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November 5, 2009

White House Proposes 2-For-1 CAFE Credits for Zero Emissions Vehicles

Automaker Alliance Jumps On Board, EV-Makers Could Reap Huge Benefits

Let the horse-trading begin.

The Obama Administration, seeking to boost development of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, is suggesting that automakers be given CAFE credits that would let low and zero-emission vehicles count for up to two cars when annual fleet fuel efficiency averages are calculated.

That standard would mean that an automaker seeking to meet the 35.5 MPG fleet average required by 2016 could use a single battery-electric car rated at, say, 100 miles per gasoline-gallon equivalent, to offset seven 12 MPG pickups and SUVs, as the average fuel economy of the eight vehicles - with the ZEV's rating doubled - would be 35.5 miles per gallon.

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Green Cars could be worth their weight in cash if proposed national fuel-economy credit trading program takes off.
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The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents the domestic industry as well as several of the large foreign brands, has jumped on board the idea of emissions-based fuel economy credits.

"The ability to earn, bank and trade credits," Alliance spokesman Charles Territo told the Wall Street Journal, "is essential to meeting the goals of the national [CAFE] program.

A credit program that enables automakers to bank and trade excess fuel economy credits also could be a huge boon to companies such as Tesla Motors, Coda Automotive and Fisker Automotive, which have -or will have, in the case of Fisker and Coda - nothing but zero- and extremely low-emissions vehicles in their fleets.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); John O'Dell November 5, 2009, 2:28 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: CAFE

October 27, 2009

Feds Okay First Advanced Tech Vehicles Loan to Emissions Controls Maker

Previous Loans in Oversubscribed Program Went to Auto Manufacturing Companies

An Illinois company that makes emissions control equipment has become the first parts maker to win a loan from the $25 billion federal Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program.

Tenneco Inc. won the $24 million loan with an application that said its emissions controls would be used to help plug-in hybrids and other advanced technology vehicles with internal combustion engines comply with federal emissions standards while remaining highly fuel efficient.

Only four other loans have been approved in the program, all for automakers.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell October 27, 2009, 4:22 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Tenneco Gets Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan

October 13, 2009

Looking For Help With That EV Charging Network You Want To Set Up?

We usually write pieces bemoaning the lack of funding for advanced technology vehicle and transportation programs.

Here's one that might help you get some.

The New York Academy of Sciences and ther Urban Age Insrtitute are co-sponsoring a national "Sustainable City Finance" conference early next year. While a lot of the talk will be about greening municipal buidlings at the like, green transportation will be on the agenda as well, says Gordon Feller, Urgan Age's chief executive.

Feller said the Jan. 7 conference is designed to help businesses, private organizations and governments understand financing initiatives that can help accelerate the greening of our cities and the development of cleaner technologies.

A variety of electric transportation financing topics will be on the agenda, including at least onee session on electric vehicle charging systems, or, as Feller puts it:

"We'll help conference participants assess the capacity of municipalities and states to finance the transition to electric transport infrastructure - or to partner with private sector firms that want to work with them on structuring the transactions."

You can get more information, and registration forms, at the conference Website.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell October 13, 2009, 3:01 PM
Categories:: Mass Transit, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Electric Transportation

September 18, 2009

Study: U.S. Subsidies for Fossil Fuels Are More Than Twice Those for Renewables

The vast majority of U.S. federal subsidies for fossil fuels and renewable energy from 2002-2008 supported fossil energy sources that emit high levels of greenhouse gases when used as fuel, according to research released today by the Environmental Law Institute in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Applying a conservative approach, the respected organizations found that the U.S. government provided substantially larger subsidies to fossil fuels than to renewable fuels.

Subsidies to fossil fuels -- a mature, developed industry that has enjoyed government support for many years -- totaled approximately $72 billion over the study period, representing a direct cost to taxpayers.

Over the same period, subsidies for renewable fuels -- a relatively young and developing industry -- totaled $29 billion, the study found. What's more, of the $29 billion, more than half -- $16.8 billion -- went toward corn-based ethanol, the climate effects of which are hotly disputed.

The study also found that most of the largest subsidies to fossil fuels were written into the U.S. Tax Code as permanent provisions. By comparison, many subsidies for renewables were time-limited initiatives implemented through energy bills, with expiration dates that limit their usefulness to the renewables industry.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett September 18, 2009, 1:32 PM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Energy Companies, Ethanol, Legislation, Oil, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Climate Change

September 14, 2009

'Clunkers' Improved Overall Fuel Economy in U.S. Less Than 1 MPG, Study Finds

Researchers at the University of Michigan say the American cash-for-clunkers program improved the average fuel economy of all vehicles purchased in the U.S. by 0.6 miles per gallon in July and 0.7 mpg in August of this year.

As you'll recall, from July 27 through August 24, the government-sponsored a vehicle-scrappage program officially called the Car Allowance Rebate System and informally referred to as the cash-for-clunkers program gave buyers a rebate when they traded in a vehicle while purchasing a new one.

Generally, the trade-in vehicles must have had fuel economy of 18 mpg or less and be less than 25 years old. The rebate was either $3,500 or $4,500, depending on the difference between the fuel economy of the new and the trade-in vehicles.

Overall, about 690,000 vehicles were purchased (and traded in) under the program, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. This compares to a total of about 2,260,000 vehicles sold in July and August 2009.

To estimate the benefits of the program on the overall fuel economy of the light-duty vehicles purchased, Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute calculated the expected fuel economy of purchased new vehicles without the program.

To do this, they used the relationships between economic indicators and the fuel economy of purchased vehicles that they obtained during research they did earlier research. In that study, the fuel economy of purchased new vehicles in a given month was reasonably well predicted by knowing the corresponding unemployment rate and the price of gasoline.

In the just-concluded study, they used the same approach to predict the fuel economy for July and August of 2009 without the program, and compared this baseline prediction with actual fuel economy observed for the same months. A step-by-step account of their work, complete with tables and charts, can be viewed at a University of Michigan Website.

Neither of the study's authors discussed whether the slight improvement in average fuel economy that resulted from the clunkers program justified its cost to American taxpayers.

However, another study concluded the program was a very expensive way to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. Sivak and Schoettle's work seems to support the earlier study.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett September 14, 2009, 1:10 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Brandon Schoettle

September 10, 2009

Green Recycling: Ford To Sell Vacated Factory to Renewable Energy Companies

From energy-sucking Mustang GTs to energy-producing solar panels: Ford Motor Co. says its idled Wixom Assembly Plant about 30 miles northwest of Detroit is being sold to a pair of "green" energy companies.

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Rendering shows redeveloped Wixom green energy facility.
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The tentative deal, announced this afternoon, would see solar system manufacturer Clairvoyant Energy, of Santa Barbara, Calif., and renewable energy storage systems developer Xtreme Power, of Austin, Texas, spend $725 million to refurbish and outfit the 52-year-old plant where Ford build Lincoln Continentals and Ford Thunderbirds and Mustang GTs.

The two companies will occupy about half the 4.7 million-square-feet of plant space on the 320-acre site and plan to rent or lease the rest to other renewable energy companies. Manufacturing is expected to begin in 2011 after an extensive redevelopment effort.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell September 10, 2009, 1:29 PM
Categories:: Ford, Solar, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Ford Wixom Plant

Spain Mulls Converting Telephone Booths in Madrid Into EV Charging Stations

We love the idea of using existing infrastructure to serve as a basis for electric-vehicle charging stations.

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Right, a phone booth n Madrid.
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You may recall that Coulomb Technologies last year began experimenting with using existing light poles in San Jose, California, as power sources and props for some of its charging stations.

Now we're delighted to report that Spain is looking at dozens of telephone booths in Madrid, long left dormant by the rise of cell phones, as possibly having a second life as recharging stations for electric vehicles.

That proposal can be found in the Spanish government's plan to establish 546 charging points in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville to serve some 2,000 EVs Spanish officials hope to see cruising the cities' streets within two years.

The telephone booths are often located close to curbs and already have their own electricity supply, making them relatively easy to adapt. According to Madrid's city council, some 30 phone booths could be converted to chargers with little difficulty.

The government has committed $2.2 million to subsidize electric-car charging points over the next two years. Barcelona plans to install 191 points, many of which will be attached to "intelligent lampposts" in the street following the lead of Coulomb Technologies.

Coulomb Technologies, which is headquartered in Campbell, California, near the throbbing heart of Silicon Valley, just this week installed its first ChargePoint networked charging station for plug-in EVs in Germany.

In Madrid, electric-car owners will not only be able to charge for free (at least initially), but they will be able to park for free and have their auto taxes cut by 75 percent. Those would be carrots. The mayor of Madrid recently said thought has been given to limiting access to city centers, including Madrid's, to EVs. That would be a stick if you drive an ICE vehicle.

Ya gotta like carrots and sticks such as these.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett September 10, 2009, 12:57 PM
Categories:: Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Barcelona

August 21, 2009

Though They've Reached the End of the Road, In a Way Life Goes on for Clunkers

There's nothing pleasant about the end of the road for a Clunker.

It idles one minute, unleashes a death rattle the next, then slips away as a lethal dose of liquid glass hardens engine arteries till they seize.

The lifeless vehicle is then auctioned off to the highest bidder - a person whose role mimics that of the wretch who buys fresh corpses to sell piecemeal to sickly people needing healthy organs.

The actual harvesting is done by specialists, surgeons if you will, whose job is to leave no transplantable part on the operating table, so to speak.

What remains of the auto body after harvesting then undergoes a Soylent Green-like process: The body is processed so that other bodies may live.

Enough with the analogy. For more on what is happening to all the Clunkers, read this story in today's Washington Post.

Here's another scrap-metal story we hope you like:

After the Vietnam War, some Vietnamese merchants located unexploded bombs dropped from U.S. planes, removed their detonators and explosives, and sold what remained of the bombs to Japanese steel mills, which in turn melted down the bombs and provided raw steel to Japanese automakers and parts suppliers.

As a result, it's probable that there are former U.S. Air Force pilots driving around in Toyotas and Hondas containing steel from bombs they dropped on 'Nam during the Johnson and Nixon administrations.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett August 21, 2009, 1:07 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

August 20, 2009

Cash-for-Clunkers Funding to End Monday Night, Transportation Department Says

The Obama administration plans to cut off dealer funding for the cash-for-clunkers program on Monday night after finding that the $3 billion fund is nearing depletion, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

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CARS' original timeframe had the program ending November 1.
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"This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry," LaHood said in a statement today.

The Transportation Department said today that dealers had applied for $1.9 billion in rebates for voucher payments made to customers.

Government surveys have also sought to determine how large a stockpile of transactions remain unclaimed by dealers.

In a related development, President Obama said today that there have not been "extraordinary delays" in the processing of dealers' cash-for-clunkers claims and that the government has to be scrupulous in reviewing them to avoid fraud.

"This is actually a high-class problem to have -- that we're selling too many cars too quickly, and there's some backlog in the application process," Obama said in a radio interview released by the White House.

Many dealers have complained that they're not getting paid on claims filed as far back as July 27, when the program formally began.

Some have said they're owed government rebates that stretch into the millions of dollars for payments to customers, and that the delays are causing cash-flow problems.

Meanwhile, General Motors Co. announced that will help cash-strapped dealers waiting for clunker rebates by advancing them a 30-day interest-free loan in the amount of rebates that are being processed.

GM said it is providing the money so dealerships will have the liquidity to run their businesses and continue to deliver vehicles to GM customers.

"Our sales performance in the past two months has exceeded our internal forecast by over 60,000 vehicles, largely driven by the CARS stimulus program," Mark LaNeve, GM vice president of U.S. sales, said in a statement.

"We want to do all we can to provide customers with timely new-vehicle deliveries and dealers the liquidity they need to run their businesses," he added.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett August 20, 2009, 1:42 PM
Categories:: Emissions, General Motors, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

August 19, 2009

Dealers Association, Saying Funds Have Dried Up, Wants 'Clunkers' Shut Down

Getting as tired of reading about the Car Allowance Rebate System as we are of writing about it? Well, you may stop seeing stories about the program very soon.

That's because National Automobile Dealers Association officials today asked the government to suspend cash-for-clunkers because a survey by the group found that the $3 billion fund has been exhausted.

"We asked them to put a halt to the program - I think we said 'very soon' - but a suspension at midnight tonight would make sense," NADA Chairman John McEleney told Automotive News (subscription required). "Our survey opened the eyes of the Transportation Department."

A suspension would allow dealers to submit all pending claims and permit the government to process them so that a precise determination could be made of how much money, if any, is left in the program, he said.

NADA conducted an informal electronic survey of its 18,000 members earlier this week, McEleney said. A limited number responded, and the findings were extrapolated, he said.

Transportation has been conducting its own dealer surveys. Federal and NADA officials are comparing notes, using the two sets of findings to draw conclusions about funding availability, McEleney said.

Transportation spokeswoman Jill Zuckman declined to comment directly on McEleney's remarks.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett August 19, 2009, 5:20 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

August 18, 2009

GM Boosts Production as Cash-for-Clunkers Clunkers Program Lifts Sales

As more customers buy cars under the cash-for-clunkers program, General Motors is adding more shifts and offering workers overtime at Ohio and Michigan plants to meet the new demand.

The shifts have been added at plants where the Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6 sedans and Chevrolet Cobalt (pictured) compact are assembled, GM spokesman Chris Lee said.

GM's sales of cars and light trucks decreased 19 percent in July compared with the same month in 2008. Analysts had predicted the company's sales would fall 24 percent.

Ford Motor Co. announced last week that it would boost production by 26 percent in the second half of 2009.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett August 18, 2009, 12:11 PM
Categories:: Chevrolet, Ford, General Motors, Pontiac, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

August 17, 2009

'Clunkers' Program Costing Wounded Vets, Other Needy People Millions in Aid

The popular cash-for-clunkers program is slashing donations to charities that rely on gifts of cars to fund social programs, Reuters reported today, citing charity officials.

Volunteers of America and other aid organizations that receive tens of thousands of cars each year said such donations have quickly fallen up to 12 percent - and fear a 25 percent drop eventually, or more than $100 million - as owners rush to trade gas guzzlers for new fuel-efficient models while federal rebates last.

"We started seeing it right away in July" when the program began, said Jim Hartman, vice president of vehicle donations at Volunteers of America. "It varies by market, but there's been an 11 to 12 percent drop compared with last year."

"The cars I'm seeing cashed in as clunkers, like older SUVs, are absolutely the typical donation to us," he said.

The clunkers incentive gives consumers a U.S. government rebate of up to $4,500 for trading in some gas-guzzling vehicles for new ones with better fuel economy. Congress scrambled early this month to add $2 billion in funding when the program's initial $1 billion allocation was quickly spent.

Rick Frazier, director of the car-donation program at The Military Order of the Purple Heart, which assists wounded U.S. veterans, estimates the $3 billion will result in 700,000 clunker trades.

Frazier said charities would normally receive 25 percent of those 700,000 cars and, at an average value of $600 each, they could be out $105 million over 24 months.

"That will be devastating," he said. "A lot of services will have to be cut."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett August 17, 2009, 4:31 PM
Categories:: Fuel Economy, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

August 14, 2009

'Clunkers' Program Is Exorbitant Way to Cut Carbon Emissions, Economist Says

A respected economist says the federal government's cash-for-clunkers program is paying at least 10 times the "sticker price" to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

While carbon credits are projected to sell in the U.S. for about $28 per ton (today's price in Europe was $20), even the best-case calculation of the cost of the clunkers rebate is $237 per ton, according to University of California transportation economist Christopher Knittel.

When burned, a gallon of gasoline creates roughly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide. Knittel combined that known value with an average rebate of $4,200 and a range of assumptions about the fuel economy of the new vehicles purchased and how long the clunkers would have been on the road if not for the program.

He even assumed drivers didn't change their habits, although some analysts have suggested that the owners of new vehicles will drive more than they would have with their old cars.

In the end, Knittel concluded that the lowest cost to remove one ton of carbon from the environment was $237.

