House now considering doubling $25 billion DOE ATVM program
The other day, Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said, "If they (the DOE) raise the appropriations from the $25 billion to the $50 billion, we qualify." At the time, we hadn't heard about any plans to increase funding for the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. Of course, as we wrote when Cischke made those remarks, never say never.
Guess what? There's now talk that the DOE may go ahead and double its $25 billion investment in the ATVM program. It seems that new legislation was added to the already controversial (and already massive at a whopping 1,200 pages) climate change bill that's currently making the rounds in the House.
So far, Ford has been awarded $5.9 billion, Nissan has gotten $1.6 billion and Tesla has accepted $465 million, which leaves a total of $17 billion left in the original $25 billion. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is expected to award the remaining millions to a range of automakers large and small as well as auto suppliers. If the House votes in favor of the bill, which may or may not happen before the planned July 4th recess, it will be sent to the Senate for consideration.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd | Photo: laura padgett CC 2.0]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Richard in FLA 10:03AM (6/27/2009)
Is anyone else scared? Does anyone else think this administration is out of control? I thought Bush was bad, but this is ridiculous! When does this end?
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Mark 10:16AM (6/27/2009)
Em, what is exactly wrong here? New technology which will reduce the need to pollute the world and fund terrorist (supporting ) regimes is being supported, and republicans threw up their hands and say the sky is falling.
Obama isn't throwing money at people he is providing low interest loans which these companies will pay back therefore the feds get more money on the interest and the general public get better cars which are safer for our children's health and for their future.
Sorry to be off topic but I really don't understand the average republican's fear of new technology or their fear of things like efficiency, why fear these things?
Richard in FLA 5:15PM (6/27/2009)
Maybe your not understanding. It's not the fear of new technology here, it's the power that Obama is taking in order to increase taxes on energy.. Higher energy costs are going to increase product costs which will drive production to other countries, which will cost even more jobs! I'm all for technology, i read this blog, don't I? I'm concerned with this administration's reckless progress and spending! We can't afford it! It's got nothing to do with left or right views! It's got to do with responsible spending!
polo 11:02PM (6/28/2009)
"It's not the fear of new technology here, it's the power that Obama is taking in order to increase taxes on energy"
Wrong. Its a market incentive that will reward powerplants that go green. Banks and investors will favor wind mills and solar plants over more polluting plants, and you will see a shift in that direction. Of course, to the rethugs this means the sky is falling, when really it just means a clearer sky for the rest of us.
Richard in FLA 10:41AM (6/29/2009)
Don't fool yourself. Obama has broken so many promises in his attempt at power. He is so arrogant to think that he is above it all. Not everything is bad, mind you, just real scary that he doesn't listen to the economists that are trained in economics. Why is he pushing a 1300 page bill without giving enough time for everybody to read it? Ulterior motive? I think so. This is how he operates. It's BS!
BasementDave 10:46AM (6/27/2009)
@Mark.
They are overwhelming numbers, but I totally agree. Maybe they could cut the defense budget to allow for the availability of more funds. Perhaps pull out of 100 or so of the countries we have bases in. :)
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Diffrunt 12:21PM (6/27/2009)
Foggybottom,s usual response::: Well, I don,t really know how to fix anything, so I,ll just throw worthless paper at it & hope for the best,
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Mark 12:40PM (6/27/2009)
How is giving a low interest loan "throwing money at it".
Diffrunt 2:00PM (6/27/2009)
I was speaking historically, not specifically.
Our human nature decrees that we stumble,fumble & bumble, but somehow survive.
DaveD 1:04PM (6/27/2009)
Low interest Gov't loans are not the same thing as throwing money away. I think it would be even more effective if they targeted specific areas to cut to balance these numbers (for example, foreign military bases).
Notice the huge upswing in activity for both batteries and xEV's in general (BEVs, PHEVs, EREVs, etc, etc). It doesn't support an entire industry long term, but it sure jump starts it when the gov't decides to focus on something. It let's investors of private equity know that rules and regulations favoring that tech will be following along as well as the money that starts things off.
Believe me, we're getting investment funding now that we couldn't get 6 months ago...and I worked at that for almost two years. Now suddenly I'm getting lots of interest from private investors.
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Eideard 1:34PM (6/27/2009)
I think it's pretty neat how some Republicans have acquired enough technology to communicate with the rest of us from the 19th Century.
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eb 3:59PM (6/27/2009)
The current ATVM program excludes all non-highway speed electric vehicles that are not crash-tested at 60mph- so basically only Tesla has a production EV that qualifies (Can you think of any others?). This means no love for ABG favorites like:
Zero
Brammo
Aptera
GEM
ZENN
Zap
Mission Motors
Wheego
Ruff & Tuff
Bad Boy Buggies
Barefoot motors
Green Vehicles
Myers
Miles
and
Vectrix
How about the next $25 billion be available to some electric motorcycles, ATVs and NEVs that are some of the most affordable EVs available and replace some of the most polluting (less-regulated) gasoline-powered vehicles.
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polo 11:04PM (6/28/2009)
I thought Miles was highway-ready (meaning they can't sell it here unless it goes through the crash testing) and the Aptera was doing crash testing even though they're not required to.
Ross Nicholson 10:58PM (6/29/2009)
My electric velomobile gets 2000 mpg and will go 40 mph.
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