France Offering $3,000 Vouchers for E-Bikes If You Throw Away Your Car

France is offering 2,500 euros (about $2,993 USD) to individuals interested in purchasing electrically driven bicycles. But it’s pursuing the Cash for Clunkers mentality that often leaves us questioning whether the people instituting these environmental plans are familiar with the concept of conservation. Because the current proposal requires participants to throw away their automobiles before they’re granted access to the funds.

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QOTD: Where You Wanna Put That Pork?

Regardless of whether you like or loathe the Trump Administration, you have to admit it has a different view of what’s “on the table” than its immediate predecessors did. EV credits. NAFTA. Global trade agreements. Tariffs. It is, to quote a popular movie of 1977, a period of civil war, only the war is being fought on the battleground of public opinion.

There will be winners and losers out of this new normal, the same way there were winners and losers as a result of EPA, DOT, and NHTSA regulations that began under Nixon and steadily increased in power until Ronald Reagan came into office and deaded shit, as Ja Rule would say. I get the feeling that everything is up for grabs, whether it’s the chicken tax or CAFE.

Let’s say you were appointed “car czar” by President Trump. What would you do with that power?

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Ontario Controversy Adds More Fuel to the EV Incentive Debate

Two sides, two seemingly valid arguments. And in the middle, five $1.1 million cars.

Through the province’s Electric Vehicle Incentive Program, Ontario taxpayers helped lower the price of five Porsche 918 Spyders last year, according to Canada’s national broadcaster, leaving many wondering why their cash helped fund supercars for the ultra wealthy.

The program shaved just over $5,500 off the price of each $1.1 million hybrid Porsche — a limited edition model possessing 887 horsepower, with a top speed of 210 miles per hour.

One of those vehicles has since burned to the ground in a Toronto-area gas pump fire, which, for some, serves as a perfect metaphor for taxpayer-funded EV incentives.

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Mitsubishi Mileage Scandal Makes Its Way to the U.S.

A day after its head office was raided by Japanese Transport Ministry officials, the U.S. is going to put Mitsubishi’s mileage claims under scrutiny.

The scandal began when Mitsubishi admitted it overstated fuel economy numbers on its Japanese market eK mini wagons, but Reuters is now claiming the false data extends to U.S. market vehicles.

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It's Saint Patrick's Day, Meaning It's Also DeLorean DMC-12 Day

Listen, we don’t want any trouble.

St. Paddy’s Day is a time for all of us — black and white, Irish and American, Catholic and Protestant and all those other religions — to come together and figure out how much green food coloring can be consumed before it has a laxative effect.

But, as we think of the Emerald Isle today, our minds can’t help but be reminded of a famous and totally ballin’ export from the troubled north — the DeLorean DMC-12.

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Japan Hydrogen Ambitions Fall Short Of March 2016 Target

Japan’s ambition to have 100 hydrogen fueling stations by next March may fall short of reality now that the deadline to apply for subsidies has passed.

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Sovereign Subsidies Fuel Norwegian Tesla Registrations

Not too long ago, Tesla set up shop in Norway, looking to gain some market share in the frosty nation of 5 million.

Little did anyone know just how big the share would grow.

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Dongfeng Nissan Launches Leaf-Based Venucia E30

After 3.1 million miles of pilot testing, Dongfeng Nissan last week launched its version of the Leaf for the Chinese EV market, the Venucia e30.

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Japanese Officials Pushing Hard With Subsidies For New Hydrogen Mirai

The 2015 Toyota Mirai may be breaking new ground in the fuel-cell vehicle game beyond merely existing, as subsidies galore are being thrown at potential consumers on all sides, including the possibility of owning the FCV for free.

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Japanese Government To Push FCVs Via $20k Subsidy

With Toyota ready to make big moves with its 2015 FCV, the Japanese government is ready with their own big move: $20,000 USD in incentives.

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Mazda2 RE May Appear Soon, But Only In Select Markets

The oft-rumored Mazda2 RE PHEV, powered by a range-extending rotary engine, may soon become reality, appearing sometime after the next-gen hatch debuts in showrooms between October and the new year.

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Hydrogen Digest: July 1, 2014

In today’s hydrogen digest: Toyota asks the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a two-year exemption on its FCV; the automaker banks on subsidies to help the FCV leave the showrooms at home and abroad; and ammonia may be the secret to hydrogen’s success as a fuel.

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China To Scrap 5.33M Non-Compliant Vehicles In 2014 To Improve Air Quality
Russian Government to Spend $8 Billion Subsidizing Local Car Industry

The Russian government said that it will spend up to 271 billion rubles ($8US billion) over the next three years to subsidize the country’s struggling auto industry. A government web site said that the subsidies will underwrite research & development, jobs and costs related to more stringent emissions standards. Car sales in Russia in 2013 fell by 6% to 2.78 million units and 2014 looks like another weak year as the Russian economy stutters, according to the Association of European Businesses.

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China Renews Subsidies For EVs and PHEVs But Not Conventional Gas-Electric Hybrids

China has renewed government subsidies for three more years for private buyers of electric vehicles and plugin hybrids, but contrary to some observers’ predictions, incentives for the purchasers of conventional gasoline-electric hybrids have not been renewed. Reuters reports that the national government in Beijing said that it would provide up to 60,000 yuan ($9,800) towards the purchase of an all-electric vehicle and as much as 35,000 yuan for each “near all-electric” plug-in vehicle. The purpose is ostensibly to reduce air pollution but the policy is also expected to benefit Chinese car makers like BYD.

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  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