The 2009 stimulus bill that you referenced merely expanded the existing tax credit. The one Bush signed into law applied to the first 200,000 vehicles produced; the one Obama signed into law changed it to apply to the first 200,000 vehicles produced per manufacturer. This meant that the first two or three manufacturers to bring EVs to market could not hog all the tax credits. Instead, it put all manufacturers on an even playing field.
http://www.hybridcars.com/federal-incentives/
“They were nice while they lasted, but the tax credits available to hybrid gas-electric cars bit the dust on Dec. 31, 2010. The incentives that President George Bush signed into law, as part of The Energy Policy Act of 2005, had granted up to $3,400 as a tax credit for the most efficient hybrid cars—and $4,000 for a compressed natural gas vehicle. They are gone, with little prospects for returning.
Instead, legislators have jumped to the next technology breakthrough: tax credits for plug-in hybrids and electric cars. A combination of local and national credits—up to $7,500 at the federal level, plus a $2,000 credit for charging equipment installation, plus state-based incentives (of $5,000 in California)— represent so far the largest bundle of incentives ever for private purchasers of green electric-drive vehicles.”
Pres Bush signed a similar law for hybrids, now expired. The Stimulus didn’t continue an EV credit, but replaced the hybrid credit signed by Pres. Bush.
So. I’ll concede that the original idea was first enacted by Pres. Bush in 2005. The current version is identical in form, it just applies to EVs instead of hybrids, at a rate of 200,000 models per manufacturer instead of 60k.
All manufacturers combined sold 100,000 last year (per article starting this thread), and by all accounts, it’s a banner year. No manufacturer is near their 200,000 phase out.