As is often the case with any new technology or innovation, incentives are offered to entice people to take advantage of a new concept thought to be outside the norm. Such has been the case with a range of clean transportation initiatives that have come on line in recent years. However, there are some who want the trucking industry to no longer think of hybrids, for example, as a passing fad or an “experimental” technology. Yet with the still high(er) cost of these technologies, tax breaks are still needed to help grease the wheels and get truckers and carriers to embrace hybrids, fuel alternatives, and so on.

And interest in making more tax incentives available isn’t in short supply. U.S. Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan’s 12^th Congressional District wants to double federal tax credits for the purchase of medium- and heavy-duty hybrid trucks. Current credits range from  $1,500 to $12,000 and are available through December 31, 2009, but Levin wants to extend it for another five years while making credits more available to the largest of trucks.

Eaton Corporation, an Ohio-based manufacturer of diesel-electric hybrid power systems for trucks and buses (among other industrial services and systems), is behind Levin’s proposal. Dimitri Kazarinoff, Eaton vice president and general manager of hybrid power systems, says a “spark” or “short-term boost” is still necessary to get more of the industry to buy into hybrid trucks, and to help offset the higher price tag.

In late July, Congress proposed another new incentive to truckers, this one offering a tax credit to reduce idling, and thus, gas use and air pollution. Aptly named the Idling Reduction Tax Credit Act, if passed, truck owners would receive a 50 percent tax credit (up to $3,000) for buying an idling-reduction unit.

What are your thoughts on this? Are tax credits still needed, or is clean transportation now so widely accepted that incentives are no longer necessary?