Obama calls for one million plug-in hybrids by 2015

Posted Tue Aug 5 2008 8:30 AM by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has expressed his desire to see America set a goal of having at least one million plug-in electric hybrid vehicles on its roads by 2015 - an arduous goal to achieve in just seven years considering major carmakers are still years away from offering such vehicles for public sale. Obama has also revised his previous hardline approach on energy issues, endorsing for the first time additional oil drilling off both coasts of the U.S., as well as use of oil in the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Obama made his latest statements at a major address in Lansing, Michigan, where he also proposed a $4 billion federal aid package to facilitate the success of the one million plug-in hybrid goal. He also proposed a new tax incentives program to the tune of $7,000 per vehicle in order to encourage consumers to purchase fuel-efficient cars.

Manufacturers themselves welcomed the proposal, with officials from both Ford and General Motors publicly announcing their approval of the plan's goals and methods, reports The Detroit News. Industry experts, on the other hand, have stated that the goal may be too ambitious to achieve, and that in any case the $4 billion package would be a case of 'too little, too late.'

One of the major hurdles to reaching such a goal is the growing development schedules plug-in hybrid vehicles demand. Ford, for example, has already showcased a plug-in hybrid concept based on its Escape SUV (pictured), but predicts that it will take another five to ten years to have the vehicles in showrooms.

Reader Comments

Tue Aug 5 2008 9:40 AM
Gus says

Obama "calls" for whatever will gain points in the polls.

Don't get me wrong, I like him. I think he is iincredibly bright, enthusiastic, and he really does want what's good for this country, but his incredible lack of experience plus his seeming ability to change his mind on everything within a week (see off shore drilling) scare me somewhat.
Tue Aug 5 2008 12:27 PM
archony says

With one million cars plugged in every night (and more on the way), what are we building to generate the clean power for all these cars? Has anyone thought of the demand on the power grid?
Tue Aug 5 2008 2:25 PM
Turkle says

Wait archony... someone will chime in that the "load" on the grid is at its lowest during the night time hours. Supposedly when most will charge their cars. My argument to that is people want convenience and they want it NOW. They also want to be seen as being "Green". So, most people will expect to have the ability to "quick charge" their car where ever and when ever they have the time... like at work, or when they are shopping, or when they are getting their hair done, or at the gym. They will want to do the charging where other people can see that they are charging their Plug-in-Hybrid (PIH). I can see the "green snobs" looking down at Prius owners for driving such an inefficient car as they "plug-in" their PIH curbside at their local Starbucks.
Tue Aug 5 2008 2:32 PM
Turkle says

Oh, and one more thing. Why do politicians take the ideas and goals that private industry is working towards and "amp" it up to an unrealistic expectation? The auto industry will one day meet the demand for more of these cars... when consumers "demand" it, not sooner. And one other thing, when the private sector falls short of politician's over-blown expectations, they are condemned as failures. This allows the politicians to demand more regulation, more oversite, and dictate to private industry how to operate.

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