Representative John Dingell (D-MI) set it all in perspective when he stated, “Our dependence on oil is a matter of major national security concern. Now we import less oil from the Middle East then thirty years ago. But the world still relies on oil extracted from dangerous and unstable parts of the world. And our military is regrettably and unfortunately placed in the position of being the guarantor of the world’s energy supply.”
While our present situation is perilous, the promise of a plug-in future is bright.
“We could fill up the batteries in these cars at the cost equivalent of 75 cents per gallon of gasoline. There would also be a net reduction in carbon dioxide emission.” Representative Dingell continued, “Electrical vehicles and plug-in hybrids have the potential to revolutionize not only the American automobile industry, but our entire energy mix.”
Moving to an electric-powered transportation economy, will force us to consider the source of the new power.
We must look at the big picture over the long haul.
“If every new vehicle sold in the next decade is electric,” Dingell said. “We will confront a situation where we will have to ask, ‘have we simply pushed the source of carbon emissions upstream?’”
This panel discussion at the Brookings/Google.org Plug-In Vehicles 2008 conference on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 focused on the real-world barriers facing the mass adoption of plug-in electric vehicles.
While Felix Kramer of CalCars is highly optimistic, as he stated “we will see an explosion of plug-in cars between 2010 and 2012,” Alan Madian of LECG painted a picture far less rosy ….
“Unless substantial efficiency gains are realized simultaneously through the use of other technological improvements or liquid fuel alternatives or plug in hybrid penetration that vastly exceeds the optimistic assumptions that I have utilized, we may be using more liquid fuel and possibly even more petroleum in 2036 then we are now.”
“If we are to curtail our petroleum use, we will have to wage the battle broadly on multiple fronts. Plug-in hybrids can make a significant contribution. It’s a wonderful technology. But they can only gradually provide a small part of the solution.”
Panel:
Felix Kramer – Founder, CalCars
Tom Kuhn – President, Edison Electric Institute
Alan Madian – Director, LECG
Bill Reinert – National Manager, Advanced Technology Group, Toyota
Mary Ann Wright – CEO, Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions
Moderated by Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post.
As the author of the 2005 Clear Act that provides incentives for hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) clearly understands and articulates clean energy independence.
After knuckle bumping Brookings’ conference chair David Sandalow as he took the stage at the start of the second and final day of the conference, Senator Hatch laid it clearly on the line, exclaiming his appreciation for attendees who “are at the cutting edge of some of the most important technology in our country’s history.”
He then briefly fawned over the Tesla that was sitting just outside the conference hall …
A half an hour or so before the Senator’s opening remarks, I was doing my own fawning over the beautiful black electric sports car (the CEO’s personal car, no less). I had the good fortune to speak with Tesla’s director of corporate development, Diarmuid O’Connell.
Diarmuid had just shared the news that Tesla is now producing two cars per day, as it works its way up to a goal of ten cars per day, when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a small group of people stroll up.
The next thing I know, Orrin Hatch is knuckle bumping … me!
The Tesla clearly caught the Senator’s eye. He mentioned his appreciation for the auto maker’s tribute to namesake Nikola Tesla and asked if all Googlers had their own electric sports car.
After good bit of laughter, Senator Hatch inquired about the price. Upon learning of the low six-figure price tag, the Senator mentioned “I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m out of Congress before I’ll be able to afford one …”
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) began his remarks with a comparison between Ross Perot’s first claim to fame and fortune (utilizing unused bank computer time after hours to manage Medicade data) with the unused electrical capacity that is presently available on the grid each and every night.
This unused electrical capacity holds remarkable potential … the potential to turn around this country’s current economic crisis.
Senator Alexander stressed that plug-in electric vehicles are one of the answers to high gas prices and is working to help make the public more aware of the technology. The Senator recently suggested to 200 scientists at the Oak Ridge Laboratory that “we needed a new Manhattan Project for clean energy independence.”
This clean energy initiative should include:
Fuel efficiency standards, in place now, without specifying one technology.
Low carbon fuel standard
Federal government should bid out a percentage of the 65,000 non-trucks purchased each year as electric vehicles.
Battery research
Accelerated depreciation for smart meters
Carbon capture
Old coal plants must meet higher standards
“This is a time when we ought to be working together … on a path to clean energy independence.”
Jim Woolsey, of Vantage Point Venture Partners (and formerly the head of the CIA) got the conference off to a roaring start in the opening session, as he remarked that “spending hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars every year for oil, much of it from the Middle East, is just about the single stupidest thing that modern society could possibly do. It’s very difficult to think of anything more idiotic then that.”
As he closed, Woolsey hammered home the case, suggesting in the strongest terms that electricity could eliminate the dominance of oil within the world’s economy, just as it had done so to salt, a century ago.
“We can, we should, and we must, as a major national priority … destroy oil’s monopoly.”