"More likely scenarios produced a cost of more than $500 per ton, even when we accounted for reductions in pollutants other than greenhouse gases," he said in a statement issued Thursday. "That suggests the cash-for-clunkers program is an expensive way to reduce carbon."

Knittel did not analyze the program's other key objectives: stimulating the economy and providing relief for automobile manufacturers.

Knittel is an associate professor and chancellor's fellow in the UC Davis Department of Economics, a faculty associate at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, and the policy and business strategy leader of the Sustainable Transportation Energy Pathways Program at UC Davis.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett August 14, 2009, 9:50 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

August 3, 2009

DOT Secretary: Unless Senate Approves Extra $2 Billion, Clunkers Program Will End

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the Cash for Clunkers program that's become the most visible of the Obama administration's economic-stimulus efforts would come to an end possibly as early as this week unless the U.S. Senate approves $2 billion in additional funding for the program.

"If we don't get the $2 billion from the Senate...we would have to suspend the program next week," LaHood (pictured) said in an interview with C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" show on Sunday.

The 10-day-old program has helped reduced inventories of unsold vehicles at many dealerships to their lowest levels in years, giving Ford, Chrysler and General Motors much-needed cash injections.

Senate Democratic leaders said today that they hoped to bring a $2 billion extension to the Senate floor this week as the program's original $1 billion in funding runs low.

But the additional funding is no slam dunk. At least one senator wants to see evidence the program is reducing automotive emissions -- that and boosting the economy are two of its goals.

And some senators have said they are opposed to extending the program unless it is changed to compel consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars than is currently required. Those senators include Republican Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California.

LaHood expressed support for the program just as it is, but he made clear that if the Senate doesn't approve the funding extension, the administration won't rescue the program.

The program offers government vouchers toward a new car to consumers who surrender for scrapping an older vehicle rated at 18 miles per gallon or less. To get a $3,500 voucher, the new car must be at least 4 mpg more efficient; a 10-mpg improvement is required for a $4,500 voucher.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett August 3, 2009, 10:08 AM
Categories:: Chrysler, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Cash fort Clunkers

July 31, 2009

House Approves $2 Billion 'Clunker' Extension, but Trouble Looms in the Senate

Freeway-traffic-&-smog.jpg The U.S. House of Representatives, by a vote of 316-109, today approved a $2 billion extension of the "Cash-for-Clunkers" automobile sales incentive program.

The Democratic proposal would run through September 30, 2010, and tap funds from an Energy Department loan guarantee program included in the economic stimulus package enacted in February.

An initial $1 billion in funding approved this summer to boost stagnant industry sales has already been exhausted, officials said.

Consumers stormed dealers over the past month to take advantage of federally backed rebates of up to $4,500 on trade ins of gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient vehicles.

Unofficial government and industry estimates show that close to 250,000 vehicles were sold under the program.

The Senate is expected to vote on the House bill next week.

Already a key senator, Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, said he opposes using Energy Department funds for the auto program.

Another senator, auto industry ally Debbie Stabenow, said pushing the measure out of Congress would potentially take a lot of work compared to the extraordinarily swift action in the House.

The White House supports new funding for the program on grounds the initiative so far has provided a viable, national economic stimulus amid recession.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett July 31, 2009, 11:36 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

White House Officials, Lawmakers Study Ways to Keep 'Clunkers' Program Alive

White House officials and lawmakers were studying late Thursday how to keep alive the government's cash-for-clunkers incentive program because of concerns the program's $1 billion budget may have been exhausted after just one week, The Wall Street Journal reported today (subscription required).

Obama administration officials warned congressional leaders Thursday it planned to suspend the program at midnight. But the White House released a statement late Thursday saying that completed deals would be honored and the program is still under review.

A White House official said, "We are working tonight to assess the situation facing what is obviously an incredibly popular program. Auto dealers and consumers should have confidence that all valid [cash-for-clunker] transactions that have taken place to-date will be honored."

Lawmakers are discussing with White House officials where to find funding - including possibly tapping the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, a congressional aide said.

The clunkers program, which offers rebates of up to $4,500 to consumers who trade in old vehicles and buy new, more fuel-efficient models, began July 24 and sparked a surge in car sales.

Congress had expected the $1 billion set aside for the rebates to last several months and set up the program to expire Nov. 1.

The speed with which it took off now puts it among the most successful stimulus packages to come out of Washington since the start of the recession. The boom in car sales will give a much-needed bump not just to automakers and dealers but also local government coffers that collect taxes on car transactions.

But the program's unexpected success also will put Congress and the Obama administration in a bind. With deficits soaring, lawmakers are increasingly reluctant to spend additional billions they don't have.

On the other hand, they are sure to face a consumer and industry backlash if they end a popular program midstream, especially as dealerships across the country are in the middle of a huge advertising campaign to tout the program.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett July 31, 2009, 2:19 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

July 30, 2009

Government to Suspend Popular Cash for Clunkers Program at Midnight Tonight

Slated to last three months, it may have burned through its $1 billion budget in just one week.

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

The government plans to suspend its popular "cash for clunkers" program at midnight tonight - a full two months early and only one week into it - amid concerns the program could quickly use up the $1 billion in rebates alloted for new car purchases if it hasn't already.

U.S. Transportation Department representatives called lawmakers' offices earlier today to alert them to the decision to suspend the program at midnight, a congressional source said.

The Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program offers owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. It is intended to boost auto sales and put safer, cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles on the nation's roadways.

The program, which Congress approved last month, kicked off last Friday and was heavily publicized by car companies and auto dealers.

As of tonight, the CARS Website showed that of the $1 billion allocated to the program, an estimated $779 million remained in the kitty. The remaining $221 million represented transactions that dealers had submitted for government reimbursement.

But dealers have raised concerns about large backlogs in the processing of the deals in the government system. Those concerns reportedly triggered the program's suspension.

According to an Associated Press story, a survey of 2,000 dealers by the National Automobile Dealers Association found about 25,000 deals had not yet approved by the government, or nearly 13 trades per store.

With about 23,000 dealers taking part in the program, auto dealers may already have surpassed the 250,000 vehicle sales funded by the $1 billion program.

So, is the program over already? Yes, if there indeed is no money in the till - or unless Congress decides to put more money in it.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (2); Scott Doggett July 30, 2009, 7:03 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Surveys, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

July 21, 2009

Natural Gas Vehicle Research Measure Wins Overwhelming House Approval

Natural gas vehicles got a boost today as the House of Representatives voted 393-35 to reauthorize the Department of energy's natural gas vehicle research program and to provide $150 million in funding over the next five years.

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This Toyota Camry natural gas-electric hybrid concept might become real and sights like this Southern California CNG pump more prevalent if DOE research is approved in Senate and proposed tax incentives become law.

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The measure, H.R. 1622, focuses on development of engines for all classes of natural gas vehicles, according to a report from the subscription only Energy & Environment News service.

But it also contains funding for improving the nation's spotty natural gas refueling infrastructure, to study use of natural gas engines in hybrids and for improvements to present storage technologies.

Natural gas appears to be one of the few issues with strong bipartisan support in the lower chamber, as the lopsided vote shows.

It also appears to have support in the Senate where Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, recently said he may seek time on the floor to stump for passage of a bill to extend and perhaps increase tax incentives and other support for natural gas vehicles

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell July 21, 2009, 4:47 PM
Categories:: Legislation, Natural Gas, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: H.R. 1622

July 15, 2009

Charities Lament Clunkers Program, Say It Will Curb Much Needed Donations

Starting this month, the U.S. government will give American motorists $3,500 for scrapping gas guzzlers if they buy new cars that go at least four miles farther on a gallon of gas, or $4,500 if the new vehicle gets 10 miles more per gallon.

The goals of the Car Allowance Rebate System that Congress signed into law June 24 are to stimulate the U.S. economy and to get particularly bad air pollutors off American roads. But a report by National Public Radio indicates that some charities will be victimized by the program, as will the low-income people they try to help.

That's because most donated cars aren't given away to people who can use them, but rather charities sell the vehicles and use the proceeds to help the poor. With fewer cars being donated as a result of the $1 billion "cash for clunkers" program, the fewer dollars the charities will have in their coffers to do good deeds.

Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that economists view the program as unlikely to contribute much beyond a brief boost to economic growth in the current quarter. They cite the program's short duration (it ends November 1) and various eligibility rules among its shortcomings as a source of economic stimulus.

"It's a very small number of people that this plan will end up helping," Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner told the news service.

The economists say the program may simply bring demand forward from later quarters as people who may otherwise have waited longer to take advantage of the program. And economists say even the near-term impact may disappoint, because the plan may not make much financial sense for many consumers.

"When you look at the qualifications, your vehicle has to be worth less then $4,500 for it to make economic sense," said Rebecca Lindland, director of the autos group at IHS Global Insight.

People with cars valued in that range typically own them free and clear and are not likely to be able to afford anything newer, Lindland told Reuters. A new car would mean new debt, and such purchasers probably would buy a used car.

"There are not a lot of people adding debt right now," she said. "Our forecasts haven't changed because we don't think this program is going to be successful."

On a related topic, Edmunds.com has tackled the question, "Does Charity Car Donation Still Make Sense Under Tougher IRS Rules?" The answer will likely surprise you.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett July 15, 2009, 9:37 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Allowance Rebate System

U.C. Berkeley Study Says Battery Switching Model Would Accelerate EV Acceptance

"It took over sixty years and six generations of gasoline engines for the Chevy Corvette to accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour in under four seconds. The first version of the Tesla Roadster, which is the world's first Lithium-ion battery powered car, achieved that feat immediately. Whereas earlier generations of electric cars were plagued by poor performance, high cost, and short ranges, a new generation of affordable, high-performance electric cars is about to enter the U.S. market."

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Right, click on the image to enlarge it.
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Thus begins a very readable and interesting report commissioned by U.C. Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology entitled, "Electric Vehicles in the United States: A New Model with Forecasts to 2030." Its author is Thomas Becker, a U.C. Berkeley economist who specializes in international and environmental economics.

The paper estimates the rate of market adoption of EVs in the U.S. through 2030 and analyzes the impact of electric-car deployment on the trade balance, business investment, employment, health care costs and greenhouse-gas emissions. And, the paper forecasts three electric-vehicle adoption scenarios based on two oil price scenarios and possible purchase price incentives for electric cars.

Before moving on to a summary of the paper, there are some things we feel you ought to know about it. In response to a query from Green Car Advisor, the university acknowledged that Better Place - a huge advocate of electric vehicles in general and the major proponent of battery switching technology in particular - helped fund the program that conducted the study, which found that the U.S. can greatly benefit from EVs and battery switching.

The study's premise is that electric vehicles would be sold without batteries at a cost similar to conventional gasoline or diesel cars, and the batteries would be leased at a cost approximating the monthly cost of gasoline for a conventional vehicle.

That is a big part of Better Place's business model. The company envisions itself as a major battery leasing enterprise and operator of quick-change battery swapping stations.

We queried the university and Better Place after both issued reports Monday that shed an attractive light on electric vehicles. The timing of the reports seemed coordinated; the university and Better Place denied that the same release date was anything more than a coincidence. Click on "5-Nation Survey by Electric Vehicle Backer Shows Strong Consumer Interest in EVs" to read our piece on the report issued by Better Place.

Now, without further adieu, click on the "Continue reading" button, below, to read a summary of the U.C. Berkeley study.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett July 15, 2009, 1:01 AM
Categories:: Batteries, Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Mass Transit, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Tesla
Technorati Tags:: Batteries

July 14, 2009

In Japan, Toyota Launches First Lexus Hybrid; Model Coming to N. America This Fall

Toyota Motor Corp. today launched its first dedicated hybrid model under the premium Lexus brand, saying it had received orders worth six months of targeted sales in Japan.

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Right, Lexus GM Mark Templin introduces the 2010 Lexus HS 250h at the Detroit Auto Show in January.
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The launch of the HS 250h sedan, which like the Prius is only available as a gasoline-electric hybrid, marks the latest push by the Japanese automaker to drive hybrids into the mainstream as governments worldwide tighten emissions and fuel-economy regulations while offering consumers incentives to purchase less-polluting cars.

Toyota said it has already received 3,000 orders for the vehicle in Japan and expects to sell an average of 500 of them each month domestically.

The model will be sold in the United States and Canada from September, Toyota said, adding that its plans to produce about 3,000 of the vehicle a month through the rest of the year.

Senior Managing Director Toshio Furutani said hybrids had become a major driver for the Lexus brand, which has struggled to sell in Japan since its domestic launch in 2005.

In the first six months of 2009, Lexus sales plunged 38 percent from the year-earlier period to 9,293 vehicles. About 30 percent of those were a hybrid, a Toyota spokesman said.

The HS 250h, powered by a 2.5-liter engine, starts at $42,460 in Japan, making it the cheapest model in the Lexus line-up and eligible for a maximum $2,870 in "eco-car" tax breaks. The HS 250h has listed mileage in Japan of 35 miles per gallon.

Toyota has a goal of selling at least 1 million hybrid vehicles a year within the next few years and has said it would offer the hybrid option on all of its models by around 2020.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett July 14, 2009, 12:24 PM
Categories:: Auto Shows, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Lexus, Tax Incentives, Toyota
Technorati Tags:: Emissions

Tesla Announces Roadster Financing by B of A; $1700/Month With $20,000 Down

Tesla Motors announced today that Roadster financing in the United States is now offered by Bank of America, thus significantly expanding the number of customers who can experience the all-electric sports car.

B of A financing makes the Roadster much more affordable than simply slapping down one hundred grand and change.

"For example, a customer approved for a 5-year financing term on a base Roadster could put down as little as $20,000 before taxes and net of the US federal tax credit. The monthly payment would be approximately $1,700 at a 5 percent annual percentage rate," the San Carlos, California, automaker said in a statement.

That monthly payment, as Tesla smartly points out, is typical for high performance cars, but Roadster drivers will enjoy hundreds of dollars per month in savings unavailable to gas guzzlers.

The Roadster, which gets an EPA-estimated 244 miles per charge, costs roughly $4 to refuel and does not require routine oil changes or exhaust system work.

And unlike high-maintenance internal combustion engines, Teslas get a 100 percent waiver on sales, luxury and use taxes in at least four states, and they qualify for commuter lane privileges, free parking and free charging in many regions.

Prospective customers may complete documents at Tesla showrooms or online, including electronic signature and customer verification. Tesla customer service staff can assist with the application in a showroom or by telephone.

Tesla has delivered more than 500 Roadsters, including those pictured above, so far. This month Tesla began delivering the 2010 model-year Roadster and the all-new Roadster Sport, an even higher-performance EV.

Tesla has showrooms in California and London. On Thursday, Tesla will open a regional sales and service center in New York. It's also opening stores in Chicago, Seattle, Miami, Washington D.C., Toronto, Monaco and Munich.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett July 14, 2009, 10:11 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Tesla
Technorati Tags:: Plug In Vehicles

July 9, 2009

Senate Takes Up Climate Bill in September, Will Have Big Impact on Autos

Bill Was Passed by House, but Senate Okay Isn't Certain; Reid Sets December Deadline

We're still trying to get a solid understanding of how the proposed climate and energy bill will affect the cars we drive - now and in the future.

So we offer up a quiet "thank you" to Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee and just said she'll hold off hearings until after the August recess.

That gives us a little more time to digest the bill (and opponents and proponents more time to argue about it).

To Obama By December

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said today that he wants to place the measure on President Obama's desk before the big U.N. climate talks set for Copenhagen in December - a location sure to give the climate warming non-believers lots to shout about as they stand in the center of Denmark's capital city and throw snowballs).

There's some doubt as to whether the Senate can muster the 60 votes needed to pass the bill - Republicans are pretty much united in their opposition and more than a few Democrats in the Democrat-controlled upper chamber are iffy.

Most Congress watchers figure that if a bill does come out of the Senate, it will be considerably watered down from the House version, necessitating a potentially heated joint committee session to iron out differences and make compromises.

