Bill Meant to Spark EV Acceptance Is Already Seen as Creating Winners and Losers

Bill Meant to Spark EV Acceptance Is Already Seen as Creating Winners and Losers

By Scott Doggett June 24, 2010

By Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor

No one wants to be loser, and representatives of states and cities and tribal areas and whatnot fretting the loss of some easy federal money are likely to cause the Obama administration some grief in the months to come.

The administration supports Senate legislation - S 3495.pdf - calling for billions of dollars in investment to boost the number of electric vehicles on the roads in as many as 15 communities nationwide.

"Starting with a small number of communities would allow us to focus resources and build a team of experts that can support a more widespread rollout," Energy Department Assistant Secretary David Sandalow told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday.

And therein lies the problem: As some see it, if you're not one of those sweet 15 or so communities, well, you're a big loser.

The bill would create a "small number of communities that would 'win' and receive significant federal dollars while the rest of the country loses out," said Kathryn Clay, speaking for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing 11 major automakers.

She's not a U.S. senator, so her point is - how shall we phrase it? - just not as important as a vote. But Jeff Bingaman is a senator, and the Democrat from New Mexico (who is also head of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee) would rather see a national deployment over the deployment-community approach, too.

So just how much federal money are we talking about? Sandalow said the administration wants $10 billion. You'll recall that President Obama has, on many occasions, called for 1 million plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. The money would help achieve that goal.

Specifically, the bill would increase the use of electric vehicles by identifying between five and 15 "deployment communities" to receive Energy Department grants to build charging stations and other EV infrastructure.

Sandalow said other countries, such as China, Denmark and Israel, had established EV programs with a similar community-driven approach with some success.

"With federal programs, we need to start somewhere," he said. "It's wise to focus on a limited number of areas and focus on building a knowledge base the rest of the nation can learn from."

So just what are the deployment-community selection criteria? In selecting communities, the legislation says the secretary of energy shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that:

• (i) the combination of selected communities is diverse in population, demographics, urban and suburban composition, typical commuting patterns, climate, and type of utility (including regulated, municipal, cooperative, and vertically integrated utilities);
• (ii) the combination of selected communities is diverse in geographic distribution, and at least 1 deployment community is located in each Petroleum Administration for Defense District [who knew that the U.S. is divided into five PADDs?!];
• (iii) at least 1 community selected has a population of less than 125,000;
• (iv) each deployment community will achieve significant market penetration; and
• (v) the deployment communities are representative of other communities across the United States.

Moreover, the secretary "is encouraged" to select a combination of deployment communities that includes multiple models or approaches for deploying plug-in electric drive vehicles that the secretary believes are reasonably likely to be effective, etc.

In other words, the secretary of energy (and likely his boss) can expect to receive a lot of pressure before the deployment communities are named.

Hopefully, the lawmakers won't be too fussy. As Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), author of the legislation, put it earlier this week, "Picking winners and losers is usually an excuse for doing nothing. God forbid we should have a plan for what will happen."

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.