President Plugs In

ev world

This is from the EV World Blog.

"Last week during the Plug-in Partners press conference, national security hawk Frank Gaffney, along with former-CIA chief Jim Woolsey and arch-conservative Senator Orin Hatch, called on the President to include flexible fuel and plug-in hybrids in his forthcoming State of the Union address to Congress, delivered last night.

And he did.

Now that's what I call clout.

Here are the relevant sections of Bush's address as expanded upon by today's official White House press release.

We Are On The Verge Of Dramatic Improvements
In How We Power Our Automobiles,

And The President's Initiative Will Bring Those Improvements To The Forefront. The United States must move beyond a petroleum-based economy and develop new ways to power automobiles.

The President wants to accelerate the development of domestic, renewable alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuels. The Administration will accelerate research in cutting-edge methods of producing "cellulosic ethanol" with the goal of making the use of such ethanol practical and competitive within 6 years.

The Administration will also step up the Nation's research in better batteries for use in hybrid and electric cars and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen.

Developing More Efficient Vehicles.

Current hybrids on the road run on a battery developed at the DOE. The President's plan would accelerate research in the next generation of battery technology for hybrid vehicles and "plug-in hybrids."

Current hybrids can only use the gasoline engine to charge the on-board battery. A "plug-in" hybrid can run either on electricity or on gasoline and can be plugged into the wall at night to recharge its batteries. These vehicles will enable drivers to meet most of their urban commuting needs with virtually no gasoline use.

Advanced battery technologies offer the potential to significantly reduce oil consumption in the near-term.

The 2007 Budget includes $30 million – a $6.7 million increase over FY06 – to speed up the development of this battery technology and extend the range of these vehicles.

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