What We Know

Incentives

Right now, the House version has lots of goodies for green car boosters, including a doubling of the federal loan program to help car makers revamp old factories to build a new generation of advanced technology vehicles (plug-in hybrids, battery electric, natural gas and more).The House wants to make a total of $50 billion in loans available.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell July 9, 2009, 6:09 PM
Categories:: Biofuels, Emissions, Hybrid, Legislation, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Advanced Technology Vehicles

Natural Gas Bills in Congress Benefit Consumers As Well as Fuel's Biggest Backer

There's a natural gas car in Edmunds' long-term fleet and I drive it most of the time, and like it, so I ought to be banging the drums for a pair of bills promoting natural gas vehicles and filling stations that are pending in Congress this session.

But I'm a bit cautious: the bills' big backer is T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman who has turned his talents and substantial fortune to promoting - and investing heavily in - natural gas.

The latest, introduced just this week in the Senate, pretty much echos the language of the first, H.R. 1835, introduced in the House is April and now awaiting action in the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.

Several sections of the bills would give hefty tax credits to manufacturers and purchasers of natural gas vehicles, but several others would provide huge tax credits to companies that build natural-gas stations - up to $100,000 per installation.

Guess what. Pickens is co-founder and a significant owner of Clean Energy Corp., the country's biggest builder and operator of natural gas filling stations.

I guess somebody benefits from most any legislation passed in Congress, but I'd be happier if Pickens had sat this one out and let a less-financially involved organization, perhaps one of the green groups, do the heavy lifting.

Instead, T. Boone stood next to Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who is co-sponsoring the bill, at the press conference when Menendez announced that the Senate measure had been introduced.

Despite all that, I still like the bill, which also would double the tax credits for purchasers of natural gas vehicles and extend the incentives for 10 years - through 2019.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell July 9, 2009, 2:04 PM
Categories:: Legislation, Natural Gas, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Natural Gas Incentives

July 1, 2009

Cash-for-Clunkers Program Officially Starts 'Around July 23'

President Obama signed into law on June 24 a program the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is calling the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS (cute, eh?). This is a government program that helps a motorist purchase a new and more fuel efficient vehicle when he or she trades in a less fuel efficient vehicle.

According to the CARS Website, "while the CARS Act makes transactions on and after July 1 potentially eligible for credits under the program, interested dealers and consumers may want to wait until all of the detailed issues that must be addressed in the implementing regulations are resolved and the final rule is issued. Issuance will occur around July 23."

See the Frequently Asked Questions portion of the official site for more details. What appears below are the nuts and bolts of the program to help the completely uninformed get up to speed.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett July 1, 2009, 12:52 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: CARS

June 26, 2009

General Motors to Locate Small-Car Plant at Existing Factory in Orion, Michigan

General Motors Corp. is close to announcing its decision to locate a new small-car plant at an existing facility in Orion Township, Michigan, The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) and The Detroit News reported today, citing unnamed sources.

GM spokespersons Tom Pyden and Sherrie Childers declined to confirm the location of the plant, but the former said an announcement would come as soon as today.

The automaker had been looking at three plants that were slated to close as part of GM's bankruptcy reorganization: in Orion; Spring Hill, Tennessee; and Janesville, Wisconsin. The Orion plant currently produces Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6 sedans.

The Journal said the Orion plant was chosen in part because the region has many displaced autoworkers and because the facility is already a passenger-car plant, rather than a truck factory, meaning it potentially will be less expensive to retool for a small car, said one of the people familiar with the matter.

The News reported that tax breaks, not retooling savings, gave Orion the edge. According to the newspaper, Orion Township officials recently sweetened an offer to GM that includes a 100 percent tax break on new machinery and equipment for up to 25 years - more than double what was offered earlier this month.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett June 26, 2009, 12:04 AM
Categories:: Buick, Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Chevrolet Malibu

June 25, 2009

Nearly Every Honda Model Meets Cash-for-Clunkers Voucher Requirements

Someone in Honda's PR department was thinking this morning.

That's evident from the smart press release the automaker issued today, which states that Honda offers nine models - from the Insight hybrid to the Ridgeline pickup - that can qualify for a cash-for-clunkers voucher.

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The '09 Civic EX-L is good for a voucher.
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The federal Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009 - the cash-for-clunkers program - enacted Wednesday provides up to $4,500 to consumers who trade in their current eligible vehicle for one that achieves greater fuel economy. Program vouchers may be accepted at participating dealers as early as Monday.

The only vehicles in the Honda lineup that will not qualify for vouchers are the limited-production S2000 roadster, Accord V6 Coupe with manual transmission and the FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle, which is excluded by the federal program's lease limitations.

Cars need only achieve a combined EPA fuel-economy rating of 22 miles per gallon or more to qualify. In the Honda lineup, these would include the 2009 Fit (all models), the 2010 Insight (all models), 2009 Civic (all models), and the 2009 Accord (all models except the V6 Coupe with manual transmission).

Light trucks need only a combined EPA fuel-economy rating of 18 mpg or more to be eligible. In the Honda lineup, they include the 2009 CR-V (all models), 2009 Element (all models), the 2009-2010 Pilot (all models), and the 2009-2010 Odyssey (all models).

A pickup truck can meet the "large light-duty truck" requirements with a combined rating of 17 mpg if its wheelbase is greater than 115 inches and its gross vehicle weight rating is less than 8,500 pounds. All models of the 2009 Ridgeline meet those requirements.

We intend to post a list containing all of the eligible models, not just Honda's, in the days to come. Further information about the federal program can be found on the U.S. Department of Transportation's Website.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett June 25, 2009, 3:26 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Honda, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Honda Accord

In Maine, Former Site of Ethanol Plant to Produce Cellulosic Biobutanol Jet Fuel

In Old Town, Maine, on the former site of an ethanol project that went belly-up last November, a century-old mill continues to produce pulp and paper.

But along with its usual pulp-making business, the mill is doing something unprecedented: Developing technology to produce bio-butanol, a jet fuel, from parts of trees that would otherwise go to waste.

Although production is still two years away, Reuters reports that the reinvention of Maine's Old Town Fuel & Fiber mill is already drawing interest as a potential model for a new wave of biofuel companies that could slash dependence on oil, create jobs and reduce the emissions that lead to global warming.

Loggers, the news service reports, see the mill as a lifeline for their crippled industry. Environmentalists see it as a test of the Obama administration's push for a big expansion in biofuels.

And chemical and oil companies are waiting to see if the mill can do what none has done before by extracting sugars from wood chips into a biofuel that many regard as more efficient than corn-based ethanol as a possible substitute for gasoline.

"There has been a lot of interested parties in what we are doing here," Old Town's president, Dick Arnold, told Reuters. "There have been several oil companies that have been interested in our extract and production of biofuels. There has been a number of chemical companies that have expressed the same desire."

Behind the project is Lynn Tilton, a New York venture capitalist who owns one of the nation's largest helicopter makers. Tilton's Patriarch Partners bought the mill in November, invested about $40 million and shifted its focus to cellulosic bio-butanol.

According to Reuters, Tilton can use bio-butanol in her own helicopter and aircraft businesses but is eyeing a potentially huge market after Congress decreed that the United States must use 21 billion gallons of "advanced" biofuels such as cellulosic ethanols, bio-butanol and "green gasoline" a year by 2022.

The Reuters report is well worth the time it takes to read.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett June 25, 2009, 12:27 PM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Butanol, Emissions, Energy Companies, Ethanol, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Alternative Fuel

June 23, 2009

It's Official: Ford, Nissan and Tesla To Receive First Advanced-Technology Loans

Yesterday we reported that Nissan, Ford and Tesla will be the first auto companies to receive factory retooling loans under the $25 billion federal program to speed production of fuel-efficient vehicles in the U.S.

Today, President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu confirmed that the administration has granted $8 billion in conditional loan commitments to the three automakers for the development of vehicle technologies that, as the president put it, "will create thousands of green jobs while helping reduce the nation's dangerous dependence on foreign oil."

The loan commitments include $5.9 billion for Ford to transform factories across Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio to produce 13 more fuel-efficient models; $1.6 billion to Nissan to retool its Smyrna, Tennessee, factory to build electric automobiles and an advanced-battery manufacturing facility; and $465 million to Tesla to manufacture electric drivetrains and EVs in California.

The loans represent the first in a series of conditional loan commitments reached as part of the Energy Department's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. Chu said the department plans to make additional loans under this program over the next several months to large and small automakers as well as parts suppliers.

In a statement, Ford said it plans to invest nearly $14 billion in advanced-technology vehicles over the next seven years. "Our partnership with the Department of Energy also will help retool our U.S. plants more quickly to produce fuel-efficient vehicles and help meet the new, rigorous fuel-economy requirements," it said.

In its statement, Nissan said construction at Smyrna was scheduled to begin by the end of this year, with production slated to start in late 2012. It said modifications at the plant include a new battery-production facility and changes in the existing structure for electric-vehicle assembly.

"When fully operational, the vehicle assembly plant will have the capacity to build 150,000 zero-emissions vehicles a year and the new plant will have an annual capacity of 200,000 batteries," it said, adding that Nissan's EV "will comfortably seat five people, drive on any American road or highway, and have an initial range of 100 miles before recharging."

Model S News

And Tesla said it will use $365 million of the $465 million it received for production engineering and assembly of the Model S, an all-electric family sedan that will supposedly carry seven people and travel up to 300 miles per charge.

The Model S has an anticipated base price of $49,900 after a $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit. According to Tesla, it will have lifetime ownership costs equivalent to a conventional car with a sticker price of $35,000, thanks to the lower cost of electricity versus gasoline and a relative lack of service and maintenance.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett June 23, 2009, 10:29 AM
Categories:: Batteries, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Tesla
Technorati Tags:: Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing

June 4, 2009

Cash for Clunkers Legislation Stalls; Let's Try A Slightly Different Approach

As Delays Weaken Plan's Sales-Boosting Impact, Refocus on Environmental Benefit

Dear Congress,

It looks like the latest attempt to push a "cash for clunkers' bill through your hallowed halls with something resembling speed has instead been stuck in one of those legislative and procedural traffic jams that so often bedevil your best efforts to help run the nation.

Because you can't agree on whether this part of the ongoing auto industry bailout ought to be mostly economic or mostly environmental, or whether it ought to be at all, you seem unable to push anything through.

Hey, don't fret. Nero gets excoriated for fiddling while Rome burned, but his inactivity had a positive result - a massive urban renewal project.

Your sluggishness on the clunkers issue might have a similarly upbeat result, too,

If Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernacke is right, the recession will be ending by the time you can get a measure passed, Congress, and car sales won't need the boost the program is supposed to supply.

So might we here at Edmunds Green Car Advisor suggest that its time to plan ahead - something, we know, that is hard for you to do - and change your focus from pushing sheet metal to using our tax dollars to help remove gross polluters and inefficient gas guzzlers from the roads.

That, you may remember, was the original intent of the first "clunkers" bill - the one that would have required people who agreed to scrap old, fuel-swilling vehicles in exchange for a $1,500-$4,500 voucher to put toward the purchase of a new model to use it to buy a vehicle with fuel efficiency exceeding the federal CAFE rating for its class by 25 percent.

That bill was quickly changed, as the economy rotted and car sales across the nation dried up, endangering the livelihood of all those auto dealers who pump money into your members' re-election campaigns.

Instead of focusing on the environmental benefits, the identical House and Senate measures you now seem to favor, Congress, are aimed at encouraging lots of new car sales. While they do require an improvement in fuel economy in most instances, but not as much as did that that original bill.

But now that you can't seem to get things moving even on that kind of cash-for-clunkers legislation, why not take a harder look at the counter-proposal that Sens. Diane Feinstein, Susan Collins and Charles Schumer have jointly proposed.

It's not as effective, from an environmental standpoint, as the original bill, but it does set the fuel efficiency bar higher than the compromise measures you're now considering.

Adn while it might not result in as many new cars being sold, the passage of time is making that a moot issue anyhow.

Indeed, analysts at IHS Global Insight now say that you've dragged this out so long that even if passed this week the sales-boosting clunkers measure isn't going to help move more than 300,000 to 500,000 new cars off of dealers' lots, a far cry from the 1-2 million sales originally envisioned.

So drop the sales model into the round file and go for the environmental model, Congress.

It would be an impetus for sales of cars and trucks with higher fuel-efficiency, and that's a goal that you can be proud of regardless of the state of the economy.

I know its not fashionable to think you can do good, Congress (and, to be honest, you haven't done much in recent years to change people's thinking), but we think you still can.

Sincerely,
A. Dreamer

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (3); John O'Dell June 4, 2009, 10:44 AM
Categories:: Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Cash For Clunkers

June 3, 2009

Scrappage Bonus Said to Boost German Motor Vehicle Sales by 40 Percent in May

Motor vehicle sales in Germany rose a whopping 40 percent in May, spurred by government scrappage incentives, but automotive shares fell, with investors unconvinced that the measures were generating a sustainable turnaround in demand.

Germany's KBA motor vehicles agency said May car registrations rose to 384,578 units, up 39.7 percent from the same month last year.

In February the Berlin government launched a subsidy that pays motorists $3,310 to scrap cars at least nine years old if they buy a new model from any automaker in exchange.

The program - aimed at getting fuel-inefficient vehicles off the road, spurring Germany's economy and reducing air pollution - runs through the end of the year. The U.S. is considering a similar cash-for-clunkers plan.

Shares in VW slipped 4.1 percent Wednesday, despite the fact that it clearly benefitted from the program; VW's new vehicle registrations for May rose 60 percent in Germany.

"People know it's steroids, it's not real," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas told Reuters. "It's pleasure upfront with the pain coming next year."

The incentive scheme proved so popular that the government agreed to boost it to $7 billion from the initial $2.1 billion, but Jonas said demand would drop off once the incentive scheme runs out.

In the absence of strong incentives, unit volume in Germany in May 2010 could be down as much as 30 percent year on year, he said.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett June 3, 2009, 1:14 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives, Volkswagen
Technorati Tags:: Fuel Consumption

'Cash for Clunkers' Shifts to Senate and Fight Between Sales and Fuel Economy

Today may be the last opportunity for environmentalists to regain some of the ground lost as cash for clunkers legislation has morphed from being a green measure aimed at removing the dirtiest and lease fuel-efficient vehicles from the road to being a tool to boost flagging new car sales.

As the U.S. Senate tackles the issue of paying consumers to take older, dirtier and less-efficient cars and trucks off the road, senators will be asked to vote on two measures - one favored by green groups, the other by the auto industry.

Both measures would require that vehicles traded-in be sent to the scrap yard and both would permit the trade-in voucher to be combined with manufacturers' incentives when buying a new car ot truck.

The bill that appears to have the best chance, S.1135 by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, closely parallels a measure that has stalled in the House but is being backed by President Obama.

It would establish a government-funded program to encourage people to send their gas guzzlers to the scrap yard by offering "trade-in" vouchers worth either $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new car or truck, depending on the fuel economy improvement it would represent.

Cars to be scrapped would have to have EPA combined fuel economy ratings of 18 miles per gallon or less, and new cars would have to get at least 22 miles per gallon.

The gap between trade-in and new vehicle narrows and finally disappears in the truck categories: The owner of a heavy duty work truck could get a $3,500 voucher by trading it in for a vehicle of the same or lesser weight, even if the new truck offered no improvement in fuel economy.

A counter-measure to be introduced by California Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein and several co-authors would lower the maximum fuel economy for cars and trucks to be traded-in and raise the minimum fuel economy for new vehicles to be purchased.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell June 3, 2009, 2:40 AM
Categories:: Fuel Economy, Recycling, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Cash for Clunkers

June 2, 2009

Tesla Reaches Major Milestone With Delivery of 500th Battery-Electric Roadster

In what is yet more proof that Tesla Motors is on its way to becoming a major automaker, the company announced today that it had reached an important milestone for the electric-vehicle manufacturer - the delivery of its 500th Roadster.

