President Obama Announces $2.4 Billion in Funding for Electric Vehicles

President Obama announced today that $2.4 billion will be made available for the US-based development of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.

The fund is intended to spur growth in research and manufacturing of next-generation plug-in hybrid vehicles and advanced battery componenents for electric cars, while creating tens of thousands of US jobs and reducing US petroleum dependence. It should also help meet the President’s goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015.

The President made the announcement while visiting Southern California Edison’s Electric Vehicle Center. SCE is one of the largest electric utilities in the country and researches battery-powered and hybrid engines, along with potential impacts of having massive numbers of electric vehicles taking power from conventional utility networks.

This investment will not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it will put Americans back to work. It positions American manufacturers on the cutting edge of innovation and solving our energy challenges.

-President Obama

The plan was partially outlined on the Department of Energy’s website:

  • The Department of Energy is offering up to $1.5 billion in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce these highly efficient batteries and their components.
  • The Department of Energy is offering up to $500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce other components needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors and other components.
  • The Department of Energy is offering up to $400 million to demonstrate and evaluate Plug-In Hybrids and other electric infrastructure concepts — like truck stop charging station, electric rail, and training for technicians to build and repair electric vehicles.
The money is being made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

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22 Comments

  1. I think it is great, better now then never. I will however piss off the satanic oil company’s and the evil powers that be, and thats a good thing.

  2. Now we’re rolling in the right direction.

  3. Well it’s great to see that there is some action finally being taken to improve the air we breathe. Personal motor vehicles are toxic let’s face facts, it takes 7 - 15 minutes to kill yourself with a vehicle running in your garage so we know the fumes are deadly, and there is an endless source of solar power from the sun, which does not burn fossil fuels to make electricity like some coal powered electricity plants do. This is the area we need to spend more time researching, and why havn’t we done so. Because when you have a huge trillion dollar industry like petroleum it becomes harder to say no to the money that is generated from the sales and government taxes of this toxic product. What do you do? Well hears what we should do. We should provide funding for current mechanics to upskill themselves in the art of vehicle conversion. This takes care of the problem of what we do with all our petrol burners. We simply convert them all to electricity rather than asking people to purchase new hybrids. how can we afford that in times of recession.
    Next we tax heavily those who wish to burn petroleum based products which includes industries as well as airlines and personal motor vehicle owners.
    What we need is choice and thats something we simply have not been given as consumers because of the huge profits that vehicle manufacturers make along with thier partner in crime - The petrol companies…
    You cant have one without the other as no-one would buy petrol powered cars if there was no gas to put in them and no-one would need petrol if they owned electric vehicles. So there you have it. Two massive industries joined at the hip backed by Governments who are too scared to say no to the enormous income they rake in to the coffers from the heavy taxes they impose on petrol in the first place. In New Zealand Government tax on petrol is 40% of the price we pay at the pump. Who is really responsible here? We all are… Research electric vehicles, convert your car or find someone to convert it for you and join the groundswell of people who are making a change to improve our planet and provide a better place for our children to grow up in. At the same time you will save money on travel costs. Imagine the effect it would have on inflation and consumables if the price of transportation were cheaper and more affordable. We would all benefit and so would the planet…
    Try this if you doubt this isnt the BIGGEST industry on the planet. Try saying the word PETROL for every car you see on the road. I did this in rush hour traffic and nearly lost my voice…this is a multi trillion dollar industry and dont ever forget it…
    Lets start thinking and working on this issue together as citizens of the planet earth rather than individuals in separate countries. Let’s work on this issue together to make OUR planet the best place to live…
    More ideas on how to improve our planet coming soon…

  4. hey john what kind of car were you sitting in while you were in rush hour traffic. somehow i doubt it was electric powered. and ya you plan is nice in a perfect world but people can hardly pay for stuff they have now, how do force them to convert their cars over/tax the evaliving out of something they need to get to work with. not saying its good, but you cant just get rid of the stuff. its just not that easy.

  5. Awesome

  6. I am afraid that, since Obama is a tool of the satanic elite/oil companies, that this involvement will retard, rather than advance, the development of electric vehicles.

  7. So if you have million of cars pluggin in to the grid, how many more power plants will you need?
    They will probably be run from coal and oil or nuclear… so how does this solve anything!
    You are still effectively oil dependant on producing the electric to power the cars.
    In fact surely its more efficient to produce the electric at source ie in the cars engine rather than having to send the electric over the grid!
    Lets wake up here.

  8. It’s about time!
    George
    blackbayev

  9. @john
    “Well it’s great to see that there is some action finally being taken to improve the air we breathe. Personal motor vehicles are toxic let’s face facts, it takes 7 - 15 minutes to kill yourself with a vehicle running in your garage so we know the fumes are deadly”

    actually after about ‘00 or 02′ cars are pretty much clean out of the tail pipe. If you have a fairly new car, made with in the last say 8 years go smell the exhaust. It should be fairly orderless if its not your car is not running as designed.

  10. Russ,so you create new power factories. Energy is a privatized business in the US, more demand = more incentive to build/research additional factories which in turn generate jobs. Things like Nuclear and Hydro powered energy are not a finite resource like oil, think ahead before you go off on a rant about things you clearly don’t understand.

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