[RahulNagaraj]

According to a media report, the state of Colorado, USA, has started a new vehicle exchange program, wherein residents will get a rebate upon agreeing to replace their old ICE-powered cars with new EVs or plug-in hybrids.



Participants purchasing a new EV will get a rebate of $6000, while those opting for a used car will get $4000. However, the exchange program isn't for everybody. As per reports, the rebate for exchanging old cars for EVs is applicable only to people who aren't super well-off. To qualify for the rebate, people must be part of the state's income-qualified programs or make less than 80% of their county's median income.

Another requirement is that the vehicles to be traded in should be at least 12 years old or should have failed an emissions test.

Edward Piersa, Program Manager, Colorado Energy Office, stated, "This is a program that is very much designed to help recycle and replace those older high-emitting vehicles with electric vehicles." He added, "In part due to cost, many low- to moderate-income people in Colorado have not had access to electric vehicles. This program will help bridge that gap."

Source: Jalopnik

Link to Team-BHP news

[The Rainmaker]

Reading all these posts about the so called electric cars, I strongly feel that I should've been born at least 30 years back so that I could enjoy the golden era of awesome cars from the nineties and early 2000s in my youth and wouldn't ever have to "settle" for such electric compromises. Seeing touchscreens inside cars and those meaningless big panels, missing analog buttons and dials makes me really sick, not to mention fulll fledged electric cars these days. Automakers are only going backwards and fixing what was never broken only to save billions of dollars and charging twice by advertising them as 'better features'. What has the world come to!

[kosjam]

The GoI should use this idea and apply their DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) scheme to EV purchases as well. The FLAME 1 and 2 subsidies through the manufacturers has shown how they are misusing these funds. It would be better if the benefit transfer is routed directly into the account of the Registered owner of the EV, with all paperwork carried out by the showroom, and not the owner himself.

Taking a leaf out of Colorado's playbook, there can also be an age (of the old vehicle being traded in) based incentive which will accelerate removal of the more polluting vehicles from the roads.

@The_Rainmaker, fear not, atleast in India, the ICE cars are not going away for the next 10 years.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by The Rainmaker

Reading all these posts about the so called electric cars, I strongly feel that I should've been born at least 30 years back so that I could enjoy the golden era of awesome cars from the nineties and early 2000s in my youth and wouldn't ever have to "settle" for such electric compromises. Seeing touchscreens inside cars and those meaningless big panels, missing analog buttons and dials makes me really sick, not to mention fulll fledged electric cars these days. Automakers are only going backwards and fixing what was never broken only to save billions of dollars and charging twice by advertising them as 'better features'. What has the world come to!

Have you ever driven an EV? In fact, you should consider yourself fortunate to be born now as the kind of satisfaction provided by an EV is unmatched by any ICE vehicle. The smoothness, fuss free ownership and sheer acceleration are only surpassed by the quiet interior. It is so refreshing to be stuck in traffic and not worry about wasting fuel. It is sheer bliss to be able to sit in the vehicle while waiting and use AC without having to waste fuel or cause pollution.

[The Rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Have you ever driven an EV? In fact, you should consider yourself fortunate to be born now as the kind of satisfaction provided by an EV is unmatched by any ICE vehicle. The smoothness, fuss free ownership and sheer acceleration are only surpassed by the quiet interior. It is so refreshing to be stuck in traffic and not worry about wasting fuel. It is sheer bliss to be able to sit in the vehicle while waiting and use AC without having to waste fuel or cause pollution.

Yeah I always try to get a test drive or sometimes get a chance to have a vehicle for many days to drive to keep myself abreast with the latest offerings in the automotive sector. However, electric vehicles have been nothing but a disappointment for me. The touchscreens, digital speed and info displays and missing buttons are not just bad for the eyes but also very distracting unless I literally open my mouth everytime to give a command which is never to my satisfaction and ultimately I end up 'touching' the control manually, thus, distracting me while driving (Since I can't feel a button to operate and have to take my eyes off the road to see and then touch) and making me a road hazard (True for almost all cars equipped with touchscreens these days). I'd not even get started on the added electronics that will fail sooner or later.