The lucky recipient is New Jersey philanthropist Martin Tuchman, chairman of The Tuchman Foundation, shown here beside his twilight-blue Roadster. Tesla spokeswoman Rachel Konrad said he plans to charge his zero-emissions Roadster partly with solar energy, thanks to photovoltaic panels he helped install throughout his hometown of Kingston, N.J.

"My Roadster drives like a dream. It's amazing," Tuchman, a former automotive engineer and owner of a 1967 Mercedes 250, said in a statement. He said he plans to use his Roadster as his primary commuter car.

Tuchman took delivery of his Roadster last weekend, a few weeks before the anticipated opening of a Tesla showroom in New York's Chelsea Art District. Greater New York is Tesla's largest market outside of California, and local EV owners enjoy numerous incentives.

Zero-emission vehicles are exempt from New Jersey sales, use and luxury taxes. Single occupants of alternative-fuel vehicles may also use the high-occupancy commuter lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike.

These incentives are on top of a $7,500 US federal tax credit, which fully applies to all Tesla Roadsters.

Tesla will also soon be opening stores in Chicago, London, Seattle, Miami, Washington, Monaco and Munich. Tesla will begin deliveries in Europe this summer.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (2); Scott Doggett June 2, 2009, 12:28 PM
Categories:: Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Tesla
Technorati Tags:: Batteries

May 28, 2009

Time For A Gas Tax Increase Is Now, But Delay Imposition 'Til Recession Eases

Fuel$-1.jpg

We've suggested several times now that increasing the national fuel tax would be a more efficient way for Uncle Sam to prod people into smaller, more fuel-efficient cars than the politically preferred method of using fuel economy standards to force automakers to build 'em with no incentive for us to buy 'em.

Based on present gasoline use, a $1 per gallon tax increase would raise $100 billion to $150 billion a year for the federal government and still keep U.S. gasoline prices lower than in most other developed nations.

The suggestion has raised objections from critics who say the middle of a deep recession is no time to be raising taxes.

We could kick ourselves for not thinking of this solution on our own, but why not delay imposition of the tax but announce it now?

The idea was raised a few days ago by Michael Levine, a researcher and senior lecturer at New York University School of Law, and Mark Roe, a Harvard Law School professor, in an article published in The Financial Times and reprinted in the Harvard Law School newsletter.

They suggest that if Congress and the administration were to show some political spine and enact a gas tax hike to be phased in over several years after a delayed start, the knowledge that it was coming would begin pushing consumers toward the kinds of green vehicles the government wants to promote while the delay would help get us through the present economic downturn.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (12); John O'Dell May 28, 2009, 12:25 AM
Categories:: Opinion, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Fuel Tax

May 26, 2009

Obama Administration Sparks Battery Gold Rush as States, Firms Vie for $2.4 Billion

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

There's nothing like $2.4 billion in federal grants to attract lots of applicants.

In one of the U.S. government's biggest efforts at shaping industrial policy, the Energy Department has been soliciting applications since mid-March for $2.4 billion in funding aimed at turning America into a battery-manufacturing powerhouse.

At the deadline last week, the department had received 165 applications. Companies vying for the money include General Motors Corp., Dow Chemical Co. and Johnson Controls Inc. Michigan, Kentucky and Massachusetts are among the states weighing in with applications.

When the winners are decided - as soon as the end of July - the Energy Department may anoint Livonia, Mich., or Indianapolis or Glendale, Kentucky, as the future U.S. hub of car batteries.

Given the availability of these funds, and Energy Secretary Stephen Chu's May 7 proposal that more than $100 million be cut from his department's hydrogen program in the 2010 budget the administration is submitting to Congress, you might think the National Hydrogen Association would wonder if funds needed for fuel-cell development are being diverted to electric vehicles.

"That's not the case," Debbi Smith, the trade group's executive vice president told us today. "The recent actions by Secretary Chu are actions that he had to make in a tough fiscal climate, but it is not the opinion of the automakers at all and it's not the opinion of our members here at the National Hydrogen Association or of the U.S. Fuel Cell Council."

Smith noted that there have been statements by various automotive executives that it is "not as though one technology is ready more than the other right now. Batteries are also not ready for prime time."

It's going to take biofuels, batteries and fuel cells - "all three of them, if we're serious about reducing our nation's dependence on oil and if we're serious about reducing greenhouse gases," she said. "It's going to take just about everything we can throw at these huge problems."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett May 26, 2009, 1:36 PM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Biofuels, Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Electric Car Batteries

May 13, 2009

General Electric To Build $100 Million Sodium Battery Plant in New York

GE locomotive.jpg

General Electric is building a $100-million plant in upstate New York to manufacture sodium-chemistry batteries that initially will be used to power locomotives, tugboats, mining trucks and other heavy service vehicles. The plant will be located in the Albany area and will generate about 350 manufacturing jobs, according to GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt.

Information Week reports that "the most technologically interesting aspect of Tuesday's announcement may be the potential it holds for automotive batteries. If the power of lithium-ion batteries and the storage capability of sodium batteries were to be combined, they might yield a superior battery for hybrid cars."

And, as we've reported, General Electric has invested $70 million in A123 Systems, which is developing lithium-ion batteries. Mark Little, GE's global research director, has joined the board of directors at Massachusetts-based A123, which will provide battery packs for Chrysler LLC's proposed fleet of extended range hybrids and all-electric vehicles.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson May 13, 2009, 12:44 PM
Categories:: Batteries, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Transportation Alternatives
Technorati Tags:: Battery Makers

May 11, 2009

Port of Los Angeles Continues Financial Incentives For Non-Diesel Trucks

The Los Angeles Harbor Commission has approved up to $44.2 million in funding that will be used to help increase the number of alternative fuel trucks operating at the Port of Los Angeles. The funding is part of the port's Clean Truck Incentive Program, which last year helped owners and operators bring 2,200 cleaner vehicles into service at the port.

The 2009 CTIP goal is to add 1,000 additional trucks that are powered by CNG, LNG or lithium-ion battery packs. The port hopes to bring 100 electric-powered trucks into service this year.

In 2012, the port will ban 2003 model year and older trucks from its terminals. The goal is to cut port-related pollution caused by diesel engines by more than 80 percent.

Truck operators can qualify for up to $80,000 in incentives for each LNG or CNG truck purchased. Port terminal operators and concessionaires also can qualify for up to 80 percent of the cost of each electric vehicle purchased for work at the port.

A qualifying LNG truck costs between $160,000 and $190,000. The electric trucks that qualify for incentives cost about $230,000, according to the port, which is now testing two all-electric vehicles at its terminals.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson May 11, 2009, 10:43 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Diesel, Natural Gas, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Balqon Corp. Port of Los Angeles

May 6, 2009

Ford Will Produce Upcoming Battery Electric Vechicle at Former SUV Plant

Ford Motor Co. today said that it will spend $550 million to transform its Michigan Assembly Plant into a lean, green and flexible manufacturing facility that will build the company's new, gasoline-powered global Ford Focus and a battery-electric version of that vehicle. The conventional Focus will begin rolling off of the assembly lines in 2010 with the Ford Focus battery electric vehicle to follow in 2011.

The zero-emission Focus BEV, which is being developed in partnership with Magna International, will have a high-voltage electric motor powered by a high-capacity Lithium Ion battery pack that will plug into 110-volt or 220-volt outlets. Ford today described the vehicle as part of its plan to "develop electric vehicles for North America quickly and affordably by leveraging its global platform capability."

In addition to the battery electric car, Ford is working with Smith Electric to introduce a Transit Connect battery electric commercial vehicle into North American markets during 2010. The automobile company plans to introduce a next-generation hybrid vehicle in 2012 and a plug-in hybrid vehicle in 2012.

"We're changing from a company focused mainly on trucks and SUVs to a company with a balanced product lineup that includes even more high-quality, fuel-efficient small cars, hybrids and all-electric vehicles," said Mark Fields, president of Ford's American operations. "As customers move to more fuel-efficient vehicles, we'll be there with more of the products they really want."

The state of Michigan, Wayne County and the city of Wayne contributed more than $160 million in tax credits and grants to support Ford's renovation project. Ford credited UAW officials for "establishing a strong, progressive culture at Michigan Assembly Plant that is based on teamwork, joint problem solving and continuous improvement."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson May 6, 2009, 11:52 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Ford, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric, Smith, Tax Incentives, Transportation Alternatives
Technorati Tags:: Ford Electric Delivery Van

May 5, 2009

Cash For Clunkers Legislation Clears Major Hurdle in Washington, D.C.

President Obama and House Democrats today reached an agreement on cash for clunkers legislation that would pay consumers as much as $4,500 to scrap their old cars and trucks and replace them with greener, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The proposal that still must be approved by the full Congress calls for a year-long program that could cover about one million vehicles.

We've not yet seen the details, but Uncle Sam seems to have struck a good deal for the environment, consumers and the automobile industry. Negotiators seem to have avoided the real possibility of turning the legislation into a disruptive program that would have required owners to cash out their old cars and trucks, or require the complete demolition of clunkers.

That kind of legislation would have been unfair to collectors, enthusiasts and low-income car owners who don't want to part with their aging vehicles. Mandating the complete demolition of older vehicles would have resulted in seat frames and other perfectly good car parts being kept from the resale market.

Similar programs have been introduced by state air quality regulators in California and elsewhere, to varying degrees of success. So we're hopeful that Washington, D.C. will end up getting this program right.

As for the anticipated economic stimulus?

"It's not the best long-term business solution, but it will help spur new car sales and it has some good environmental benefits," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's senior industry analyst. "We've looked previously at both House versions and don't see much difference in impact, so the compromise should mean a minimum of half a million new sales during the rest of 2009," he said, adding that some more optimistic forecasts have put that number as high as one million new sales.

"A similar program in Germany did see a gain of a million sales, so that's possible here," Toprak said. "It all depends on how responsive customers are. There's a lot of pent-up demand for new vehicles."

The program that is based upon H.R. 1550 (introduced by U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton of Ohio) and H.R. 520 (introduced by U.S. Rep. Jay Insee of Washington) will be divided into four parts. Here is the plan as described by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce:

Passenger Cars: Old vehicles must get less than 18 miles per gallon. New cars must get at least 22 mpg to qualify for vouchers. If the new car's mileage is at least four mpg higher than the old vehicle's mileage, the voucher will be worth $3,500. If the mileage is at least 10 mpg better, the voucher's value will jump to $4,500.

Light-Duty Trucks: Old vehicles must get less than 18 mpg. New light trucks or SUVs with mileage of at least 18 mpg are eligible for vouchers. If the new truck or SUV's mileage is at least two mpg higher than the old truck, the voucher will be worth $3,500. The voucher will be worth $4,500 if the new truck or SUV gets at least five mpg higher than the old truck.

Large Light-Duty Trucks: New pick-up trucks and vans weighing between 6,000 and 8,500 pounds with mileage of at least 15 mpg are eligible for vouchers. If the mileage of the new truck is at least one mpg higher than the old truck, the voucher will be worth $3,500. If the new truck's mileage is at least two mpg higher than the old truck, the voucher will be worth $4,500.

Work Trucks: Consumers can trade in pre-2002 work trucks (defined as pick-up trucks or cargo vans weighing from 8,500 to 10,000 pounds) and receive a voucher worth $3,500 for a new work truck in the same or smaller weight class. The committee noted that "there are no EPA mileage measures for these trucks; however, because newer models are cleaner than older models, the age requirement ensures that the trade will improve environmental quality." Consumers can also "trade down" and receive a $3,500 voucher for trading in an older work truck and purchasing a smaller, light-duty truck weighing from 6,000 to 8,500 pounds.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (11); Greg Johnson May 5, 2009, 4:42 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Cash for Clunkers

May 4, 2009

Indian EV Companies Ask Federal Government For Sales Incentives Program

Last year, sales of electric vehicles (led by battery-powered scooters) were on a roll in India. But sales stalled as the global economy went into recession and lower gasoline prices further dulled the allure of greener machines.

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A Hero Electric scooter on display at a recent show.
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Mint, an Indian newspaper, is now reporting that the country's vehicle manufacturers have asked the government to offer subsidies of up to 25% to consumers who buy EVs.

"This (industry) has to be seeded by the government by incentivizing people to buy our products," Sohinder Gill, chief executive of Hero Electric, the Hero Group arm that sells electric two-wheelers, told the newspaper.

Gill told the newspaper that India should follow the lead of the U.S., which is offering up to $7,500 in rebates for buyers of electric cars. The United Kingdom last month joined Germany and other countries that also have offered incentives to help counter the relative premium consumers must pay for a green vehicle.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson May 4, 2009, 9:52 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Hybrid, India, India, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Electric Car

April 29, 2009

Pay-Per-Mile Driving Tax Wins Support of House Transportation Chairman

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The idea of a pay-per-mile federal driving tax appears to be gaining ground, despite White House opposition. Without a groundswell of public outrage to tamp it down it could spread through Congress quicker than an outbreak of swine flu.

The chairman of the House Transportation Committee, where a bill to impose such a tariff would ultimately be considered, said this week he thinks Congress needs to quit studying and start acting on a proposal to charge us for every mile we drive.

The idea behind the tax is to raise money for the federal highway fund, which now is dependent on revenue from federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes.

In the absence of a fuel tax hike, that revenue stream has been shrinking rather dramatically as our vehicles' fuel economy has increased and gasoline purchases have fallen as more of us stay home to conserve funds in the midst of a raging global recession.

Congress historically has been too cowardly to raise the federal gas tax, but some - including Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat - think a mileage-based tax would work.

"It's going to have to be done," he said during a committee meeting earlier this week, "it's something we have to do [so] why not just move ahead...I am at a point of impatience with more studies."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); John O'Dell April 29, 2009, 2:24 PM
Categories:: Fuel Economy, Legislation, Opinion, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Driving Tax

April 28, 2009

Mitsubishi Reportedly Will Double i-MiEV Production Schedule by 2013

Here's a report that offers evidence that government-provided incentives can help to grow the market for cleaner, more-efficient vehicles.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. hopes to increase production of its i-MiEV to 30,000 vehicles annually during its 2012/2013 fiscal year, according to a report in the Kyodo News. The Japanese automaker previously said that it would produce 15,000 i-MiEV electric cars during its 2010/2011 fiscal year, according to the newspaper.

Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko told the newspaper that the anticipated production increase is being driven by consumer response to government-funded incentive programs around the world that encourage consumers to purchase low-emission, fuel-efficient vehicles.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson April 28, 2009, 3:56 PM
Categories:: Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Japan, Legislation, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Electric Car

San Diego Unveils Algae Coalition To Advance "Green Gold" Research

algae samples.jpg

Algae cultures that could lead to green oil products are being grown in a UC San Diego laboratory.

They call it "green gold," and its proponents are betting that the light, sweet crude oil that can be extracted from farm-cultivated algae will help the world to cut its dependence upon dirty and increasingly expensive gasoline and diesel fuels that are extracted from fossil fuels.

And, on Tuesday, San Diego -- which envisions itself as the green equivalent of the traditional oil industry's Houston -- unveiled a "broad-scale research effort" to turn that dream into a reality.

Though no dollar figures for financial support were discussed during Tuesday's press event on the UC San Diego campus, the research effort will build upon the creation earlier this year of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology. The center was created to facilitate green fuels research being conducted by 272 scientists at UC San Diego, The Scripps Research Institute and other San Diego universities, research organizations and for-profit companies.

SD-CAB estimates that algal research in San Diego County already generates $16.5 million in payroll and $33 million in overall economic activity. Tuesday's announcement of an even broader research and development effort was made by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.

"By sharing and facilitating the interactions of these multiple researchers through this center, we hope to make sustainable algae-based fuel production and carbon-dioxide abatement a reality within the next five to 10 years," Fox said. "This consortium will strengthen our ability to obtain grants and attract resources to the area. Algal biofuels will allow us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and other economies, and will provide opportunities for a new economy and workforce."

It is a tall order, but San Diego claims to have the R&D nucleus needed to move toward that goal.

The Xconomy blog counts at least nine algal research efforts under way -- including work being done by defense contractors SAIC Corp. and General Atomics (which is better known as the creator of the unmanned Predator aircraft in service in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan).

