From MEMA Washington Insider
 
Tax credits for the purchase of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles will have a total budgetary cost of about $7.5 billion through 2019, according to a report released by the Congressional Budget Office on Sept. 20.
 
The report found that the tax credits could indirectly increase sales of electric vehicles, which would allow automakers to sell more low-fuel-economy vehicles while complying with average fuel economy standards. However, their effect on vehicle sales may continue to affect average fuel economy standards and the resulting amounts of gasoline used and emissions many years after the tax credits have run out.  
 
But the credits, which the report found not to make alternative-energy vehicles cost-competitive with traditional or hybrid vehicles, may help the U.S. electric vehicle industry become self-sustaining. The report stated that a plug-in hybrid or fully electric vehicle would require a tax credit of more than $12,000 to have the same approximate lifetime costs as a comparable hybrid, and tax credits peaked at $7,500 per vehicle.