Tired of high gas prices? Consumers can now look to American-made electric cars for relief

Rising gas prices are putting a strain on family budgets across America.  With gas above four dollars per gallon, working families are often paying more than $60 to fill their tanks, and consumers are increasingly turning to more fuel efficient hybrid and electric vehicles for relief.
 
Yesterday, in Smyrna, Tennessee, I had the opportunity to tour the construction site for a facility that will manufacture Nissan Leaf batteries to support increased consumer demand for electric vehicles. Once the plant is completed later this year, American workers will begin producing 200,000 lithium-ion batteries each year. This will go a long way toward meeting the increased demand for electric cars, and to meeting the President’s goal of putting one million electric vehicles on our roads by 2015.

As an added incentive for consumers looking to avoid the pump altogether, we're also proposing converting the $7,500 tax credit for those who purchase hybrid and electric vehicles into a tax rebate.  This would allow people who are interested in buying these energy-efficient cars to take advantage of the discount right at the point of purchase instead of having to wait as long as a year for refund checks to arrive in the mail.

 

The DOT is also providing assistance to help ensure that people who buy electric vehicles have convenient access to charging stations. We're ensuring that conventional cars become more efficient with historic fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks.  And the government is leading by example by purchasing more fuel-efficient vehicles for the federal vehicle fleet.

All of these initiatives provide an incentive for auto manufacturers to make more of the clean, efficient vehicles of tomorrow.  These new vehicles aren't just clean machines; they're also job machines, creating good jobs for American workers throughout the supply chain.

This Administration understands that American families are feeling a great deal of pain at the pump these days. And we will continue doing everything we can to alleviate these burdens now while laying the groundwork for a secure and sustainable energy future.

Comments

[Peg Mitchell]

The momentum is happening! I lost faith way back when as documented in "Who Killed the Electric Car?" but now the time has come for us to make sensible energy decisions, especially in the energy intensive transportation sector. We need to continue to invest in R&D for ever more efficient batteries, and above all, make sure all of this is manufactured right here in the US. At a minimum, besides all the wonderful jobs, just think of how much energy we'll save not having to transport all those new energy efficient vehicles across the oceans for us to purchase and drive!

[David S. McQueen]

If one can believe the latest (2007) number of registered vehicles in the USA (254,403,082), then one million electric cars would be a very small fraction.

If electric cars are the answer, why give a tax rebate? Shouldn't everyone be running to the dealership to buy an electric car? Answer: they're not. Many reasons for that, but the main one is that re-charging the battery is problematic. West of the Mississippi, it's the wide open spaces (not the crowded, confined urban areas in the northeast). A commuter's drive of 50 miles in Texas is not unusual.

Electric cars may be fine for folks who drive 5 - 10 miles per day, but not for EVERYONE. Let the private sector's demand dictate who should buy electric cars, not government mandate or seemingly benign federal coercion.

Somehow, the USA got to be the richest and best place to live on the planet and it wasn't because the federal government demanded that it be so.

[punk clothing]

I want an electric car!

[Jacinda Green]

I think it is time for Americans to start turning to electric cars. I was concerned about the price of these new cars but a tax credit could motivate people to buy them.

[Cheap used cars]

Nowadays rising gas prices is the biggest issue for all vehicle owner of planet. I think people should prefer walking while they want to go to near place of their residence.

[Chris Ziegler]

Sorry to hear to hear so many in our nation are struggling: I've been driving an electric since 2005 and I primarily charge it with electricity generated by my solar panels. When I first made the investments in these products I was skeptical about the financial benefit(s) (my main reason for the investments were to support energy diversity/ support free market competition and I'm a techie), Now that I've had some time and can measure these investment against other investment tools and I just smile - They've been the best investment of my adult life. "If you say you can or you can't, either way you are correct" H. Ford.