We wrote about one of those companies (Sapphire Energy) last May, as well as a California Energy Commission grant to another company (albeit, not in San Diego) that is pursuing algal research.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson April 28, 2009, 2:08 PM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Energy Companies, Hydrogen, Methanol, Oil, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Algae Refining

April 20, 2009

William Clay Ford II Forecasts Bright Green Future For His Company

Ford mugshot.jpg

To hear Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman William Clay Ford Jr. tell it, developing the green vehicles that will be needed to break this country's dependence upon foreign oil will be the easy part.

The really tough stuff will involve gaining consensus on such touchy subjects as instituting a new federal gasoline tax and determining which technologies will get the nod as new electric-generating plants are designed, permitted and brought online.

"I actually think that the least disruptive piece will be the car piece," Ford said during a half-hour Q&A during a Fortune magazine green ideas conference on Monday at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, Calif. "We can get there relatively easy, but a lot of these other pieces are going to be big issues that we're going to have to solve as a nation."

"One thing that I'm encouraged about is that the [Obama] administration really wants to lead that discussion on a national basis," Ford said. "I am optimistic ... we can't go on with fossil fuel burning the way we are ... it's just not a path that this country wants to go down."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson April 20, 2009, 9:23 PM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Biofuels, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Green Vehicles, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Ford Motor Company

April 16, 2009

UK Will Offer Incentives to Encourage Electric, Hybrid Vehicle Sales

Cash For Clunkers Program Could Be Next On The United Kingdom's Agenda

The United Kingdom today announced a plan to "help put electric cars into the reach of ordinary motorists" by offering consumers as much as $7,500 in government-funded vehicle purchase incentives.

"The scale of incentives we're announcing today will mean that an electric car is a real option for motorists as well as helping to make the U.K. a world leader in low carbon transport," said Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon.

The five-year program to encourage sales of electric and hybrid vehicles that was unveiled today by Hoon and U.K. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson is part of a $370 million plan to deliver what officials described as "a green motoring transformation."

The incentives that will run from $3,000 to $7,500 are in line with what Washington, D.C. has approved in this country. The green package also includes $30 million to fund "charging points and related infrastructure to help develop a network of 'electric car cities' throughout the U.K."

U.K. officials said that the incentives would be available when the first electric and plug-in hybrids "hit the showrooms, which we expect from 2011 onwards."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson April 16, 2009, 12:45 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Cash for Clunkers

Dept. of Energy Awards $41.9 Million To Advance Fuel Cell Technology

It will take some heavy lifting to ready fuel cell technology for the road. To that end, the Dept. of Energy on Wednesday announced that it is awarding $41.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to help develop fuel cell technology for a variety of applications.

Some of the grants went to companies that will develop, test and demonstrate new fuel cell applications. Delphi Corp., for example, won a $2.4 million grant to create a three- to five-kilowatt solid oxide fuel cell auxiliary power unit for heavy duty commercial trucks.

(On the Delphi front, Global Insight, an economic forecasting company, suggests that the bankrupt parts supplier "would appear fortunate to have received the aid at a time when the company's viability and future prospects are in question.")

The DoE awards are a relative drop in the bucket compared to the $400 million in tax credits that Michigan awarded earlier this week and the $2 billion in economic stimulus funds that Uncle Sam plans to hand out to spur advanced automotive battery development and production.

But every dollar helps. Which brings us back to the heavy lifting. DoE anticipates that the awards, when coupled with $72.4 million that the 13 grant winners have agreed to spend, will push 1,000 fuel cell systems into operation.

A hefty percentage of those systems will involve vehicles with wheels - industrial forklifts that, as DoE notes, are a key, early market "in which fuel cells can compete with conventional power technologies."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson April 16, 2009, 11:52 AM
Categories:: Fuel Cell, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Delphi Corp.

April 14, 2009

Michigan Awards $400 Million in Tax Credits for Advanced Battery Production

The battery wars heated up again today as Michigan awarded four $100-million tax credit packages to a quartet of advanced battery projects that could lead to the creation of thousands of new jobs in the economically distressed state. One of the $100-million tax credit packages is contingent upon state legislators passing enabling legislation.

The credits awarded by the Michigan Economic Growth Authority are part of the state's bid to build an advanced battery industry that, by 2020, would lead to the creation of 40,000 new jobs.

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the winners will spend a cumulative $1.7 billion on their proposed projects.

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GM engineers work on a Volt battery pack.

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The winners of $100-million tax credit packages are:

A joint venture between Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls and French battery manufacturer Saft Advanced Power Solutions. The companies plan to build a plant in Holland, Michigan.

A123 Systems Inc. of Watertown, Massachusetts, which on Monday said it had drawn another $70 million in capital from General Electric, plans to build a plant in Livonia. Last week, A123 announced that it would supply batteries for Chrysler LLC's upcoming line of electric vehicles.

KD Advanced Battery Group, which is a joint venture between Dow Chemical, Kokam America and Townsend Ventures, has yet to say where it would build its planned facility.

Korea's LG Chem-Compact Power, which has a contract to provide batteries for General Motors Corp.'s Volt, was awarded a $100-million tax credit package that is contingent upon additional state legislation being passed.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson April 14, 2009, 9:54 AM
Categories:: Batteries, Chrysler, General Motors, Green Vehicles, Hybrid Technologies, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Battery Research

April 8, 2009

Argonne National Laboratory Joins Kentucky Universities in Battery R&D Center

It would take a heck of a lot of advanced-technology batteries for President Obama to fulfill his campaign promise to put a million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015.

Unfortunately, unless the competitive picture changes dramatically, most of those cars would be powered by batteries produced in Asian countries that now dominate the advanced battery manufacturing sector.

With that hard economic reality in mind, Argonne National Laboratory is teaming up with two Kentucky universities to establish a national research and development center that will be charged with transforming the U.S. into a viable contender when it comes to manufacturing tomorrow's high-tech batteries.

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Prius test vehicles at Argonne National Laboratory

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The center that will be located in central Kentucky will be supported by the University of Kentucky and Louisville University. Its not-so-modest goal, as summed up on Wednesday morning by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear: ramp up domestic production capacity and turn the U.S. into "the hands-down global leader of these technologies."

The center is supposed to make it easier for federal laboratories, university researchers, manufacturers, suppliers and end-users to collaborate on technologies that can be commercialized.

Many experts believe that advanced battery design and manufacturing could become as strategically important to the global economy as oil is today. But the U.S. has reduced itself to a bit player when it comes to manufacturing increasingly high-tech batteries that will be needed to reduce global dependence on oil and cut tailpipe emissions.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Greg Johnson April 8, 2009, 12:22 PM
Categories:: Batteries, China, China, Fuels & Technologies, Hybrid, Hybrid Technologies, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Argonne National Laboratory

April 7, 2009

Michigan Increases Tax Credits Available For Battery Designers, Manufacturers

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has upped the ante in her state's bid to become a key player in the design and manufacturing of advanced batteries.

On Monday, Granholm signed legislation that makes available an additional $220 million in state tax credits for advanced battery makers. The credits are on top of $335 million in incentives that Michigan made available in January.

Granholm said that the $555 million in tax incentives now available should put Michigan at the front of the line in an ongoing competition for $2 billion in federal battery development grants that are to be announced in May.

The flurry of battery-related activity is part of Michigan's bid to create new jobs in the wake of the traditional automobile industry's dramatic restructuring. Granholm envisions advanced battery design and manufacturing as blossoming into an $18 billion industry that, by 2020, could create 30,000 jobs in her state.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson April 7, 2009, 12:51 PM
Categories:: Batteries, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: A123 Systems

April 1, 2009

House Leader Promises Action on Obama's 'Cash for Clunkers' Program

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that President Obama's "cash for clunkers" proposal would get "serious attention" in Congress.

On Monday, Obama said that he wants to stimulate new-car sales by offering financial incentives (funded by the massive federal stimulus bill) to consumers who replace gas-guzzling vehicles with more new, fuel-efficient cars.

Several pieces of legislation that would create "cash for clunkers" programs have been introduced in the House and Senate, according to Environment & Energy Daily newsletter (subscription required).

The New York Times today reports on a similar fleet modernization program in Slovakia that, like others in Europe, appears to be revving up new vehicle sales.

And, for what it's worth, Hoyer's Web site is running a poll on whether states should be allowed to set their own automobile emissions standards.

Greg Johnson, Contributor

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Greg Johnson April 1, 2009, 11:08 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Fuel Efficient Cars

March 31, 2009

Obama Embraces "Cash For Clunkers" Program to Stimulate Auto Sales

Late last year, Republican and Democratic members of a House committee urged then President-elect Barack Obama to consider using some of the money in his proposed economic stimulus plan to pay motorists to take older, dirtier vehicles off of the roads in return for cash that could be used to buy cleaner, more-efficient models.

Obama, it turns out, was listening.

Sandwiched in between the monumental news about General Motors and Chrysler, the president on Monday proposed a fleet modernization program that would include a "generous credit to consumers who turn in old, less fuel-efficient cars and purchase cleaner cars."

Obama said that he will "work with Congress to identify parts of the (Economic Recovery Investment Act) that could be trimmed to fund such a program, and make it retroactive starting today."

We think that makes some sense. A so-called "cash for clunkers" program could stimulate new vehicle sales and help improve the nation's fuel economy picture and reduce tailpipe emissions.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson March 31, 2009, 10:57 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Opinion, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Economic Recovery Reinvestment Act

March 26, 2009

Green Car Proponents Say Government Support for R&D Is Growing in Importance

And you thought it was tough trying to figure out which fuel-efficient car to drive off the dealer lot.

Ichiro Sakai, assistant vice president of American Honda Motor Co., said earlier this week that vehicle manufacturers face similar challenges when it comes to allocating limited R&D dollars among competing (and expensive) green technologies.

"We suffer from market preference," Sakai said during a transportation program sponsored by the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

That's a polite way of saying Honda doesn't want to get too far ahead of the green automobile pack -- only to discover that consumers aren't interested in buying what it has to sell. A case in point: the ongoing debate over whether lower gasoline prices have dulled consumer demand for smaller, fuel-efficient cars.

Honda sees the wisdom of advancing such technologies as pure-electric vehicles and increased use of biofuels. But EE Publishing's ClimateWire (a subscription-only news service) reports that Sakai also told the audience that such market realities as fuel economy regulations force it to concentrate on picking "lots of low-hanging fruit for the future of internal combustion engines."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson March 26, 2009, 12:24 PM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: American Honda Motor Co.

March 25, 2009

Support for Tougher Fuel Economy Standard Is Growing in Congress

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers on Monday asked President Obama to toughen proposed auto fuel-efficiency standards beyond those the Bush administration proposed in last year's corporate fuel economy (CAFE) rule.

More than 80 Democratic and Republican House members signed a letter to Obama that asks the new administration to incorporate "realistic assumptions" into its math as it reviews the Bush administration fuel-efficiency plan.

The letter written by Representatives Ed Markey (D-Mass) and Todd Russell Platts (R, Pa.) says that the Bush CAFE proposal was "based on a systemic overestimation of the costs of implementing fuel efficient technologies and a systemic underestimation of its benefits."

The letter criticizes the Bush administration's optimistic belief that gasoline prices would average just $2.42 per gallon in 2016 and would only rise to $2.51 in 2030. It also questions the Bush administration's willingness to accept at face value the automobile industry's estimates of the cost of developing new fuel efficiency technology.

We've said it before, but it bears repeating: CAFE is a necessary evil in that it forces automakers to improve fuel-efficiency. But car companies can pay relatively modest fines and ignore the standards. We'd rather see Uncle Sam using market forces, in the form of fuel taxes or fuel economy-based registration fees, to encourage consumers to demand fuel-efficient models.

That strategy would more quickly get the nation to where it wants to go when it comes to fuel economy and cleaner tailpipe emissions.

But Washington hates the idea of new taxes and fees and instead seems to be setting the stage for tougher CAFE numbers -- which we'll pay for anyhow, in the form of higher prices for CAFE-compliant vehicles.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Greg Johnson March 25, 2009, 11:28 AM
Categories:: Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: CAFE Standards

March 18, 2009

Congress Gets Highway Funding Commission's Pitch for Pay-Per-Mile Driving Tax

Few motorists would dispute the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission's claim that the cost of traffic congestion - in wasted time, wasted fuel and vehicle wear and tear - is tremendous.

The commission estimates the cost at more than $78 billion annually and Chairman Robert D. Atkinson on Tuesday told members of the House Budget Committee that it is getting worse.

The federal Highway Trust Fund's average annual revenue is falling woefully short of the $100 billion needed to keep pace with repairs and increasing traffic, he said.

Atkinson's testimony summarized findings in the Feb. 26 transportation funding commission report that bluntly stated: "The federal Highway Trust Fund faces a near-term insolvency crisis, exacerbated by recent reductions in federal motor fuel tax revenues and truck-related user fee receipts."

But we disagree, as we have in the past, with the commission's proposed solution to funding decline - a so-called vehicle mileage tax, or VMT, that would have motorists pay per mile driven.

The federal funding formula historically has relied upon taxes imposed on petroleum-derived fuels, and, by contributing mightily to the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel, those taxes provided an incentive for people to demand fuel-efficient vehicles.

A straight miles-traveled tax that replaces fuel taxes could kill consumer demand for green vehicles: the driver of a Hummer would pay the same as the driver of a Prius to travel from, say, Boston to New York.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); John O'Dell March 18, 2009, 3:56 PM
Categories:: Legislation, Opinion, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Federal Fuel Taxes

February 27, 2009

$25 Billion Federal Loan Fund for Green Car Manufacturing Still Untapped

Is the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program a good measure of how quickly Uncle Sam will be able to push badly needed federal dollars into the U.S. economy?

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Funds would help developers of batteries for hybrids, EVs.
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Let's hope not.

According to The New York Times, the program that Congress created in 2007 has yet to allocate any of the $25 billion that is available to help push production of electric-powered and other advanced technology, fuel efficient vehicles.

"Some members of Congress are starting to ask why the Energy Department money is not flowing yet," The Times said.

So is the ATVMIP another example of federal bureaucracy at its worst.

Not necessarily.

The program wasn't funded until September 2008, and DOE reports that 43 of the initial applications landed during the final three days leading up to a December 31, 2008 deadline.

ATVMIP's dozen or so full- and part-time employees are wading through applications, some of which are as long as 1,000 pages and detail complex financial and technological issues. The 75 proposals seek a cumulative $38 billion in funding.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell February 27, 2009, 11:57 AM
Categories:: Fuel Economy, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program

February 26, 2009

Federal Highway Commission Urges Diesel and Gas Tax Hikes, Mileage Fees

New Revenue Source Needed To Keep Highway System Working, Panel Says

Despite the Obama administration's unequivocal rejection of the idea, a federal transportation pane tasked with figuring out how to finance future highway construction and repairs is calling for institution of a vehicle mileage tax that would have drivers pay for each mile driven.

The National Surface Transportation Financing Commission also said in its final report, issued this morning, that the nation needs an immediate but temporary increase in federal fuel taxes, now 18.4 cents a gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents a gallon for diesel fuel.

As the economy has tanked and fuel prices have risen, people are driving less and shifting from fuel-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs to more efficient small cars and crossovers.

The result has been a dramatic decline of the fuel taxes that provide federal highway revenue. The highway fund last year sought, and obtained, an $8 billion infusion from Congress to remain solvent.

A mileage tax, the panel said, would replace the declining gas tax revenue that is supposed to cover the federal government's share of highway and bridge construction and maintenance costs.

The panel is suggesting an average fee of 2 cents a mile, which means a motorist driving 15,000 miles a year would pay $300, regardless of the type of vehicle driven.

Today's gas-tax funding system means motorists pay varying rates depending on their vehicles' fuel economy but almost always are paying far less than the charge the proposed mileage tax would levy.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (3); John O'Dell February 26, 2009, 12:01 PM
Categories:: Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Gas Tax

February 23, 2009

China's Chery Unveils Electric Vehicle; S18 Minicar Will Sell for Less Than $15,000

Chery Automobile has unveiled its first self-developed plug-in electric vehicle, the S18, and the Chinese automaker has rival BYD squarely in its sights.

