The federal government only started offering an electric car tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500 this year, and few states have followed, said Paul Scott, vice president of the California-based electric car advocacy group Plug In America. That group is pushing for tax credits in all states, plus a higher gas or carbon tax to make electric cars more competitive.
Neighborhood electric cars like Cooper's are gaining popularity, Scott said, especially as a family's second car. "They're not right for everyone, but they work for many," he said.
In most places they're markedly cleaner than gasoline-powered cars, even after accounting for coal-generated electricity. A plug-in electric car using the national grid average of just over half coal-generated power produces a third as much carbon dioxide as a Prius gas-electric hybrid, Scott said. In high-coal states such as Utah, in the 90 percent coal range, it's a wash.
Then there's the health benefit of transferring the pollution away from cities.
"Where we drive our cars is where we live and breathe," Scott said. "But the coal plants, they're not where we live and breathe."
Cooper paid $9,500 in Arizona for his GEM-ES, a model with a small truck bed that allows him to make wine runs or haul the recycling loads for his Rocking V cafe. A dealer in Salt Lake City also sells GEMs.
It's a practical vehicle for Kanab, he said, because he only lives a couple of miles from work and can ride in the open-air cab through most of southern Utah's mild winter. He ditched a big diesel pickup when he made the switch. He keeps a gasoline-powered Toyota for longer trips, but can get 30 miles in the GEM on a single overnight charge and never needs more than that on a workday.
He thinks Utah should rewrite the law to encourage more neighborhood electric cars in small towns.
"The spirit of the law is to reward people who are not polluting," he said, "which would be me."
Cooper's accountant claimed the credit for him on his 2005 tax return, but late last year the state informed him that he doesn't qualify and must repay the $1,823 plus $324 in penalties and interest. He's appealing the extras and running into a dispute over whether he did so in time.
Ultimately, though, his little car is in the state's legal blind spot.
Utah's clean fuels tax credit
-- CNG cars get half the vehicle's added cost, up to $2,500.
-- Hybrids get half the vehicle's added cost, up to $750.
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