 1-year warranty and Brammo has a special deal for CA residents to purchase the second year so that they can apply for the rebate - so if any confusion was created there then they might think I needed to prove the second year warranty.  He offered to fix the model listed on my form in house and told me that I don't need to worry about it (though I could also cross it off on the version I was mailing in just in case).

So, it looks like you don't need to worry about those clauses but you should double-check they have the right model listed or they may wonder where your extended warranty paperwork is...

[Shinysideup]

Whoa, I don't remember anything about all that. And I've got my rebate in the bank. Maybe they changed things recently?

[Richard230]

I'll bet the California rebaters are confused by the names Enertia and Empulse.  They probably can't tell the difference between the two models and are giving anyone that bought any Brammo model the rebate. Just don't remind them (unless they ask) that one is different than the other and that a 2-year warranty is an option.   

[flar]

The agent said that they would have caught that when they went to look it up anyway.  The Brammo page on the 2nd year warranty (here) mentions changing their VIN database when you purchase the extended warranty so I'm guessing that is what they look up and that is where they would have discovered the model discrepancy.  That warranty is only available to CA Enertia customers and is specifically for the purpose of qualifying for the CVRP rebate.

The main thing is that it is written such that all motorcycles appear to need to submit warranty information (and battery info if they are lead-acid based), but it doesn't appear to be needed in practice due to the VIN database cross referencing.

Also, I might believe that they were giving just any Brammo the rebate if it weren't for the fact that Brammo had to introduce a very targeted 2nd year extended warranty just for CA Enertia customers so that they could qualify for the requirements.

[Richard230]

I believe I heard, during an EV sales report on the TV news last week, that CA is out of rebate cash and won't be handing out any more EV rebates until next year.