This news comes courtesy of our sister site, Edmunds.com's Inside Line. According to its report, the zero-emissions S18 is powered by a lithium-ion phosphate battery, can run up to 93 miles on one charge and has a maximum speed of 75 mph.

Chery said the battery can be fully charged in four to six hours using a standard household electrical outlet. Specially designed charging devices let owners get the car 80 percent charged in only 30 minutes.

A Chery official said the model will be on sale in the market within a year, priced at about $14,600. The first vehicles will be provided to government institutions for trial use.

Chery, which launched a prototype hybrid last month that could save up to 10 percent on fuel consumption, also plans to launch a midlevel hybrid this year.

Chinese carmakers are racing to launch new-energy vehicles in the wake of a central government decision to put 60,000 new-energy vehicles on the roads nationwide by 2012. To that end, the government is offering subsidies of up to $36,500 to consumers to encourage them to buy hybrid, electric and fuel-cell vehicles.

Besides Chery, nearly all of China's major automakers have invested heavily in new-energy vehicles. BYD launched the world's first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle, the F3DM, in December.

Only time will tell which Chinese EV will make it to the U.S. first.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett February 23, 2009, 12:05 PM
Categories:: BYD, Batteries, Chery, China, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: BYD

White House Rebukes DOT Secretary, Says No to Mileage Tax for Road Repair

Score one for our side!

We brought you news Friday that President Obama's transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, said in an interview that he was considering the merits of a vehicle mileage tax to augment or replace the federal gas tax as a means of financing highway repair.

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Nation's potholed highways need help, but a mileage tax to raise fix-it funding isn't in White House plans.
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We don't care for the idea because it removes a big incentive for building and buying fuel-efficient cars and trucks.

Turns out that the President doesn't like it either and, through his chief spokesman, has chastised LaHood for crossing lanes on this one.

The Washington Post reported this weekend that during a press briefing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs unequivocally shot down the idea.

Taxing motorists for each and every mile driven "is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," he said in response to a question about LaHood's statement.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); John O'Dell February 23, 2009, 8:26 AM
Categories:: Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Gas Tax

Calif. Dairy Converts Diesel Big Rigs to Run on Biomethane Made From Cow Manure

Three days before Christmas, we joyously reported that Idaho was looking to convert mountains of manure into natural gas for vehicles and homes.

Today, we're delighted to report that Hilarides Dairy of Lindsay, California, has gone a step farther: It's converted two of its diesel 18-wheelers to run on clean-burning biomethane made from the dairy's formidable stockpiles of cow crap.

In addition to curbing the amount of greenhouse gases that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere as the manure decomposed, by producing biomethane from cow waste the dairy is reducing the nation's dependence on foreign fossil fuels.

And the production will "give us some protection from volatile energy prices," said owner Ron Hilarides (pictured). Who'd have thunk so much good could come from cow patties.

The bio-gas making process begins with flushing manure from stalls housing 10,000 cows into a covered lagoon, where bacteria breaks it down. The resulting methane gas is then pumped to a refinery that removes carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and other impurities.

The purified methane is pressurized - made into compressed natural gas - before being pumped into the 18-wheelers, which are fitted with Cummins engines that have been converted from compression-ignited diesels to spark-ignited methane-burners.

The dairy generates 226,000 cubic feet of bio-gas per day - enough to slash the dairy's diesel consumption by 650 gallons a day, Hilarides said, adding that he intends to convert five pick-up trucks to run on biomethane.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett February 23, 2009, 12:01 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Methanol, Natural Gas, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Biofuel

February 20, 2009

Feds Interested in Vehicle Mileage Tax, Too, Says DOT Secretary LaHood.

We've been arguing for weeks against the idea of states instituting vehicle mileage taxes to replace declining gas tax revenues used for road repair and other transportation programs.

And we knew that the feds were considering the same.

Well, now Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has made it official: he says he wants to consider a federal program of taxing on miles traveled rather than gallons burned.

Shows how much clout we have!

The Associated Press reports today that LaHood is firmly opposed to increasing the federal gasoline tax during a recession but recognizes the need to raise more cash for the federal highway trust fund.

"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois lawmaker told the AP.

The trust fund, which pays the federal government's share of highway construction and repair bill, required an $8 billion emergency infusion from Congress last year to make up for the gap between what it owned states and what it took in form the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal tax on gasoline.

Tax revenues are falling because people are driving less and buying more fuel-efficient vehicles these days.

Our point in opposing the idea of a pay-per-mile system has been that a mileage tax would do nothing to encourage people to get out and drive more - might even turn us into a nation of stay-at-homes - and would actually make gasoline cheaper, thus removing a key incentive for buying fuel efficient cars and trucks.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (2); John O'Dell February 20, 2009, 5:35 PM
Categories:: Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Ray LaHood

Mass. Governor Proposes Major Gas Tax Hike To Fund Roads, Mass Transit

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who reportedly had been considering the idea of a vehicle mileage tax to help replace falling state gas tax revenue, has now proposed a gas tax hike of 19 cents a gallon.

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Massachusetts now ranks 26th in gas taxes. Click on map for larger view.
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The increase would almost double the Massachusetts state gas tax, now at 23.5 cents a gallon. Combined with the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline, it would bring total gas taxes in the Bay State to 60.9 cents a gallon.

Patrick said the gas tax increase is needed to generate funds to repair the state's deteriorating roads and bridges.

While acknowledging that it will be unpopular, he said it is less onerous than alternatives such as big increases in fees on the state's toll roads, tunnels and bridges.

Cash for Roads, Mass Transit

The increased tax would raise an additional $500 million a year, he said, and some of the funding also would be used to help improve regional rail and bus systems.

Gas tax hikes aren't an easy political move in the midst of the worst recession in nearly 80 years, but we believe that they are necessary to ensure that people using the roads pay their fair share of upkeep.

By boosting the cost of gasoline, they also provide an incentive for people to demand -- and car manufacturers to build -- more fuel-efficient vehicles. They are better than mileage taxes.

If the governor's tax-hike proposal wins approval, Massachusetts would have the highest gas taxes in the country, but not by much.

Now in Middle of Pack

New York now has the steepest levies, a total of 59.7 cents a gallon (41.3 cents state tax and 18.4 cents federal), followed by Washington state at 55.9 cents a gallon, California at 53.7 cents, Florida at 52.9 cents and Hawaii at 52 cents a gallon, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

In all, 25 states now have higher gas taxes than Massachusetts, and the national average is 45 cents a gallon.

Alaska, with no state gas tax at all, has the lowest tariff -- the 18.4-cent federal tax.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell February 20, 2009, 10:51 AM
Categories:: Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Gas Tax

February 18, 2009

Massachusetts Joins States Contemplating Pay-Per-Mile Road Tax Plans

By John O'Dell, Senior Edito r

Add Massachusetts to the list of states considering the idea of replacing shrinking gas tax revenue with a pay-a-you-drive tax.

We told you last month about Oregon's flirtation with the idea that motorists should pay for road upkeep based on miles driven rather than gallons of gasoline purchased.

Now the state that hosted the Boston Tea Party is toying with the idea of sticking GPS systems in residents' vehicles so it can keep track of how much they drive around the Bay State and charge them accordingly.

The Massachusetts mileage tax being talked about is fairly mild -- 25 cents per mile, or $1 for 400 miles -- and we can see the rationale, we really can.

In this wicked economy, people are driving less and/or getting behind the wheels of more fuel-efficient vehicles, and the gas tax revenue traditionally used by states to raise funds for road building and maintenance is drying up.

A Bad, Bad Thing

So why not charge road users directly for the wear-and-tear they inflict by levying a per-mile fee?

That's the reasoning, and it makes sense -- but as we said last month, we think it's a bad idea.

There's also a little issue called energy independence, and another called harmful tailpipe emissions (which covers toxic or smog-causing gunk and greenhouse gases).

As a matter of national policy we are encouraging people to jettison their gas-guzzlers and seek out the most efficient cars and trucks they can. We want plug-in hybrids and electric cars that use no oil at all.

Taxing gasoline rewards and thus encourages purchases of fuel-efficient vehicles; charging by the mile doesn't. The driver of a 15-miles-per-gallon Jeep Grand Cherokee pays the same for a 100 miles trip as the driver of a 48-mpg Prius, even though the Jeep uses more than three times as much fuel and, as a heavier vehicle, does more damage to the road surface.

Massachusetts is at least the tenth state to be contemplating the move and there seems to be little in the way of a national debate on its wisdom.

Why not a hefty hike in gas taxes with a rebate plan to ease the burden on the poorest drivers? (Another issue in a pay-per-mile scheme is that the poorest among us often are forced by housing costs to live farthest from their jobs.)

We're wondering where all the fuel-efficiency advocates who can muster millions of voices over a tenth of a point decline in the national fuel economy average have gone.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (4); John O'Dell February 18, 2009, 3:15 AM
Categories:: Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Gas Tax

February 17, 2009

Plug-In Hybrid Tax Credit Update: Economic Recovery Law Boosts Numbers Eligible

We promised to come back with any necessary updates to its green car provisions once the final version of the $787-billion economic stimulus bill became available.

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Recovery plan contains more than $2 billion in tax credits to promote sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles such as this prototype Ford Escape.

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It has, and we found one significant change in the segment on tax credits for plug-in hybrids that needs to be reported (plus a typo in our earlier report that could cause some confusion).

We added a correction in the plug-in tax credit segment of Monday's posting on the bill's benefits, but here's a fleshed-out version:

The version of the stimulus plan initially approved by the House would have started phasing out tax credits for purchasers of plug-in hybrids after the 250,000th model was sold.

The Senate version doubled the cap to 500,000 plug-ins. But after after an intensive lobbying effort by the advocacy group Plug In America - which sent more than 55,000 letters of support for its plan to the Senate - the measure was amended again to tie the credits to individual manufacturers' s sales.

The final version, signed into law today by President Obama, says that the credits for plug-in hybrids will extend to the first 200,000 models sold by each automaker.

Depending on how many car companies start making plug-ins, that could push the total number of models eligible for the tax credits to well in excess of 500,000.

"This bill, which invests more than $2 billion in plug-in technology, will put vastly more numbers and kinds of plug-in electric vehicles on the road," said Plug In America legislative director Jay Friedland. "It will help create jobs and spur spending by incentivizing consumers to purchase the cleanest-running vehicles made today and those just around the corner."

As a refresher: The credits start at $2,500 and ratchet up by $417 for every kilowatt-hour of battery capacity on board the vehicle in excess of 4 kWh; they top out, for most passenger vehicles, at $7,500.

For heavier plug-in hybrid vehicles - those, mostly commercial trucks, that would tip the scales at 10,001 pounds and up - the credits start at $10,000 and rise to a maximum of $15,000.

There also are provisions that give qualified aftermarket conversions that turn conventional hybrids such as the Toyota Prius into plug-ins with additional all-electric range a credit of 10 percent of the cost up to $4,000 (or a $40,000 conversion cost), and for credits of up to $2,500 for purchasers of low speed or neighborhood electric vehicles (limited in most states to top speeds of 25 mph), and electric motorcycles including three-wheeled vehicles.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell February 17, 2009, 3:28 PM
Categories:: Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Economic Recovery

February 16, 2009

Economic Stimulus Act Contains Good News For Green Car Advocates

(Modified 2/17/09 to reflect amendment to plug-in hybrid credit provision and to correct a typographical error in same section.)

Now that the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has passed through Congress and is awaiting the signature of the President who so adamantly has wanted it, we thought we'd revisit, as best we can, the provisions that apply directly to the green car world.

We say "as best we can" because a full and final version of the bill is still hard to find - and we couldn't. The closest we can come is the official White House website , which has the conference committee version that was approved on Thursday, but hasn't updated it to the final version that passed both the Hue and Senate on Friday.

So here's the most accurate info we have as of this morning:

Sales Tax Deduction

There is, of course, a sales tax deduction provision aimed at stimulating new car buying in general.

It would make state sales taxes for new car purchases a federal income tax deduction and it would apply to purchases of hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles as well as to purchases of Hummers and Dodge Rams and Lincoln Navigators.

It won't put a lot of money in anyone's pockets, and many automakers say it isn't likely to turn things around dramatically this year, but it will help reduce tax bills for people who've got the wherewithal to buy a new vehicles in the first place and could at least keep a bid situation from getting worse.

Status Quo For Conventional Hybrids

The measure, far as we know, doesn't alter the diminishing tax credits system already in place for conventional hybrids: Up to $3,400 until an automaker sells 60,000 hybirds, then a 50 percent drop each six months until the credit disappears.

Toyota, by dint of its sales lead in the hybrid segment, had used up all of its credits by the end of 2007; Honda's disappeared on Jan. 1; Ford's start dropping at the end of March. GM and Nissan still have full credits available for qualifying models, according to the Department of Energy website that tracks such stuff.

Plug-Ins Win

The bill aims to promote development and sales of plug-in hybrids and some pure EVs, though, by instituting a new tier of tax credits ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 for a vehicle, like the upcoming Chevrolet Volt, with a battery large enough to provide 40 miles of so of all-electric drive on a single charge (the Volt uses an on-board generator to keep things humming along once the initial grid charge is depleted).

The battery pack for an eligible vehicle has to have a capacity of at least at least four kilowatt hours, and the credit increases by $417 for each additional kilowatt hour of capacity after that, topping out at $7,500 for vehicles of 10,000 pounds or less (most cars and light trucks).

For vehicles weighing from 10,001 pounds to 14,000 pounds, the maximum credit is $10,000; it jumps to $12,500 for 14,001- to 26,000-pound vehicles; and tops out at $15,000 for vehicles in excess of 26,000 pounds.

Don't Hold Your Breath, Though

Sorry to say, though, that in most instances, the money for those credits will just be sitting there for the next 23 months.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell February 16, 2009, 3:00 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cell, Green Vehicles, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Economic Recovery Reinvestment Act

February 13, 2009

A Wild Card Now, 'Peapod' Could Be Key Influence on Future of NEVs

Peapod, originally by Chrysler-owned Global Electric Motorcars, is now built by a separate subsidiary.

By Dale Buss, Contributor

Executives of America's nascent NEV industry are on the edges of their little seats these days about two major, unresolved issues that will mightily influence their market in the years ahead.

One of them is obvious: the fate of electric-vehicle tax credits and other goodies included in the $789-billion federal stimulus package that is expected to be voted on and approved by Congress later today.

The other is neither as immediate nor as obvious -- but it could have just as significant an impact on the future of low-speed NEVs -- neighborhood electric vehicles.

"It" is the combination of Peter Arnell, the branding guru often associated with Chrysler, and Peapod Mobility LLC, the Chrysler-owned NEV maker that he now heads.

Arnell has designed a stylish NEV concept that looks -- well, like a smiling peapod, and a dramatic stylistic contrast to the squarishness of nearly all existing NEVs. He's the lead director of Peapod, which Chrysler just spun off from GEM, its long-established NEV market-leader.

Arnell (left) has declared that he wants to energize the NEV business by aiming Peapod at 20-somethings, who have been largely an afterthought to NEV makers.

"You know how the Beetle was the vehicle of choice for the whole '60s, the hippie revolution and everything?" he recently told Brandweek magazine. "We're hoping that this becomes the new-wave car for the younger set as well as addressing mom and her needs with her kids."

Small Footprint So Far

If Arnell and Peapod are able to elevate NEVs from a sideshow in the electric-vehicle sweepstakes into a true cultural phenomenon, the industry could be transformed.

But there's a lot of ground to cover between now and then -- and it's going to take a while in vehicles whose regulated top speed now is only 25 mph,

NEVs, of course, have been around for more than a decade. They resemble but are sturdier than golf cars, have all-electric powertrains, and can be plugged into regular 110-volt outlets for recharging. Generally, they are priced in the $10,000-$12,000 range.

