Bipartisan support.
It's the elusive beast that's seen about as often as the chupacabra.
And when it does make an appearance, it's usually in regards to congressional pay raises or to maintain a system where special interests sit at the VIP table while hard-working Americans get stuck with the bill.
But yesterday, we did see some broad bipartisan support on something that I didn't really expect at all...
The Promoting Electric Vehicles Act (PEVA)
Intended to pony up about $3.9 billion over 10 years to build electric car charging infrastructure, conduct research, and provide incentives, PEVA was voted out of committee and will now be scheduled for a vote in the Senate.
Of course, as with anything in Washington, there's good news and bad news.
The good news
It's pretty simple...
Anything that enables us to decrease our oil consumption is a good thing — for the economy, for the environment, and for the sake of national security.
I don't think you'll get many arguments on that.
And of course, any support on the Hill for electric vehicle integration is good for all those electric car and high-performance battery stocks, like Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA), A123 Systems (NASDAQ: AONE), and Ener1 (NASDAQ: HEV).
Whether or not you're an investor, more electric vehicles on the road equates to a stronger, cleaner energy economy.
And that benefits everyone.
The bad news
First of all, there seem to be quite a few overzealous policy makers in Washington who are being unrealistic in regards to how many electric cars we can get on the road within the next 20 years.
The goal, as I understand it, is to electrify half the country's cars and trucks by 2030.
I'm about as optimistic as they come when discussing the potential of electric vehicles. And I'm not saying that such a goal is impossible to reach...
But $4 billion for this program, no price on carbon, and exceptionally low gasoline prices — thanks to continued oil subsidies and a complete disregard for the liquidation of natural capital — will make this goal very difficult to reach.
I've had the opportunity to talk to a lot of experts in this field. And I've yet to meet one who believes we can electrify half of the country's cars and trucks by 2030 if gasoline prices continue to stay so artificially low.
Of course, that being said, the reality of peak oil and its effect on gasoline prices could force me to eat a huge plate of crow. And I'll be happy to dig into that!
Another issue that can't be disregarded is the simple fact that there will be opposition to this bill.
There will be the obligatory “this is just more spending of tax payer dollars” argument. (Although $4 billion over ten years is peanuts compared to the $44 billion we spent to protect the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf in 2007 alone.)
I guess when talking about tax dollars, it really all boils down to priorities.
Another argument is that the bill only targets a small group of communities and would not be deployed nationwide.
Why should federal dollars only be targeted in certain regions, but not in others?
In theory, I actually understand this argument; but in practice, I don't know if it's valid.
Aside from South Dakota and Alaska, I've had the great privilege of visiting every state in the nation...
And I can tell you that you're going to have a lot more luck with the large-scale integration of electric vehicles in places like Los Angeles and Washington D.C. than you will in Biloxi or Casper, Wyoming — a place where limited-range electric vehicles wouldn't even make much sense.
Of course, there are plenty of folks in these regions who do own conventional hybrids. And I think that in our race to electrify our vehicles, we shouldn't completely disregard the impact that conventional hybrids can have on our oil consumption.
While you may not see a lot of Nissan LEAFs next year on Highway 10, Toyota (NYSE:TM) Priuses are already quite common in the Equality State.
And as conventional hybrid prices continue to fall, we'll likely see even more hybrids on the roads going forward.
Heck, Ford actually just came out today with an announcement that it will now sell its hybrid version of the 2011 Lincoln MKZ sedan for the same price as the gas-powered version!
Granted, it's still a pricey vehicle, coming in at around $35,000... But if you're going to pay that much for the car, wouldn't you rather have the model that gets better mileage?
While the gas-powered version of the MKZ gets 18 mpg/city and 27 mpg/highway, the hybrid version delivers 41 mpg/city and 36/highway.
Not bad.
Overall, it's refreshing to see some bipartisan support on this electric vehicle bill. But the need to curb our insatiable thirst for oil is an urgent one.
And this bill must be just one of the many efforts we take as a nation to transition our energy economy.
To a new way of life, and a new generation of wealth...
Jeff
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120 miles it is a joke.
300-350 miles now we talking.
People every gallon every drop of oil that we buy from "them" it is a 9.1.1. all over.
How many lives this oil have to take, how many coal miners have to die, how many nuclear power plants have to explode, how many houses have to burn because of natural gas.
dont you see that this is the work of satan.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-07/using-extreme-pressure-researchers-create-novel-material-stores-massive-amounts-energy
Again, our carmakers like GM are behind the curve because they have a bunch of government idiots on their board of directors and are being left behind by a foreign carmaker. Namely, Toyota, who had sense enough to partner with Tesla.
We need to get the electric vehicles started in the big cities where most of the gas is wasted by sitting and idling in long lines for hours.
You will only increase the peoples resistance by making gasoline 10.00 a gallon. They can't buy an electric car and pay huge increases in energy at the same time. That just impedes the progress we're trying to make.
The people will solve the energy problem but it must be a smooth and gradual change so everyone can adjust.
Think about it, they have the best maintained, monitored and geographic pathways to our entire country.The RR are set up to handle the heaviest loads (batteries,piggy back semi trailers and turn offs for distribution). The trains themselves could do quite a bit of recharging using energy converters on each of wheel of the freight cars.
Why tie up real estate as the gas stations have done,(another future clean up mess)I think the RR offer mobility and have the best equipment to handle the heavy loads, are already in place and have electric power and fiber optics already in place.
Geographically, they own the best real estate and are already tied into the old manufacturing facilities.(It was sad to ride by the old Ford plant in Lorain.) Walbridge,Ohio(Toledo) is the best location for a hub because it is the only location in the country that the Interstate roadways cross and you can access east,west,north and southern borders via highway.
It was tough to narrow down all of my thoughts, but that's my story & I'm stick'n to it!
If you have knowledge of whom I can contact regarding standardizing the proliferation of recharging electric cars, I would appreciate the lead. I shall also look for it on my own.
Very good article, thanks for the information.
Peace, Bob
1. I think you should ask the people of Isreal and Kuwait if that $44B spent to "protect our oil supplies" is money well spent. An unstable Iraq is a bigger problem than just higher gas prices.
2. Based on my interaction with people who would buy MKZ's, they seem to take great pride in the fact that they do not have to worry about anything so petty as gas mileage. As a matter of fact, buying a car based on high gas mileage is for the little people.
Some cities i.e. Seattle have already made a commitment to NG. Taxi's and buses here already use NG, although from talking to the taxi drivers there are only 3 fill - up points scattered around the region so far.