HOW REBATE PROGRAM WORKS
* Amounts: $2,500 on zero-emission battery electric vehicles: $1,500 on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles * Terms: Must be sold or leased (three-year minimum lease) by a Tennessee dealership to Tennessee residents; claim filed by dealership * When: Vehicle purchases or leases after June 15 * Time period: Rebates dispersed until $682,500 in state earmarked funds are exhausted Source: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
Tennessee has revived a rebate program for buyers of electric cars, but a public policy group questioned the money for the effort and claimed the state is "basically just throwing it away."
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is using $682,500 to renew an initiative that began in 2009 but expired in 2013. The funds were unspent and the state decided to reboot the rebate effort, an official said.
After June 15, the state said it will rebate $2,500 on new zero-emission battery electric vehicles, such as the Tennessee-made Nissan LEAF, and $1,500 on plug-in hybrid EVs, which include the Toyota Prius.
But, calculations show the money easily could be used up within a month if the rate of sales of electric vehicles tracks last year, potentially serving fewer than 400 buyers.
Mark Cunningham, communications director for the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee, said the funds should have gone back into the state's general fund. State money shouldn't be going into such a program, he said.
"If a product isn't good enough to stand alone by itself, then it probably shouldn't be out there until it could make money on its own," Cunningham said.
Also, the money in the program could be used up within a month, figures show.
"It's like finding 50 cents in your pocket and saying 'I'll buy the first thing...'" whether a person needs it or not, Cunningham said.
According to the state Department of Revenue, from February 2014 to February 2015, there were 2,531 new pure electric vehicles registered in Tennessee. Also, 21,495 hybrid-electric vehicles were titled in the same period, state figures show.
Alexa Voytek, program manager at TDEC's Office of Energy Programs, said it remains to be seen at what rate electrics and hybrids will sell this year.
"We have the funds and we wanted to use them," she said about the rebate program.
Tom Thomas, general manager of Gentry Chevrolet Buick GMC in South Pittsburg, Tenn., said rebates help in terms of sales, although his dealership doesn't sell many EVs.
"We don't have an electric right now," he said.
Thomas said buyers liked the Chevy Volts which the dealership has sold.
"The ones we did sell, people were tickled with them," he said.
TDEC Commissioner Bob Martineau said in a statement that EVs are "a great alternative for Tennesseans looking to do their part in protecting the air we breathe. This rebate program is a way to assist consumers making environmentally conscious decisions."
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.