Toyota ups Prius incentives to $3,000 for some Californians

Toyota ups Prius incentives to $3,000 for some CaliforniansMore PhotosHottest Cars and Trucks in AmericaMost Popular Cars By StateOur Picks For The Best $5,000 Used CarsCars That Depreciate FastestHistory's 10 Best Selling Cars Of All TimeWard's 10 Best Engines of 2015Danny King

So, Southern Californians, here's a little math question for you. If Toyota is offering about $3,000 in incentives on the Prius in San Francisco and just $2,500 in perks in Los Angeles, is it worth it to take the trip up? Yes, but barely.

Looking to goose sales in by far its largest US market, Toyota is continuing many of the incentives it started in April to reverse the trend of falling year-over-year Prius sales, according to Green Car Reports.

Specifically, Toyota is offering discounts worth about $3,000 in San Francisco, though many of those incentives expire May 26, Green Car Reports says, citing Cars Direct. Down in LA, those incentives are worth about $2,500, though they do extend until June 1.

While US Prius sales fell last year, they did rise two percent in California. Through April, the four Prius variants combined for sales of 15,235 units, down 15 percent from a year earlier.

And for those looking to do a little comparison shopping, a one-way flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco is running about $200, while that drive down will cost about $30 in gas (it is a Prius, after all). Factoring in the rides to and from the airports, though, we'll call it a wash.Featured Gallery2012 Toyota Prius

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There are still 6,000 first-gen Chevy Volts on dealer lots

There are still 6,000 first-gen Chevy Volts on dealer lotsImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: ChevroletImage Credit: Chevrolet2015 VoltMSRP$34,345ShopReviewsMore Photos2016 Chevy Volt Interior Options2016 Chevy Volt Exterior Colors2016 Chevy Volt Technical SlidesChevy Volt Gen II Battery Lab2016 Chevrolet Volt: Detroit 20152016 Chevy VoltChris Bruce

The next-gen 2016 Chevrolet Volt looks to be a pretty fantastic vehicle with more electric driving range, better fuel economy than its predecessor, and a lower starting price. However, if you're looking for a deal, the 2015 model of the plug-in hybrid might not be a bad place to check because Chevy has a ton of them to get rid of.

According to The Detroit Free Press, there are around 6,000 examples of the 2015 Volts that are still sitting on dealer lots. That might not sound like a lot, but Chevy only sold 905 of them in April and 2,779 through that month in 2015. It moved 18,805 of the PHEVs for all of 2014.

Buyers are in a pretty good spot to haggle at the moment, too, with the a new Volt right around the corner. According to The Detroit Free Press based on TrueCar figures, the current average closing price for a 2015 model is $30,607 before any federal or state tax credits. You can also lease one for 39 months for $299 a month and $1,649 due at signing. In April, Chevy was reportedly offering customers 2.9-percent financing for 48 months and leases with no money down for buyers trading in a vehicle from a competitor.

Of course, there's also always the option to buy a pre-owned example. Just a few months ago, prices for used Volts were reportedly as low as $13,000 at auction.Featured Gallery2014 Chevrolet Volt

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What do you really get for a $7,000 Tesla Powerwall home battery?

What do you really get for a $7,000 Tesla Powerwall home battery?Tesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Guests pose with the Powerwall unit after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, with a Powerpack unit the background unveils suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Guests pose with the Powerwall unit after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: A guests takes photographs of the Powerpack system after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Guests pose with the Powerwall unit after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, with a Powerpack system in the background unveils suite of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at the Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: The Powerpack system which powered the news conference in seen after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, with a graphic unveils suite of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at the Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesENVIRONMENT-US-TECHNOLOGY-ENERGY-TESLAPeople look at newly-unveiled Tesla Powerwall batteries at the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne, California, April 30, 2015. Electric car pioneer Telsa Motors unveiled a 'home battery' Thursday which its founder Elon Musk said would help change the 'entire energy infrastructure of the world.' AFP PHOTO / David McNew (Photo credit should read DAVID MCNEW/AFP/Getty Images)Image Credit: DAVID MCNEW via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Guests pose with the Powerwall unit after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Guests pose with the Powerwall unit after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Guests look at a Powerwall system on display after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesTesla Unveils New Battery SystemLOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 30: Guests take photographs of the Powerwall system after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio April 30, 2015 in Hawthorne, California. Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty ImagesMore PhotosTesla Motors 2015 Q1 Shareholder LetterTesla Powerwall Home Battery Energy StorageTesla RevozportTesla Gigafactory Progress Tesla Motors 2014 Q4 Shareholder LetterAutoblog Staff

Elon Musk, the star CEO of the electric car company Tesla Motors and the rocket company SpaceX, staged an elaborate event last month to unveil a new product. Not a sleek new luxury car. Not a rocket that can ferry people to Mars. A home appliance – a battery – that can be mounted on a garage wall and ignored.