Keeping that stupidity aside, I miss the growl of the engine (Subjective) and the instant feedback that tells me what I'm doing with my car. No offense, but other than the engine oil change, I really don't see how it is fuss free because you still end up changing the brake fluid, coolant, trans fluid etc . Also, if I need to drive long distances, which I do very often, I really don't see myself waiting for hours to charge up a car whereas I can just stop, refuel and go in an ICE car in a couple of minutes. Engines run for lakhs of Kms, however, batteries have definite charge cycles post which they will need replacement and that's gonna be Expensive!

Speed and torque is phenomenal, no doubt, but I care more about the handling, feedback, practicality and rawness of a vehicle than anything else and an EV doesn't offer that kind of a practicality or feedback or rawness like an ICE car does.

Also, in a country like India where electricity itself is being produced using Non- Renewable sources, I don't see how the use of an EV is helping the global warming situation and even charging costs money, it isn't exactly free. And the fact remains that power cut is still a persistent issue in India and I've spent 1 to 3 years in many cities of this country and still I see all kinds of issues with power cuts or electric faults almost everywhere whether metros or small towns. What will an EV owner do then? It's just not practical for such countries to adopt such vehicles in my humble opinion. Moreover, I prefer practicality over fancy gimmicks so an EV won't ever cut it for me.

For a regular commuter vehicle, it may suit a lot of people. But for an Enthusiast like me, these vehicles could never offer the kind of driver engagement or visceral driving experience of an analog ICE car but as they say, to each their own

[guptad42]

Originally Posted by kosjam

The GoI should use this idea and apply their DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) scheme to EV purchases as well. The FLAME 1 and 2 subsidies through the manufacturers has shown how they are misusing these funds. It would be better if the benefit transfer is routed directly into the account of the Registered owner of the EV, with all paperwork carried out by the showroom, and not the owner himself.

Taking a leaf out of Colorado's playbook, there can also be an age (of the old vehicle being traded in) based incentive which will accelerate removal of the more polluting vehicles from the roads.

Totally agree.

Do it with an easily accessible digital platform, like the app and online self-service portal built for Covid vaccination. Govt can specify policy conditions that the digital platform can check:

1. Minimum age of old car being replaced (say 12 or 15 years)
2. Max ex-showroom price of the new EV (say Cars: 20Lacs, 2 wheelers: 2 lacs).
3. Specify min range criteria, with real-world city and highway driving tests to validate results. This is necessary to avoid wrongly incentivising low-range vehicles that the public will never take seriously. I'll suggest a min real range of 250km for cars and 80km for 2-wheelers. The car min range can go up by 25km every year till it hits 350km in 4 years.
4. Restrict the benefit to income taxpayers only, to avoid giving benefit to people who can afford to buy cars but pay little income tax. In fact, it can be given as an income tax credit against the buyer's PAN.
5. To avoid funding the super-rich folks, apply an annual income criterion. The usual criteria in Indian income tax for the super-rich is 2Cr annual income above which remarkably high rates of taxation apply. This class of taxpayers need not get the EV benefit.

The digital platform can be built by central govt, and allow state govts to also route state EV incentives through it. Clean and efficient, and directly to the buyer.

[wheelspinner]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

However, the exchange program isn't for everybody. As per reports, the rebate for exchanging old cars for EVs is applicable only to people who aren't super well-off. To qualify for the rebate, people must be part of the state's income-qualified programs or make less than 80% of their county's median income.

Another requirement is that the vehicles to be traded in should be at least 12 years old or should have failed an emissions test.

Had it been India, most of the people who own cars are fairly well off. Very few own 12 year+ old cars.

[kosjam]

Originally Posted by wheelspinner

Had it been India, most of the people who own cars are fairly well off. Very few own 12 year+ old cars.

If we went by the rants on this forum regarding the NGT order banning 10 year olds in Delhi NCR and other more general rants, most of them DO own 12+ year old teenagers

[wheelspinner]

Originally Posted by kosjam

If we went by the rants on this forum regarding the NGT order banning 10 year olds in Delhi NCR and other more general rants, most of them DO own 12+ year old teenagers

Not a single 12 year old car in my neighbourhood (2 Km radius), except a dilapidated Zen estilo and an Alto K10. People here upgrade every 3-4 years, maximum 6-7 years.