File this one under the categories of, “Who knew?” and “Really?”

Atlanta just beat environmentally-conscious Seattle for the number two for use of electric cars, according to IHS Automotive as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

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This ranking will make some ponder if Atlanta has suddenly become the land of tree hug-ery, where we’ll will pay a hefty window sticker premium to blow off the corner gas station.

… not exactly.

“What really moved us was learning that there are two tax credits to us here in Georgia,” said recent Nissan Leaf owner Tom Maples. He and his wife named their new car, “Maples’ Leaf.”

The sticker price for a new Leaf begins just shy of $29,000.

But a federal tax credit instantly lops off $7,500. Another five grand disappears courtesy a Georgia tax credit.

Combined, the incentives make the Leaf one of the cheapest new cars on the road (For comparison, that’s a similar price to the Mazda2, Chevrolet Spark and Kia Soul.). And it’s not just Nissan. Incentives also make Teslas, and some all-electric BMWs and Mitsubishis less pricey.

“The benefit of having a $5,000 tax credit from the state of Georgia is huge,” said Lane Crider, general manager of Nissan of Newnan.

Atlanta’s become the biggest US market for Nissan Leaf sales.

That’s not necessarily a good thing, according to Baruch Feigenbaum. He handles transportation policy for Reason Foundation. He says higher income consumers are generally the ones buying electric cars.

“And so what we have here is a government program that is basically redistributing tax funds from low income to high income,” he said.

While subsidies help, they’re not the only drivers behind Atlanta’s electric embrace. The city has lots of charging stations, electric cars can cruise in the HOV lanes, and compared to other big cities, Atlanta’s electricity rates are low.