Dealers don't get an immediate $4500 credit but instead wait up to 10 days to get reimbursed from the federal government. So while the government may have not paid out the full $1B yet, it is entirely possible that they have approved enough credits to consume the entire appropriation.

In all it seems to have worked very well. So much for the nay-sayers that claimed no one who drives an older car could afford to buy a new one. Instead this shows that those of us that buy a car and keep it for 10 years are the people that actually have money instead of mountains of debt.

The first line in this article is a boldface lie. The first EV Nissan brought to the US was the Nissan Hypermini EV. These cars were made in response to C.A.R.B's ZEV mandate. Just like GM, Honda, Ford, and Toyota; Nissan recalled and crushed their electric vehicles once they had successfully overturned the ZEV mandate.

I have no confidence that Nissan won't do the same with with new electric car so unless I can purchase the car, battery, and charger they won't have me as a customer. Nissan's plan to sell the car and lease the battery is a huge red flag for me.

Do they need a car bigger than the LaCrosse? The LaCrosse competes with the Avalon and Taurus. The Taurus has as much interior and luggage room as a Crown Victoria! The Taurus is a huge car as is the LaCrosse.

What do you doubt? Do you doubt that engine manufacturers could build gasoline engines that last just as long as diesel engines? If so you shouldn't. It is technically possible, just not economically practical.

However, the only way engine manufacturers are going to get diesel efficiency from a gasoline engine is using compression ignition using HCCI technology. This requires very high compression ratios just like a diesel engine. Therefore the entire gasoline engine will need to be built more robustly to handle that increased compression. I have no doubt that HCCI engines will need to be just as robust as diesel engines and therefore last just as long as diesel engines.

Diesels have a longer engine life and are more durable because they are made from stronger materials, there are still some advatages to diesels over gas engines for such reasons.

Diesels are more durable in order to handle the increase combustion pressures from the compression ignition process. There is no reason that a gasoline engine couldn't be built to the same standard and any gasoline engine that comes close to the efficiency of a diesel would need to be similarly built. Plus the days of diesel's with cast-iron blocks are coming to an end. More and more diesels are using lighter-duty components to save weight and spin to higher RPM. BMW is an excellent example of this trend.

Well that is a deal breaker for me. I will not purchase an electric car and lease a battery back. GM wasn't the only company that took back their EV's and crushed them, Nissan did too. How useful is a Nissan EV if they decide they no longer want to lease battery packs?

I want to PURCHASE an EV. That requires the car, battery, and charge to be available for direct purchase.

Maybe from European brands, most American car comapnies and the Japanese are shying away from their diesel plans, Ford says it can get the same diesel milage from its future turbo GDI engines for one example.

If Ford can get the diesel fuel economy from a gasoline engine what is the point of offering a diesel? You don't have to convince someone to buy a gasoline engine or overcome the diesel stigma. I like my VW TDI but if gasoline engines offered the same fuel economy I would gladly purchase the gasoline model.

Or you could just look at JD Power's dependability data that is based on 3 years of data: http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2009043

Here Buick comes out on top followed by Jaguar

I'll believe it when I see it on the showroom floor. It seems that every month a new start-up company announces they will be selling an electric vehicle in 1-2 years. Only Tesla has actually made vehicles and sold them to the general public.

This new Mini Roadster is just a Mini Convertible without the back seats. Why is this such a crazy idea? The rear seats in a Mini are useless for carrying anything other than small children and packages so why pretend that it is a 4 seat car. I see this Roadster and much more useful than the Convertible because it will have a better laid out cargo area.