All NEVs must have head- and taillights, a windshield, and other carlike features. But federal regulations limit their maximum loaded weight to 3,000 pounds and don't require all the safety systems a full-function car or truck must have.

Outfitted as cargo haulers and in other useful configurations, NEVs have become popular fleet vehicles for government agencies, college campuses, corporate complexes, parks and recreational sites, and other delivery- and maintenance-oriented customers.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (2); John O'Dell February 13, 2009, 3:15 AM
Categories:: Chrysler, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Neighborhood Electric Vehicles

February 10, 2009

China Says It Will Offer Subsidies to Buyers of Hybrid Cars, Trucks and Buses

China has taken steps in recent years to change its reputation as a mass polluter to an environmentally sensitive country.

Its efforts started with a massive Beijing clean-up operation for the Olympics, followed by a $175 billion countrywide clean-up and the closure of some particularly dirty coal power plants.

Soon the country will offer subsidies to the residents and businesses of 13 large cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, who purchase hybrid cars, trucks and buses, or vehicles that run on electricity, liquefied petroleum gas or compressed natural gas.

If the subsidy program succeeds, it might be extended to the rest of China.

Although the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and the domestically produced and recently released BYD F3DM are available in China, fewer than a 1,000 hybrids cars were sold in 2008.

That number will likely change as China produces more hybrids, which are much less expensive than the Japanese hybrids. The size of the subsidies have yet to be announced.

So far, only two Chinese carmakers - Dongfeng Motor and Great Wall Motor (its Kunna EV is pictured) - have announced plans to make electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett February 10, 2009, 1:37 PM
Categories:: BYD, Chery, Dongfeng, Emissions, Great Wall, Honda, Hybrid, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Toyota
Technorati Tags:: BYD F3DM

February 4, 2009

Bimmer's U.S. Clean Diesels Qualify for Clean-Car Tax Credits From IRS

They say you shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch, lest they don't. BMW was doing that back in November, when it talked about how federal clean-diesel tax credits would lower the diesel premium it would be charging for its new diesel X5 crossover and 3 Series sedan models (right) when they hit showrooms in the U.S. this year.

But the automaker lucked out -- it announced today that its diesel models have, indeed, qualified for the federal "Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle Tax Credit."

The BMW 355d sedan will earn purchasers a credit of up to $900, while the pricier X5 diesel (officially the "X5 xDrive35d Sports Activity Vehicle" -- only the Germans can best the feds at coming up with long, convoluted names for things) -- comes with a credit of up to $1,800.

The 3 Series diesel is EPA rated at 23 miles per gallon in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, the X5 at 19 mpg city and 26 mpg highway.

Before applying the credit, the 355d starts at $44,725, or $3,800 more than the comparable gasoline-burning 3 Series model; the X5 diesel starts at $52,025, or $2,550 more than its gasoline counterpart.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell February 4, 2009, 2:15 PM
Categories:: BMW, Diesel, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: BMW Diesel Tax Credits

Senate Wants Car-Buyer Tax Break in Economic Recovery Program

The Senate has added a small car-buying incentive to the now $900-billion economic stimulus plan.

It would allow new-car buyers to claim federal income tax deductions for sales taxes and interest payments on auto loans (the latter only works, of course, if you don't avail yourself of one of the zero-percent financing deals many automakers are offering).

It isn't enough to make people who weren't in the market suddenly queue up at their local car dealerships. It would be a tax break for most car buyers of less than $1,000 the first year. But every little bit helps.

And because hybrids, clean diesels and the plug-in hybrids and other alternative fuel cars we're expecting to see in coming years all cost more than conventionally powered cars and trucks, it could help even more in easing the pocketbook pain of becoming a greener motorist.

Another plus, if the measure stays in the bill after the House gets through with it and the president signs it, is that instead of being handed over to corporate interests, the money from the tax deductions would go directly into consumers' pockets.

More details, and opinions, are available on our sister bogs, Edmunds AutoObserver and Inside Line's Straightline.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); John O'Dell February 4, 2009, 11:17 AM
Categories:: Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Car Buyer Incentives

February 3, 2009

Energy Start-up Works With Brewer to Produce Ethanol From Discarded Beer Yeast

We've heard of ethanol being made from swamp muck, garbage and even grubs, but until today we'd not heard of anyone making ethanol from beer-brewing waste.

Yet that's exactly what E-Fuel Corp. and the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. intend to do. The companies have agreed to house small E-Fuel-made MicroFuelers at the Chico, California, brewery. The MicroFuelers will enable Sierra Nevada to make E100 (100 percent ethanol) using waste from its brewing process.

Testing is scheduled to begin the second quarter of this year with a goal of achieving full-scale ethanol production in the third quarter.

Sierra Nevada sells 1.6 million gallons of unusable bottom-of-the-barrel beer yeast waste each year to farmers, who then feed it to dairy cows.

The waste contains 5-8 percent alcohol and enough yeast and nutrients to enable a MicroFueler to raise the alcohol content to 15 percent. The MicroFueler can then remove water from the waste to produce high-quality ethanol.

According to E-Fuel of Los Gatos, California, their EFuel100 MicroFueler (pictured) is the world's first portable ethanol micro-refinery system and can create up to 70 gallons of ethanol each week using an alcohol feedstock.

The MicroFueler has a suggested retail price of $9,995, but can cost as little as $6,998 after federal tax credits are applied.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett February 3, 2009, 1:21 PM
Categories:: Energy Companies, Ethanol, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: E-100

January 28, 2009

Ford's Fusion-Mercury Milan Hybrids OK'd for $3,400 Federal Tax Credit

But Cars Not Available Yet and Credit Falls to $1,700 on April 1 and Disappears Next Year

The 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid (left) - and its Mercury Milan twin - have been approved for the new $3,400 federal tax credit for hybrids, but the deal's only good for models sold through March 31.

That likely means there won't be many sold that qualify for the full credit because Ford won't be getting the cars to showrooms until sometime in the spring. That could be early March, said a company spokeswoman, but it could be later.

Ford says, though, that people who are interested in securing the full credit can qualify if they have a car ordered through a dealership by the end of March..

After that, the credit drops to $1,700 because Ford has hit the hybrid sales threshold that triggers a rapid phasing out of the hybrid tax credits.

The automaker, though, plans to take full advantage of the marketing advantage it gains by being able to advertise the biggest tax credit ever for a conventional hybrid.

That's because the feds only allowed a top credit of $3,000 for hybrids sold before the 2010 model year. Front-wheel drive versions of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrid SUVs both still qualify for that credit until April 1. The SUV hybrids with four-wheel drive are eligible for a $1,950 credit through the end of March.

After falling 50 percent on April 1, Ford Motor Co.'s hybrid tax credits drop by 50 percent again on October 1 (the Fusion credit, for instance, will be $850 at that point) and disappear on April 1, 2010.

Ford already is hyping the Fusion-Milan tax credits as "the highest credit amount ever offered for hybrids purchased or placed into service after Dec. 31, 2005." You can expect some version of that claim to start showing up in advertising soon.

The reason, of course, is simply that Ford's the first manufacturer still eligible for the incentives to launch a 2010 model year hybrid that qualifies for the recently increased credit.

Toyota and Honda have already sold so many hybrids that they've used up the tax credits allocated to them, so neither the 2010 Honda Insight, although a new model, nor the 2010 Toyota Prius, an update, will be eligible for a federal credit.

It was the Fusion's EPA-estimated fuel economy of 41 miles per gallon in the city and 36 mpg on the highway that qualified it for the big credit, which is based on fuel efficiency.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (3); John O'Dell January 28, 2009, 12:02 PM
Categories:: Ford, Hybrid, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Ford Fusion Hybrid

January 27, 2009

Revised Senate Stimulus Tax Plan Boosts Incentives for Plug-In Electric Vehicles

Energy tax provisions slated for the massive economic stimulus bill now include expanded incentives for plug-in electric vehicles that backers call a promising way to help curb reliance on oil in the transportation sector, according to a revised Senate version unveiled today.

The package now expands an existing credit for plug-in electric vehicles by doubling the number eligible to 500,000. The change reflects part of a proposal pushed by Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and others who recently introduced legislation with several provisions to expand deployment of the vehicles.

The size of the credit begins at $2,500 and expands with the amount of battery capacity. The maximum credit for vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less is $7,500, and higher amounts are available for heavier zero-emissions vehicles.

Plug-in vehicles are seen as a way to curb dependence on foreign oil by effectively allowing electric power to substitute for oil-based transportation fuels.

The entire package provides a suite of renewable energy and efficiency measures, such as a three-year extension of availability of tax credit for wind and some other projects, a new credit for manufacture of advanced energy-related equipment, and extended and expanded credits for energy efficient homes.

The House is scheduled to vote on its version of the bill tomorrow, and Democrats want to send a final House-Senate plan to President Obama by mid-February. The overall economic recovery plan will cost approximately $825 billion.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett January 27, 2009, 11:33 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Electric Vehicles

New Agriculture Secretary Says USDA Will Help Struggling Ethanol Industry

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will help the struggling ethanol industry identify the most efficient ways to produce the alternative fuel so more plants can stay in business, Tom Vilsack said in his first news conference as agriculture secretary.

Vilsack said the USDA should research, develop and promote "best practices" to improve efficiency at corn-based ethanol plants, which have been hit hard by volatile corn prices, followed by a sharp drop in demand for the biofuel, which is more expensive than gasoline.

"We need to make sure that the biofuels industry has the necessary support to survive the recent downturn, while at the same promoting policies that will speed up the development of second- and third-generation feedstocks for those biofuels that have the potential to significantly improve America's energy security and independence," Vilsack said.

His comments came less than a week after Panda Ethanol Inc. filed for bankruptcy for a plant it owns in Texas. VeraSun Energy Corp., the second-largest U.S. ethanol producer, filed for bankruptcy protection in October, and has closed 12 of its 16 plants.

Vilsack emphasized that the USDA needs to speed up work on biofuels made from non-food plant sources, as well as develop wind energy and other renewable sources of power.

The 2008 farm bill has several measures that should be quickly implemented to boost demand for new types of biofuels, he said, including tax credits, grants and loans for converting corn-based plants to use new feedstocks.

Vilsack also vowed that the USDA would be the "national leader in climate change" debate.

"This, of course, will involve conservation, greater efficiency with the energy we have and expanded opportunities in biofuels and renewable energy," Vilsack said, reading from prepared remarks.

President Obama has said he hopes to double renewable-energy production in the U.S.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett January 27, 2009, 11:04 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Energy Companies, Ethanol, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Agriculture Department

January 15, 2009

Pretzel Logic: Taxing Motorists Based on Miles Traveled, Not Gasoline Consumed

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

In an impressive display of boneheaded thinking, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski is hankering to replace the state's gasoline tax with a tax based on miles driven.

Kulongoski wants motorists in the Beaver State to pay 1.2 cents for every mile they drive regardless of whether their rides chug gasoline and spew rivers of greenhouse gas, or run on electricity supplied by happy hamsters spinning wheel-generators.

Under his plan the owner of a 48-mile-per-gallon Toyota Prius would pay the same $1.20 for a 100-mile trip that consumed just a tad over two gallons of gasoline as would the owner of a 15-miles-per-gallon Jeep Grand Cherokee that sucked down almost seven gallons of fuel.

Don't laugh. Officials in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Colorado and Minnesota are of like mind, as are members of the federal commission tasked with financing the nation's transportation infrastructure.

The reason: Gas taxes used to maintain roads and bridges are shrinking as fuel-sipping cars and trucks are increasingly replacing vehicles with ruinous drinking habits. And motorists who once thought nothing of driving to the Kwik-E-Mart every time an urge for Chunky Monkey arose are giving their wasteful ways second thought.

Together, these actions lowered gasoline consumption and its resultant tax revenues a full 10 percent last year.

In turn, the drop in tax revenues has prodded Kulongoski and others to consider raising the gas tax or to develop other revenue streams, lest they find themselves up to their necks in potholes with no money to fix them. With gas consumption expected to continue its retreat, Kulongoski et al believe it's time to chuck the gas tax and come up with a brand-new, mileage-related tax.

As Adrian Moore, a member of the federal infrastructure commission, succinctly put it the other day, "the gas tax is broken, so any increase in the gas tax is just a Band-Aid."

But a mileage tax?

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (5); Scott Doggett January 15, 2009, 2:01 AM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Opinion, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Emissions

January 13, 2009

Auto Execs Say Security Demands U.S. Financing of Advanced Auto Technologies

Falling Fuel Prices Are 'Disincentive' For Consumers, Analyst Group Says

U.S. automotive executives are using the bully platform offered by the Detroit auto show to step up calls for an increase in the funding that Congress is considering - has already allotted in some cases - to finance development and production of advanced vehicles, biofuels and battery technologies that can help reduce the nation's dependence on oil.

What's missing is a call for a sensible fuel tax policy that encourages people to buy the fuel efficident cars the government says automakers must build.

Congress already has approved $25 million in loans to automakers and suppliers to use in retrofitting facilities - or building new ones - for the manufacture of advanced cars and trucks. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler has requested a combined $22 billion of the pot and would like to see the money increased.

President-elect Barack Obama, who is to be sworn in as the 44th president on Jan.20, has indicated a willingness to do just that, perhaps even doubling the $25 million loan pool.

Want More

But the automakers would like to see additional funding made available in the $800 billion economic stimulus plan Congress is now developing at the behest of the incoming Obama Administration.

"It's an issue of economic security, of national security, of energy security," GM research and development chief Larry Burns told reporters during the North American International Auto Show's media preview days this week.

It would be devastating, he said, for the U.S. to merely go from being dependent on foreign oil to being dependent on foreign nations for the advanced batteries and other components needed to make electric vehicles - battery-electric, fuel-cell electric and hybrid-electric .

Granted, GM needs federal funds to survive right now and Burns has a lot at stake - his job, for instance - in promoting federal funding that helps the industry.

But we still agree with him.

We'd rather see a few hundred billion tossed to the companies working on lithium-ion and more advanced batteries, clean biofuels, fuel cell and electric charging and hydrogen fueling station infrastructure development than to be handed to the corn ethanol industry or to big banks so they can continue bolstering their reserves.

Need Tax Plan

Analysts in the London offices of Global Insight economic and business forecasting and consulting, looking at the U.S. situation from an outsider perspective, suggest that things could work well if federal tax policy encouraged purchases of and investments in more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (2); John O'Dell January 13, 2009, 2:45 AM
Categories:: Auto Shows, Batteries, Biofuels, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Detroit Auto Show

December 29, 2008

Michigan Offers Tax Incentives to Help Spur EV Battery Industry

Michigan legislators are hoping that production of batteries for the electric vehicles the state's financially crippled carmakers have finally seen the value of will help replace some of the hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and billions in lost tax revenue the state has experiences with the decline of the traditional auto industry.

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Lithium-ion batteries on a test stand at Argonne National Laboratory.
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To that end, the state has approved a $335 million tax-incentive package to help woo EV battery development and manufacturing companies, acccording to an Associated Press report in the Detroit Daily News .

The move comes just weeks after a 14 U.S. battery suppliers, research and development labs and manufacturers formed a consortium to seek $1 billion in aid to foster battery manufacturing in the U.S.

Most batteries used for hybrids and applicable for all-electric vehicles now are built in China, Japan and other Asian countries and a number of U.S. developers and politicians have voiced concern that it will do little good to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil only to replace it with dependence on foreign suppliers of batteries and battery material. Most of the world supply of lithium, for example, is located in South America.

While that's a problem that can't be resolved by locating battery manufacturing within the U.S., establishing a center - or centers - of battery development and manufacturing here clearly would be in the best interest both of national energy security and of securing a future for the domestic auto industry.

A healthy battery R&D industry in the U.S. for instance, could concentrate on efficient batteries that don't rely on material available only from producers in other, often unstable, regions of the world.

Some analysts are predicting that the advanced automotive battery industry could be a $50-billion-a-year business by 2020.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); John O'Dell December 29, 2008, 8:45 AM
Categories:: Batteries, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Electric Vehicles

December 22, 2008

Economic Downturn Will Test Obama's Vision for an Energy-Efficient Auto Industry

President-elect Barack Obama leveled a stern warning at General Motors and Chrysler last week after the federal government promised them billions to help them survive: "The auto companies must not squander this chance to reform bad management practices."

