Presidential nominees Barack Obama and John McCainare enthusiastic proponents and backers of
the plug-in hybrid vehicle, according to Jim Motavalli’s blog on the New York
Times Web site.
Obama and McCain presented plans to help jump-start the move
toward getting enough plug-ins on the market to reduce fuel consumption and
position the country closer to energy independence. A cornerstone of Obama’s
plan to put a million plug-ins on the road by 2015. He also says he would
convert the entire White House fleet to plug-ins within a year of his taking
office “as security permits,” and commit the federal government to making half
of its new vehicle purchases battery cars and plug-ins by 2012.
McCain has talked of a $300 million challenge to develop
batteries with “the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially
available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.” The winning battery would need to
deliver full performance, but cost just 30 percent of current technology.
McCain’s $300 million “is small change in this business,”
said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in
Michigan
. “It’s not
insignificant, but it’s the cost of a paint shop in an auto factory,” he says.
The key technology is lithium-ion batteries, he added.
Charles Territo, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers, says the McCain initiative is helpful, but these manufacturers
are already spending billions of dollars bringing plug-in hybrids and other
advanced technologies to the market. Territo is also cautious about the
prospects for the Obama plan, saying a target of one million plug-ins in the
U.S.
by 2015—considering there are none now—could be somewhat optimistic.
However, Joseph Romm, an author who served as acting
assistant secretary of energy for efficiency and renewable energy in the
Clinton
administration,
says one million vehicles by 2015 is a reasonable goal.
Some environmentalists don’t like either plan. John DeCicco,
an automotive strategist for the Environmental Defense Fund, says the
government needs to set firm goals in terms of carbon reduction, and then let
the private sector come up with a solution.
