Second-Gen Nissan Leaf Announcements Coming This Summer

@shaker The President wants to increase the EV credit from $7,500 to $10,000 and change it from a tax credit to an on-the-spot rebate. Only the latter half of that makes sense, because otherwise, the credit only benefits those who would otherwise pay more than $7,500 in taxes anyway. I don't typically like getting political in my coverage of EVs, but this is one area where I had to say the whole idea, at this point, was wrong-headed. Encouraging sales of EVs that can't get around large swaths of America because the EVs don't have adequate range for the nonexistent charging infrastructure is the modern-day equivalent of putting the cart (EVs) before the horse (access to electrons). Point being current-generation EVs needed a mix of government investment in the EVs themselves -- e.g. the $7,500 tax credit or even the rebate Obama proposes -- AND government investment into charging infrastructure. Had we seen that, then growth of EV market share might have been much more robust than what we've seen because EVs would not have been status symbols for the urban-dwelling among us -- rather, they could have been cheap commuter machines for ALL of us. Meanwhile, I continue waiting for next-gen EVs to achieve some combination of improved battery range and reduced cost that I'm not sure is coming. When an EV is obtainable at a small premium over a similarly sized gas-powered car (let's say a LEAF at $20,000 or a Versa Note at $17,000) and it can handle, say, 200 miles a day, then it'll make a strong case for my dollars. As it stands now, however, an EV is not practicable for my routine.