Obama opens spigot on plug-in electric-car grants

President Barack Obama on Thursday launched a $2.4 billion program to boost development of plug-in electric vehicles in the U.S., including grants to finance domestic production of auto batteries.

Obama spoke at Southern California Edison's Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona, Calif., where he said the Department of Energy has now started taking grant proposals from electric-vehicle battery makers.

Obama speaks at Southern California Edison's electric-vehicle testing center in Pomona, Calif., on Thursday.

(Credit: CBS)

The stimulus plan passed earlier this year set aside $2 billion to jump-start electric-vehicle manufacturing. Out of that total, $1.5 billion is available for U.S. battery manufacturing and $500 million for related technology, such as electric motors.

The Department of Energy is making another $400 million available to build and test the infrastructure needed for plug-in electric vehicles. This includes charging stations and training for technicians in electric vehicles.

The funding will help meet the president's goal of 1 million plug-in vehicles by 2015 and position U.S. companies for the next wave of transportation technology, Obama said.

"Even as our American automakers are undergoing a painful recalibration, they are retooling and reimagining themselves into an industry that can compete and win, because millions of jobs depend on it," Obama said at the event.

Echoing comments he made during his address to Congress last month, Obama said the U.S. lags other countries in plug-in battery technology, which the grant program is designed to address.

Because the company considers it strategic technology, General Motors earlier this year decided to build the battery packs and power controls for its forthcoming Chevy Volt electric sedan in-house. Battery companies A123 Systems and Ener1 have already applied for DOE loans and are expected to seek participation in the $2 billion battery manufacturing grant program.

"Show us that your idea or your company is best-suited to meet America's challenges, and we will give you a chance to prove it," Obama said, addressing electric-vehicle companies. "Every company that wants a shot at these tax dollars has to prove their worth."

To spur demand for electric vehicles, the stimulus act gives consumers a federal tax credit worth up $7,500 for the purchase of plug-in electric vehicles.

But executives at U.S. auto companies have voiced concern over the ability of the industry to supply enough batteries for an oncoming wave of plug-in electric sedans. Creating the capacity for hundreds of thousands of plug-in passenger cars in two or three years requires big investments today, Charles Gassenheimer, the CEO of Ener1 said on Tuesday.

"Demand is not the issue. It's the ability to supply," he said. "You still need to make the investments in the platforms today. Otherwise, you miss the window of opportunity."

[websterphreaky]

And WHEN this Chicago Political Moron shuts down all the Coal Fired Electrical Plants, stops ANY new Nuclear Power Plants and forces Oil back up to $200 a barrel and YOUR ELECTRICITY BILL QUADRUPLES ..... HOW are you going to afford to CHARGE THAT ELECTRIC CAR??????

WAKE UP MORONS!! You are being SNOWED by a Socialist!

[mikekrause]

Are you kidding me? Is this really the best use of government incentive dollars? How about pouring money into cheaper, more efficient ways to produce the electricity BEFORE we actually tax our current system, which is predominately dependent on coal and natural gas to charge these batteries.

I have nothing against plug-in electric cars. It's just getting the cart before the horse to encourage the consumers of the energy to convert before the producers of the energy have done a damn thing to be more efficient.

[pintos-n-cheese]

I also like plug-in cars since they indeed will reduce emissions in the US, although emissions may increase from power plants churning more electricity to those cars.

But my real concern now is, when millions of cars full of batteries many years from now die, where will all those dead batteries go? A landfill? Recycled? I really need to hear more about the future plans for handling this issue.

[streamline35]

I don't think you so much "have concerns", as just don't know what you're talking about.

Even if every car on the road today became electric and ran off of coal power, it would still be cleaner than running every car off gasoline. Coal is pretty dirty, but at the power plant, it is 1) far more efficiently burned and converted to electricity (where as an ICE loses most of its energy to heat), and 2) cleaned more effectively before leaving the chimney.

When the batteries die, they are recycled. All the current NiMH batteries in hybrids today are fully recyclable. Toyota offers $200 to return old batteries for recycling. Lithium ion batteries are also capable of being fully recycled. Laptop and other electronics manufacturers do it all the time. Toxic batteries were a much bigger problem back when those horrible lead acid batteries were used. Today it is not much of a problem (not to mention cost effective for a company to recycle)

[freemarket--2008]

@streamline35: I agree with you for the most part, except about the lead acid battery comment. Yes dead acid batteries are toxic, but they have been easily recycled for decades. I remember my father taking them to the scrap yard back in the 60s.

[kdraks]

This is brilliant, after Reagan moved into the Whitehouse and REMOVED the solar panels that Carter installed, we have lost our lead in developing solar energy to China and Germany. The following years remanded us to the hands of big oil and now, finally, we have some investment in R&D that will help keep us competitive. It is fundamental research like this that has brought us the technologies that we all take for granted today. Stimulating research and developing new technologies is something that the US is very, very good at. Now we just need to develop an education system that helps kids train to be scientists so they can learn to be objective and not equate spending government monies with socialism.

I do agree that we need to pass laws to make it legal to deploy nuclear power in the U.S. Without that, we will continue to be dependent on big oil for a long, long time

[Button Boy]

I have ordered several different plug-in EVs from new auto companies. Pity the Volt has become such a disappointment- I was very interested in it at first. I will be glad to support a genuinely innovative company- I hope it will be American.

[bassdad05]

All interested should read this interview from David Pogue at NYTimes with Better Place chief executive Shai Agassi. http://bitly.com/9ol58. Here is an example of an approach to electric vehicles that has real traction and makes real strides towards greenhouse gas reduction and energy independence. If supporting domestic business while cleaning up our environment is Socialism, sign me up!

[nu-idea]

My neighbor installed a solar roof on his house, and his first month?s electric bill was .23¢. He enjoys watching his meter running backwards. Put this idea together with a new plug-in hybrid or electric car and, Voila! There you have it.

[HeavyJim]

Grants, stimulus, bailouts......no matter what savings you think you are going to get from these, how in the heck is this country going to pay for it all?

[Dalkorian]

By not sending trillions to fight an illegal war in Iraq? Why are retardicans so dense?

[HeavyJim]

Dense? Retardican? I see you are a liberal. Anyway, why worry about Iraq? Seems the plan now is to fudge on getting troops out of Iraq, take forever, then just send them to Afghanistan. Yeah, dense. You should understand that.