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President-elect Obama on next week's cover of Time.
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Once he takes office, the bailout will give him a tool to prod the industry to change, but it will also test his resolve as he pushes it in new directions.

Obama, after all, has been thinking out loud about the future of the American automobile industry for years, well before his presidential campaign began. He co-sponsored two bills in 2006, during his second year as a U.S. senator -- one to raise fuel economy standards, and the other to encourage the use of alternative fuels.

His writings and speeches on the auto industry suggest a keen interest in finding ways, including new technology, to improve the fuel efficiency of the cars and trucks that Americans drive.

But with Detroit in a fragile financial state, it is unclear how many compromises he will have to make in pursuing his agenda for the auto industry, as he juggles other priorities such as providing a stimulus program for the broader economy, The New York Times reported Sunday. The United Automobile Workers union, which backed Obama, will want a say in the changes he envisions for the automakers.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett December 22, 2008, 1:01 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Chrysler, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Bailout

December 1, 2008

Rapid Shift to Fuel-Saving Hybrid Buses Is Reportedly Underway in United States

In Troy, Michigan, engineers are reportedly tweaking what they believe to be the public transit vehicle of the future: a super-lightweight hybrid bus.

The GTB-40 (right) is made of a high-strength steel that will last longer than most bus frames. Its builder, Fisher Coachworks, says the chassis allows it to zip along with half the weight of its peers.

And, its hybrid-electric engine not only consumes less fuel, but also stores electric energy whenever a driver hits the brakes.

The result is a bus that gets 10 miles per gallon--if you convert its battery power to diesel equivalents, that is.

But the average diesel bus--the dominant vehicle in public transit--gets just over 3 miles to the gallon, so the new mpg number has city transit agencies taking note, the subscription news service ClimateWire reported today. Battered by fuel prices and hoping to spruce up their environmental records, they are buying more and more hybrid buses to run everyday routes.

Compared to the tens of thousands of diesel buses already in service, the hybrids are few. In most places, they haven't graduated from pilot projects. But they're at the front of a trend that's been building since early this decade. In 1995, according to the American Public Transportation Association, only 6 percent of buses ran on anything other than straight diesel or gasoline. In 2007, that number had risen to 22 percent, ClimateWire reported.

"They're all prototypes. None are really final in the sense that they're out on the road in any type of mass," Lurae Stuart, an alternative-fuels analyst with the American Public Transportation Association, told ClimateWire. "But that's still a rapid change for a technology."

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (1); Scott Doggett December 1, 2008, 7:22 AM
Categories:: Batteries, Biofuels, Diesel, Fisher Coachworks, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Mass Transit, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Biodiesel

November 26, 2008

'08 Impala CNG Conversion System Approved by EPA

An Arizona startup that grew out of an auto shop specializing in natural gas vehicle repair said it has received federal EPA certification for a kit that converts the 2008 Chevrolet Impala from gasoline to cleaner, cheaper compressed natural gas.

Prices to convert the car -- kit plus labor -- should run from $11,500 to $13,000, said John Mitton, managing partner of Phoenix-based Natural Drive LLC.

The system works on the LS, LT and LTZ "civilian" models and the 9C1 and 9C3 police models and on both the 3.5-liter and 3.9-liter V6 engines.

The conversion system for the '08 Impala is available through a network of independent installers in states where it meets applicable emissions equipment rules. That rules out California and 10 other states that use California's emissions standards and require such equipment to be certified by the California Air Resources Board as well as the EPA.

Mitton said he expects to have CARB certification for the 2009 Impala conversion system, but not until about the middle of next year. It can cost up to $250,000 to pay for the various test procedures that must be done to obtain the state's stamp of approval, he said.

The system, which includes high-pressure fuel tanks, fuel lines and fuel injectors as well as a reprogrammed powertrain control module, is aimed primarily at government and private business fleet operators but also is available to individuals who can foot the bill.

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A 2008 Chevrolet Impala converted to run on natural gas displays a CNG logo.

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It qualifies for a $2,500 federal income tax credit, which helps cut the total cost, and various states also offer incentives (click here for a list) for CNG conversions: Oklahoma and Colorado are at the top of the list, providing a state income tax credit of half the total cost.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell November 26, 2008, 3:00 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Chevrolet, Natural Gas, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: CNG

November 18, 2008

2009 Chevy Silverado Hybrid to Start at $38,995; Price Excludes $2,200 Tax Credit

Chevrolet announced today that pricing for the 2009 Silverado Hybrid--the only full-size hybrid pickup on the market--will starts at $38,995 for 2-wheel-drive models with the 1HY package.

That price includes a $975 destination charge. The 1HY models come with popular equipment options such as the heavy-duty towing package, locking rear differential, EZ Lift tailgate and lock, and 18-inch wheels.

Also included are automatic climate control, steering wheel audio controls and Bluetooth phone capability.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price does not reflect a $2,200 federal tax credit that applies to American customers who purchase the low-emissions, fuel-efficient Silverado Hybrid.

The Silverado Hybrid uses General Motors' patented two-mode hybrid system and a 6.0-liter gas V-8 to deliver highly efficient performance, including all-electric driving up to 30 miles per hour. That allows fuel savings to be realized even when the truck is fully loaded or towing a trailer. It has a 6,100-pound towing capacity.

EPA-estimated fuel economy for the 2-wheel-drive models is 21 miles per gallon in the city and 22 on the highway. The 4-wheel-drive models are estimated at 20 mpg in city and highway driving.

That mileage, combined with a 26-gallon fuel tank, delivers a cruising range of more than 500 miles with 2-wheel-drive models and more than 470 miles with 4-wheel-drive models.

Production begins next month, with delivery to dealers expected in early 2009. The Silverado Hybrid come with an eight-year/100,000-mile hybrid component warranty, low rolling resistance tires and head curtain side air bags.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett November 18, 2008, 4:19 PM
Categories:: Chevrolet, Emissions, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: 2009 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid

Ford Offers Employee Pricing, Rebates on Many Models, Plus 0% on Gas Sippers

Ford Motor Co. announced today that it is offering a new round of incentives to prospective buyers that consists of cash rebates and pricing usually reserved for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury employees, as well as zero-interest financing on the brands' most fuel-efficient models.

Employee Pricing Plus, as the incentive program is called, will be in effect tomorrow through January 5. The employee pricing is offered to buyers of most 2008 and 2009 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles, plus a per-purchase cash rebate of up to $6,000.

Customers who select one of the eight most fuel-efficient models made by the three brands--the Ford Focus, Fusion, Escape and Flex (pictured); the Mercury Milan and Mariner; and the Lincoln MKZ and MKS--can opt for zero-percent financing for 36 months on top of employee pricing.

Furthermore, Ford Credit will provide a $500 bonus on the purchase of most Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models.

The all-new 2009 Ford F-150 is not offered with employee pricing, but it is available with zero-percent financing. Also excluded from the employee pricing are 2008 and 2009 Ford Escape Hybrids and Mercury Mariner Hybrids, 2008 and 2009 Ford Shelby GT500, Ford F-Series chassis cabs models, and Ford E-Series cutaways models.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett November 18, 2008, 3:37 PM
Categories:: Ford, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Lincoln, Mercury, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: 0% Financing

November 17, 2008

2009 Honda Civic GX Joins List of Alt-Fuel Cars Eligible for $3,000 California Rebate

Fueling Alternatives, California's alternative fuel vehicle rebate program, has added the 2009 Honda Civic GX compressed natural gas car to its list of vehicles that are eligible for a $3,000 rebate under the state-funded program.

The 2009 model joins the 2007 and 2008 Civic GX, as well as the BAF conversions for the 2007 Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis, as eligible for $3,000 rebates.

Eleven other models are eligible for smaller rebates and two models--the 2008 Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen-powered fuel-cell sedan and the all-electric 2008 Tesla Roadster--are eligible for $5,000 rebates.

Additionally, the 2009 Civic GX might qualify for a $4,000 federal new-energy tax credit. The 2005-2008 Civic GX models meet the Internal Revenue Service criteria for that tax credit, but the IRS has not yet extended the tax credit to the 2009 model.

The Civic GX is fueled by compressed natural gas for nearly zero emissions. It is fuel-economy rated for 24 miles per gallon equivalent in the city and 36 mpg equivalent on the highway by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The vehicle's suggested starting price is $25,090.

More information about the Civic GX can be found at Edmund's Inside Line Website, where Green Car Advisor Senior Editor John O'Dell has been reviewing a 2007 model on a regular basis for many months, and at Honda's Website for the U.S.

Fueling Alternatives is funded by the California Air Resources Board and administered by the California Center for Sustainable Energy. A total of $1.8 million was appropriated and directed toward vehicle incentive rebates to promote the use and production of alternative fuel vehicles.

Rebates of up to $5,000 are available for California residents who purchase or lease new eligible alternative-fuel vehicles between May 24, 2007, and March 31, 2009, or until funding runs out. For more information, go to Fueling Alternatives' Website.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett November 17, 2008, 7:46 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hydrogen, Legislation, Lincoln, Mercury, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Tesla
Technorati Tags:: 2008 Honda FCX Clarity

November 14, 2008

Green Car Conference: 'We Need a National Energy Policy'

We asked Bill Visnic, our sometimes contributor and full-time senior editor for Edmunds AutoObserver to spend the day in Detroit attending a conference on green car issues. His report looks at the "wish list" that would result if various industry figures were able to present President-elect Barack Obama's team their own suggestions for fixing the industry.
Surprisingly, most eschewed the idea of handouts and protectionism in favor of something with a much broader reach than just the auto industry:

Reuters new service reported today that President-elect Barack Obama is seeking a "point person" for his administration on auto industry issues, "somebody who would have the authority to bring about reforms that would lead to an economically viable auto industry."

We wondered what one could tell that person that the auto industry (or the nation) needs to make sustainability a workable business model?

That's the same question several participants in this week's Green Car Conference in Detroit tackled.

The broad consensus was not surprising: the United States needs a viable energy policy to make a lot of things, including the ailing auto industry, function better.

Here are solutions various attendees at the Detroit confab said they would pitch to Obama's potential auto and/or energy czar:

A "Manhattan-project"-type initiative to drive auto-industry research for fuel efficiency solutions, develop new technologies and create corresponding jobs.
- Dave Vieau, president and chief executive of lithium-ion battery developer A123Systems (lithium-ion battery developer).

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell November 14, 2008, 3:00 AM
Categories:: Fuel Economy, Legislation, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Ailing Auto industry

November 7, 2008

Tax Credits for Leanest Hybrids Axed Despite Recognized Importance of the Cars

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

In Washington's infinite wisdom, the tax incentives that have bolstered U.S. sales of the most fuel-efficient hybrids are gone or soon will be at a time when experts agree the vehicles could play an important role in reducing America's addiction to foreign oil and in stopping global warming.

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Honda's 42-mpg 2008 Civic Hybrid; its tax break ends next month.
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Tax incentives tied to Toyota's 2005-2008 model-year Prius, which gets a phenomenal EPA-rated 48 miles per gallon in the city, 45 mpg on the highway and 46 combined, expired in October 2007.

That same month saw the tax credit for the 2007-2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid vanish, despite the fact that model gets an EPA-rated 34 mpg combined.

And soon we'll witness another mystery: In the final minutes of next month, as people around the world usher out the old year and celebrate the new, the U.S. tax incentive for the 2006-2008 Honda Civic Hybrid (42 mpg combined!) will dissolve at the stroke of midnight.

But the strangeness won't end there.

Beginning next spring, Honda will offer a hybrid achieving a claimed 60 mpg. What tax break will Uncle Sam provide buyers of this gas-sipper, the 2010 Honda Insight? None whatsoever.

None, as in the 2,200 fewer taxpayer dollars than he's offering buyers of the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid right now, despite the fact that big ol' honkin' SUV achieves only 21 mpg combined.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (3); Scott Doggett November 7, 2008, 3:01 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Chevrolet, Emissions, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Legislation, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, Nissan, Opinion, Saturn, Tax Incentives, Toyota
Technorati Tags:: 2007-08 Nissan Altima Hybrid

November 3, 2008

Tesla Motors OKs $40 Million in Financing To Step Up Production, Powertrain Sales

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

Tesla Motors said today that its directors had approved $40 million in convertible-debt financing to step up production of its Roadster electric sports car (pictured) and Model S electric luxury sedan and to expand its battery-electric powertrain sales unit.

Last week, Tesla founder Elon Musk said the electric-car startup was moving to close a commitment exceeding $20 million from existing investors to bolster a cash balance that had dropped to $9 million.

The directors opened a roughly 30-day financing round during a meeting Sunday, company spokeswoman Rachel Konrad told Green Car Advisor today, adding that most of Tesla's major investors had pledged a combined $40 million to ensure that amount was met when the round closes.

In addition to the new financing round from investors, Tesla also expects to secure another $200 million in still-pending loans from the U.S. Department of Energy. Musk said last week that the investor financing would suffice until the DOE loans become available.

Collection of the pledged $40 million will take place after the financing round concludes at the end of this month or early December, Konrad said.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett November 3, 2008, 2:35 PM
Categories:: BMW, Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Tesla
Technorati Tags:: Department of Energy

November 2, 2008

Pickens' Proposition Would Cost Taxpayers Billions, but Benefit Very Few

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

You can't always get what you want, but if you've got a big pot of money and a sweet-sounding environmental pitch, chances are you can get a proposition on a state ballot. In California, anyway.

And if there's enough money left in the pot to pay for volleys of TV ads after you've paid the people who gathered the signatures needed to put the proposition on the ballot, odds are it will become state law. In California, anyway.

And, because California is such a trendsetting state, if your proposition becomes law there, it stands a good chance of becoming law in other states as well.

Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens knows this. It's why the Texas billionaire is bankrolling a proposition -- one that ostensibly would advance renewable energy and alternative fuels -- on California's November 4 general election ballot.

In truth, what it advances most is Picken's fortune -- while costing the state's taxpayers $10 billion.

To give you an idea of how little California can afford Pickens' proposition, consider that officials in Sacramento are expected to announce this coming week that the state's budget deficit has reached at least $10 billion.

The budget crisis is why Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson last month informing him that "California may need to turn to the Federal Treasury for short-term financing." A bailout, in other words.

At a time when the locomotive that drives America's economic train can least afford it, Pickens' initiative would nearly double California's deficit.

And despite the crushing cost the proposition would levy on all of the state's taxpayers, the ballot measure would benefit very few while throwing a tremendous amount of money behind an automotive fuel that isn't very green compared to other alternative fuels that could benefit from that kind of spending.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (3); Scott Doggett November 2, 2008, 10:46 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Coal, Diesel, Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Economy, Honda, Legislation, Natural Gas, Oil, Opinion, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar, Surveys, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: 2008 Honda Civic GX

November 1, 2008

A Last Look at the Presidential Candidates' Postions on Green-Car Issues

By Terril Yue Jones, Contributor

How about putting one million made-in-the-U.S. plug-in hybrid cars, each getting 150 miles per gallon, on American roads by 2015, and handing a $7,000 tax credit to anyone purchasing an "advanced vehicle"?

Or perhaps you'd prefer a $5,000 tax credit for anyone buying a zero-emission car and a $300 million prize to the company that reinvents the battery to make those cars possible.

That's part of the choice in Tuesday's presidential election.

The plug-in hybrid goal and $7,000 tax credit are among the green-car related issues in Democrat Barack Obama's platform, while the flex-fuel target and the $5,000 credit are being touted by Republican John McCain.

We know the election is nigh, and most people have already made up their minds, but for those still dithering, or not absolutely certain of their choice, here's a last look -- from an environmental automotive viewpoint -- at the candidates' positions on green-car issues.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (2); John O'Dell November 1, 2008, 9:31 AM
Categories:: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives
Technorati Tags:: Candidates' Positions

October 6, 2008