Where is the government spending for plug-in hybrid conversions?

2009 July 16

by Cora Coid

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Legislation and Policy, Green Daily

Fact 1: Over the last few months, we’ve seen the federal government spend all sorts of money to try and reach the twin goals of economic resurrection and a cleaner/greener society. In the auto industry, we have the CARS program, the ending (or not?) of the DOE’s hydrogen vehicle program, the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVMLP) – which gave $5.9 billion to Ford, $1.6 billion to Nissan and $465 million to Tesla – and, of course, the bailout of GM and Chrysler. This is a big pile of cash.

Fact 2: President Obama, when he was campaigning for his current job, said that he wanted a million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015. His proposal, at the time, was to give companies about $4 billion in loans and loan guarantees to develop the plug-ins and to offer consumers a $7,000 tax credit to purchase these vehicles.

Fact 3: 2015 is just over five years away, and there are currently zero production PHEVs available for purchase. The road to getting a million of them out the door in 60 months is not going to be easy.

We have an idea for how to reach – or at least approach – Obama’s goal: spend some real money on plug-in conversion technology. We’ve put some details after the jump.

Gallery: EVS23: Kim Adelman’s Plug-in Conversion Prius