US consumers are eligible to receive up to $150 million in federal and state tax credits for the 18,000-plus electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles purchased in 2011.

Yesterday, the White House proposed spending $1 billion to assist 15 communities in the deployment of advanced-technology vehicles. He announced that $3.7 billion would be set aside for tax credits for clean cars, and that the incentive for an electric car could increase from $7,500 to $10,000. But those numbers distract attention from a major shift in focus away from plug-in cars as the marquee solution, to a portfolio of technologies and fuels, including vehicles running on compressed natural gas. Conspicuously absent was any mention of President Obama's goal of putting 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015.

We're doing our best to track the growing list of federal and state-based incentives for purchasing an electric car or plug-in hybrid. See how much you can save to get behind the wheel of an electric-drive plug-in vehicle.

If Washington state lawmakers agree, owners of electric vehicles would be charged $100 per year to make up for the lack of paying gas tax. The bill was passed by the Senate, and now heads to the House.

The Obama Administration wants to boost government incentives on electrified vehicles from the current $7,500 to $10,000. The increase is a provision in Obama's proposed $3.8 trillion budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The Wall Street Journal and others claim that Obama's budget has little chance of passage. Regardless, the proposal draws a line in the sand declaring that EV tax credits (even at the current $7,500 level) will be defended against Republican attacks.