Senate Clean Energy Jobs Bill Has $3.9 Billion for EVs, Chargers and Batteries
By John O'Dell July 30, 2010
The energy bill introduced Thursday in the Senate has a pleasant surprise: $3.9 billion in funding for electric vehicles and infrastructure.
Earlier in the week, Senate staffers briefing the media discussed only $400 million of EV funding. But the full text introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., includes $2 billion for the so-called early deployment communities program and $1.5 billion for EV and battery research and development.
The EV provisions were pulled into the energy bill from the separate, bipartisan Electric Vehicle Deployment Act introduced earlier in the year.
Reid's bill, the "Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act of 2010," still must win approval of the full Congress.
Some legislation watchers think it has scant chance because it needs unanimous Democratic support just to get out of the Senate and the votes of at least two oil-state Dems opposed to its provision lifting the $75 million oil spill liability cap on oil companies are in doubt.
So the EV provisions are iffy as well, although the earier EV Deployment measures still are alive and lurking and there's a small possibility they could be used as a path to move electric vehicle and charger program funding through Congress if Reid is defeated.
Too bad our legislators can't tackle issues separately and have to pile everything into one bill so that the good gets killed with the bad if an omnibus measure is defeated, (and, conversely, the bad gets approved with the good if one of these one-size-fits-all bills get passed).
As might be expected, the Electrification Coalition - a group of automakers, EV charger companies and others boosting deployment and use of electric-drive vehicles - applauded the Senate bill, saying it was especially "pleased to see electrification deployment communities, which will guarantee the success of electric vehicles beyond early adaptors, will be included in this legislation."
The deployment community plan will provide government funding to as many as 15 communities across the country to help finance installation of battery charging infrastructure and subsidize purchase of EVs and plug-in hybrids by businesses and residents of those communities.
The program, said coalition president Robbie Diamond, "has broad support, from mayors across the country to business leaders to the White House to Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate."
Here's a breakdown, courtesy the Electrification Coalition, of the key electric vehicle and battery provisions in the bill:
- $2 billion - Deployment communities program;
- $1.54 billion - R&D;
- $150 million -Employee training;
- $100 million -National EV rollout program;
- $50 million - Battery manufacturer loan guarantees;
- $25 million - federal fleet purchase subsidies;
- $11 million - battery development prizes;
- $1.5 million - raw materials study;
- $1 million - data study.
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