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Quebec Offers Electric Car Buyers $8000 Incentive

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One of the reasons Europeans are so skeptical about buying an electric car is the price: often too high and people are not to sure it’s worth it, not sure they can count on them to make it to the terminus point. U.S. neighbors have given these objections a thought and came up with a solution, at least partially: offering incentives.

Quebec’s Prime Minister Jean Charest is off to a good start: he has recently put forward a two-way plan that should encourage people to make their choice. First, depending on the vehicle’s range and battery, they receive a financial help of up to $8,000 maximum.

Secondly, the government will make their circulation easier by creating an infrastructure or using mass-transit systems; the more charging stations in place, the more people will feel reassured they can hit the road without fears of remaining stranded.

The government of Quebec has set itself a target of 300,000 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on its streets by 2020. That means an impressing third of the cars sold in the state. The move is expected to significantly reduce the amount of CO2 emissions. The incentives are offered starting January 2012, with a $50 million limit by 2016.

Since every project needs to be adapted to its area of application, it is worth mentioning that there’s one big issue with using an electric car in Quebec: the long, cold winters! The climate is not really on their side: people driving in their car have to turn the heat on and that takes a big toll on the battery’s power consumption. It remains to be seen.

[via Treehugger]

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1 COMMENT

  1. Oh hey- should tell you’s that Quebec is a “province” (not a state) of Canada. This province receives funding through what is called “equilization” from other provinces which are more prosperours which in Canada is mostly the province of Alberta. The province of Alberta’s main revenue is from oil production a large part is from what other refer to as “dirty oil” from the oil (tar) sands.

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