The reason for all the excitement is because of what batteries like these might someday do. They may make the electric power grid more robust and able to handle increasing amounts of wind and solar power. In conjunction with rooftop solar systems, batteries may help homeowners reduce their electric bills. And some homeowners, like Mike Thielen – who installed a Tesla battery prototype last year in his Redondo Beach, CA, home as part of a state home storage testing program – would like to use them to say goodbye to their electric utility forever.

"I think it's brilliant," Thielen said of Tesla's home battery. "I would consider upgrading to a more powerful home battery if they could figure out a way to get me totally off the grid."

That future, though, is not close. "Off-grid electricity supply will remain punishingly expensive for the foreseeable future," wrote Bernstein Research analyst Hugh Wynne in a recent report.

For now, and likely for several more years, Tesla's home battery, called a Powerwall, is a backup power source not much different from the generators for sale at any hardware store. It will keep the lights on and the refrigerator cold during a blackout, but it doesn't run power-hungry devices like air conditioners or clothes dryers.

At an installed cost of about $7,000, it's an appliance that makes very little financial sense for most people.

Tesla lists the price of the battery at $3,500, but that does not include installation, or an additional piece of equipment called an inverter that is needed to connect the battery to the home. To get a sense of the system's full price look to Tesla's sister company SolarCity, a solar panel installer founded by Musk's cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive. Musk is SolarCity's chairman and largest shareholder.

SolarCity offers a 9-year Powerwall lease for $5,000 when part of a rooftop solar panel installation and financing contract. To buy and install the battery outside of financing a solar deal, the price is $7,140.

That's some pricey power, given how infrequently the lights go out. The average US home loses power for just under 2 hours a year. Over the course of a nine-year lease that average homeowner would pay $277 for each hour the battery is running.

To some, that peace of mind may be worth it, though many who wanted that peace of mind bought a home backup generator long ago.

The price to go completely off the grid is even higher because that would require a rooftop solar system bigger than what is now usually installed, and at least two Powerwall batteries. That kind of system would cost $96,000 without subsidies, about 74 years of electric bills for an average US customer, calculates Bernstein Research's Wynne. Even assuming the cost of solar and batteries declines by 80 percent in the coming years and that it will be subsidized by clean-energy incentives, the system would still cost 2.5 times more than buying electricity from the grid, according to Wynne.

The Tesla battery still has appeal, however, and that appeal could grow with regulatory changes that would enable owners to get more use out of their batteries.

As a back-up power source, a battery is small, unobtrusive, and tucked away on a wall. If paired with a solar system, it doesn't require any gasoline, diesel or other fuel — which might also run out during an emergency. And it doesn't produce any exhaust that can be dangerous if not vented properly.

In locations with very high power costs, like Hawaii, or very unreliable power, like in some developing countries, solar paired with a battery could be worthwhile right away. Batteries could also help solar customers in the states that don't allow home-generated solar to offset grid power use get more value out of their panels. With a battery, customers could store the excess power the panels sometimes generate for use later.

And in the future, it's expected that more utilities and regulators will allow power prices to change throughout the day based on market conditions. Such a change would mean the software that controls the solar and battery system could help customers save money by using home-generated power when grid prices are high.

Batteries could really start to make financial sense if home and commercial batteries could be turned into so-called virtual power plants. Companies are working on systems that control a large group of batteries together as if it were one large power source. Battery owners might be able to sell their stored electricity to utilities during periods of high demand on the grid – which would help them pay off their otherwise ignored and expensive appliances faster.

The AP contributed to this report.Featured GalleryTesla Powerwall Launch

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GM To Miss 2017 Target of Selling 500,000 Electrified Vehicles | Edmunds.com

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DETROIT —  General Motors said it expects to fall short of its goal of putting half a million electrified vehicles on the road by 2017.

The automaker, in its annual sustainability report released late last week, said that it has sold 180,834 vehicles since 2010 with some form of electrification, including pure battery-electric cars such as the Chevrolet Spark EV, plug-in hybrids such as the Chevrolet Volt and a variety of models equipped with its eAssist mild hybrid system.

GM attributed the narrowing demand for hybrid and electric vehicles to "lower fuel prices and the surge in model offerings from all manufacturers."

The company said it remains "committed to electrification" and that "we continue to aspire to our stated goal," introducing new products such as the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV.

The GM report echoes an April analysis from Edmunds that revealed a consumer shift away from hybrids and EVs back to SUVs.

Car buyers are trading in hybrid and electric cars for SUVs at a higher rate than ever before, according to the analysis.

About 22 percent of people who have traded in their hybrids and EVs in 2015 bought a new SUV. The number represents a sharp increase from 18.8 percent last year, and it is nearly double the rate of 11.9 percent just three years ago.

In the meantime, General Motors said it is focusing more investment on improving the fuel economy and reducing emissions on its internal-combustion engines, through such technologies as turbocharging, stop-start, direct injection, variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation.

GM said it is rolling out a new "technologically advanced engine family" with modular architecture that will be used globally in 27 models from five GM brands by 2017.

Its investments in improving internal-combustion engines "underscore the reality that gasoline will be the fuel of choice for the vast majority of the world for the foreseeable future," said GM.

Edmunds says: The GM report underscores some major showroom trends that are true for most major automakers.

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