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Next generation electric vehicles get $2.4 billion cash injection
US President Barack Obama has made $2.4 billion available to fund the next generation of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and the advanced batteries that power them.
He made the announcement during a visit to the Southern California Edison Electric Vehicle Technical Center yesterday.
The funds, which are part of the President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will be divvied up into three parts.
“Because these cars of tomorrow require the batteries of tomorrow, I am announcing… a $2 billion competitive grant program… that will spark the manufacturing of the batteries and parts that run these cars, build or upgrade the factories that will produce them,” he said.
The Department of Energy (DOE) will make $1.5 billion available in the form of grants to manufacturers of batteries and their components with a further $500 million earmarked for the makers of other components essential to electric vehicles such as electric motors.
The grants will provide support for the construction or upgrading of manufacturing facilities for batteries and other components, as well as recycling plants for lithium-ion and other advanced batteries.
As well as consumer products, these plants will serve military and utility applications, helping to drive down the cost across the board.
The final slice of $400 million will go towards the demonstration and evaluation of plug-in hybrids – which current get around 100 miles to the gallon, have a range of 40 miles without charging. The DOE will also look at other technologies such as truck stop electrification to reduce idling.
“These cars won’t leave the showroom unless consumers buy them, [so] the Recovery Act includes a new tax credit of $7,500 to encourage Americans to plug one in at home,” he added.
By 2015, Obama said that he wants to see one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the country’s roads. But it’s only a tiny proportion of the 240 million cars currently on the road in the US.
For further information:
Recovery.gov
www.sce.com/PowerandEnvironment/ElectricTransportation/Technology/
www.energy.gov/