The Nissan Leaf electric vehicle
A group calling itself the Electrification Coalition, led by Nissan and Federal Express, is asking for the government to spend $128 billion over 8 years to help make electricity the fuel of cars.
The EV group “ to pass a series of tax credits and loan guarantees to help bring 14 million electric cars to the road by 2020. Their plan envisions building up the use of electric vehicles in six to eight cities in the short term with the goal of making 75 percent of all vehicle miles traveled powered by electricity by 2040.”
I’d like to see the whole plan, but this seems a little presumptuous considering not one major automaker has even yet sold a plug-in vehicle. Likewise, the government is already putting up $50 billion+ just to help automakers achieve new CAFE standards. If such a plan were to move forward, wouldn’t it be better to reallocate that $50 billion in CAFE funds to this plan, for instance?
More important, if the government is to foot the bill for electrification, shouldn’t the plan be as comprehensive as possible, and ensure that the recently bailed out US auto industry is a central focus of the plan?
