Four House members today introduced a bill to boost the deployment of electric vehicles – including providing up to $300 million to 10 cities to jump-start EVs. The measure also would provide up to 500,000 people with additional $2,000 tax credits to buy EVs – on top of the existing $7,500 federal tax credit.
The bill is similar to legislation last year and embraces much of what President Barack Obama proposed earlier this year. Reps. Judy Biggert, R-Ill.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Jerry McNerney, D-Calif.; and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., introduced the Electric Drive Vehicle Deployment Act, to provide grants to help regional communities establish themselves as models for the successful development, installation and deployment of advanced electric vehicle infrastructure, including public charging stations. The bill also offers additional consumer incentives for the purchase of EVs, promotes utility modernization to accommodate electric vehicle deployment and encourages domestic production of EV components.
“If we’re ever to break our addiction to expensive foreign oil, we’re going to have to give a jump-start to sound alternatives. Consumers want to enjoy a cheaper, gas-free commute, but they need to have confidence in their access to things like charging stations,” Biggert said.
The members said – as gas prices near a record level above $4 a gallon – the bill would help wean the nation off foreign oil. “As America experiences the rise and fall of gas prices alongside the rise and fall of al-Qaida leadership and other Middle Eastern despots, it is time to tell the oil sheiks funding terror networks that America needs their oil as much as we need their sand,” Markey said. Source: David Shepardson Detroit News Washington Bureau