Coalition Outlines Plan for 120 Million Plug-in Vehicles on U.S. Roads by 2030
By Scott Doggett November 16, 2009
(Updated at 7 p.m. Pacific time, 11/16/09, to add details throughout.)
By Robert E. Calem, Contributor
Top executives from more than a dozen companies announced today that they had formed a coalition supporting plug-in electric vehicles, and they unveiled a plan calling for 120 million EVs on U.S. roads by 2030 - an ambitious proposal bearing a federal price tag of more than $120 billion over the next eight years.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, D.C., members of the newly formed Electricifcation Coalition said plug-in electric vehicles hold the key to solving America's dependence on oil and its associated "economic, environmental and national security vulnerabilities."
High penetration rates of grid-enabled vehicles, or GEVs - vehicles propelled in whole or in part by electricity drawn from the grid and stored onboard in a battery - could radically minimize the importance of oil to the U.S., strengthening the country's economy, improving its national security, and providing much-needed flexibility to American foreign policy, the business leaders said.
Simultaneously, such a system would clear a path to dramatically reduced economy-wide emissions of greenhouse gases, they said.
The conference showcased 13 business leaders and several influential politicians, including Carlos Ghosn, CEO of the Nissan Motor Co.; David W. Crane, CEO of electric utility NRG Energy; David P. Vieau, CEO of battery maker A123 Systems; Frederick W. Smith, CEO of Federal Express; Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota; and Nancy Sutley, chairperson of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Their presentations at the event were optimistic and filled with statistics about the prevalence of cheap electric energy and the benefits of proliferating GEVs.
Among their arguments: that electricity prices are stable and the supply of electricity is abundant, with lots of spare capacity; that electricity is a domestic resource; and, that the infrastructure is already in place to generate, transmit and distribute the electrical supply to homes - with their GEV-filled garages - nationwide.
But the coalition's vision and its goals - spelled out in a 170-page document released today titled the Electrification Roadmap - are a complex assortment of policy recommendations and business initiatives that will face a lot of challenges, even its backers concede.
In the document, the group outlined how the federal cash would be used to provide tax credits for the installation of advanced automotive batteries in stationary applications - seen as a way to drive scale and bring down cost - and for both public charging stations and home charging equipment.
A portion of the cash would also be used to provide loan guarantees to help retool auto plants to produce plug-in vehicles, similar to an existing $25 billion Energy Department loan program that was created in the 2007 energy law.
The group said the investment would help the market hit the critical mass necessary for exponential growth, estimating that the cash would help put 700,000 plug-ins on the road by 2013, 14 million by 2020 and more than 120 million by 2030. By 2040, under the plan, 75 percent of all miles driven by cars and light-duty trucks would be powered by electricity and not petroleum.
The initial investment would be targeted at a handful of cities, or "electrification ecosystems," designed to show the viability of both the plug-ins and the electric grid with which they would interact. The first phase would last four years and invest in six to eight cities that would essentially serve as large-scale demonstration programs. The second phase would then extend to an additional 20 to 25 cities.
By 2018, the original half-dozen cities would each have between 400,000 and 500,000 plug-ins and the second group between 75,000 and 150,000.
Ghosn emphasized that Nissan was committed to bringing its all-electric Leaf to market within the next year, but he said that the U.S. government would need to step up its support of EVs if it wants the market to abandon its reliance on traditional internal-combustion engines.
"The widespread acceptance of zero-emission cars will require more than the efforts automakers can provide on their own," said Ghosn, who also heads French automaker - and Nissan partner - Renault. "Public and private collaborations will be the key to mainstream acceptance."
Congressional Democrats have made funding the development of plug-in cars and the batteries they rely on a priority, and President Obama has vowed to put 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Even so, the coalition conceded that the total amount of federal cash they are asking for is a substantial amount.
Fred Smith, the president and CEO of FedEx Corp., said the total "obviously is a lot of money" but would result "in a tremendous return on the investment" for the country, helping to end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and curb air pollution.
"Up to now, electrification seemed like a pipe dream," Smith said. "But we are offering a realistic, practical, achievable plan to build a transportation system that will enhance our national security, propel economic growth and reduce carbon dioxide emissions."
A number of the companies represented by the coalition have already benefited from existing federal programs designed to spur the development of plug-in vehicles. Nissan received $1.6 billion from the DOE auto loan program in June, and Johnson Controls-Saft and A123Systems were awarded stimulus grants - of $299.2 million and $249.1 million, respectively - in August to help with advanced battery production.
The coalition's 13 members are: Timothy Carver, president and CEO of AeroVironment Inc.; Peter Corsell, CEO of GridPoint Inc.; Crane, president and CEO of NRG Energy; Kevin Czinger, president and CEO of Coda Automotive; Peter Darbee, chairman, CEO and president of PG&E; Seifi Ghasemi, chairman and CEO of Rockwood Holdings Inc.; Ghosn, president and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance; Ray Lane, managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Richard Lowenthal, founder and CEO of Coulomb Technologies Inc.; Alex Molinaroli, chairman of Johnson Controls-Saft; Reuben Munger, chairman of Bright Automotive Inc.; Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx; and Vieau, president and CEO of A123Systems.
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Perhaps "Men in Suits Electrification Coalition" would be more apt. Maybe add Snappy Ties to the title as well.
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