in our Spotlight on Business Report a popular electric vehicle incentive is getting a boost the charge up program that offers cash on the hood will be bumped up by an extra $20 million this year to $50 million buyers can get $2,000 Upfront for certain zero emission vehicles and the state will also launch an income based program this fall that will give another $2,000 to buyers who qualify but as the state aims to reach an ambitious clean air goal it's also ending sales tax braks for EVS while adding a new registration fee actions some say could turn off wouldbe buyers Ted Goldberg [Music] reports electric vehicles have come a long way in half a decade according to Liberty Hyundai co-owner Rick D Silva 5 years ago n was really not a viable form of transportation I mean they were they were big go-karts or golf carts they're a little more stylish now and there's much more iety D Silva owns three dealerships Statewide and has gone from selling two EV models to 10 people don't like change especially when that change you know becomes more expensive so it's you know the dollars and cents and the incentives are so important to entice people to buy EVS a state program called charge up has offered $4,000 rebates which helped EVS grow from a small Niche to 12% of new car sales last year the incentives that we had up until recently um started to move the needle and that's you know that's where it's really frustrating as a dealer what frustrates to Silva are the new fees and reduced rebates that EV buyers are looking at in New Jersey the state will phase out a 20-year-old sales tax exemption for EVS starting in October while tacking on registration fees and shrinking the rebate from charge up from $4,000 to two grand for most buyers you have the the $3,000 in sales tax exemption that goes away the 2,000 in in the State uh incentive that went away so you're up to 5,000 then you add on the new fee of $1,000 you're there's a $6,000 swing those registration fees go toward the state's Transportation trust fund which also gets money from taxes on gasoline in response to this story the governor's office says quote the transportation trust fund will maintain our entire transportation system create thousands of good paying jobs in the years to come and ease the burden of property taxes by offset these costs for local governments the governor believes that while we must support New Jersey's infrastructure we can still further an ambitious and Nation leading clean energy agenda that agenda includes a mandate that new car sales Statewide must be 100% electric by 20135 how feasible is that so it's not New Jersey's approach has created strange bedfellows between the automotive industry and environmentalists one hand giveth uh incentives and one hand taketh way the state's electric vehicle policies are put it kindly incoherent the policy is not sound Senator Bob Smith leads the Senate environment committee despite his ambivalence towards New Jersey's EV policy he still thinks it's possible to phase out sales of new gas powerered cars by 2035 but it'll be harder you know you our point is we have to popularize it make it like the next thing you want to do on your on your auto is to get an EV D Silva says Cold Hard Cash is the best way to do that since EVS are a good fit for most commuters if you can plug in it at home you're going to start out the day with 300 miles a range 250 whatever it is you're only going to drive 30 or 40 miles right so it it's you know for for daily use if you can plug in at home that's you know that that's that kind of makes sense EVS can help to reduce Smog and reduce ozone and climate pollutants we should be accelerating their adoption not rolling back the incentives for electric vehicles since New Jersey follows the California clean car rules hybrid cars would not count as EVS even though they become more popular for people not quite ready to take the plunge into fully electric vehicles consumers who come in interested in buying an EV drive away with a plug-in hybrid or a hybrid vehicle because the Delta between the cost of a typical internal combustion engine vehicle and a elri elect vehicle is anywhere from $8 to $10,000 or more other issues include a lack of charging infrastructure and range anxiety things that might require significant State investment if lawmakers want to reach those ambitious goals in Mawa I'm Ted Goldberg nj's Spotlight news [Music]