Fuel-Efficient-Vehicles.org

Obama in China: U.S. and China to cooperate on electric car development

November 20, 2009 : November 17, 2009
expanded the $7500 tax credit for electric cars

During his state visit to China, President Barack Obama announced that he and Chinese President Hu Jintao had agreed to a joint US - China intiative to promote the manufacture of electric vehicles in both countries.

According to a statement released by the White House Press Secretary, the initiative will be comprised of four components:

• Joint Standards Development to ensure that the electric cars produced in each country will be compatible with the standards in the other country.
• Joint Demonstrations in a dozen cities in each country to collect data and introduce the public to the idea of electric vehicles.
• Joint Technical Road Map to identify R&D needs as well as issues related to the manufacture, introduction and use of electric vehicles.
• Public Awareness and Engagement programs to develop and disseminate materials to improve public understanding of electric vehicle technologies. The two countries will host an annual Electric Vehicles Forum to dessimate information about electric vehicle research and development to the public.

The Obama administration further announced that the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act has expanded the $7500 tax credit for electric cars and will contribute $2.4 billion to promote battery manufacture.

While all of this is encouraging, it also serves to highlight the unspoken truth about electric cars that no one ever wants to talk about: existing battery technology is way behind the claims being made by would be electric car makers. Available batteries are too heavy, too big, take too long to recharge, and are an environmental nightmare to manufacture and dispose of. Not to mention the issue of where the electricity to charge all those batteries will come from. If its from coal fired generating plants, then the environmental benefits promised for electric cars are an illusion.

Nonetheless, as with most government programs, once the course is set, changing it is like altering the path of a super tanker with an oar. Electric cars are coming, whether the public wants them or not.