Agassi: Let’s Lead the Green Industrial Revolution

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Encouraging Development

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Advanced Technologies

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The Climate Change Debate

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• Shapiro: Economy Will Force Quick Action on Climate Change
• Wirth: Moment of Truth Arrives for Action on Climate Change
• Zoi: Change Needed in Policy and Attitude

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The Obama administration and the leadership of the 111th Congress have made the development of a clean energy economy a national priority. Meanwhile, automakers have signaled that zero-emission electric vehicles represent the future of the industry.

Nevertheless, America’s ability to compete in this emerging sector of the global economy is jeopardized by access to the capital markets, the state of the global auto industry and the chicken/egg dilemma for enabling widespread consumer adoption of affordable, convenient and environmentally friendly electric cars.

While the U.S. debates, other countries, including China and France, are leading the “Green Industrial Revolution,” having already offered substantial financial incentives and rebates to consumers who purchase EVs.

We recognize the historic opportunity for the United States to reshape its energy policy and unlock the economic and environmental benefits that come from leading this race and securing America’s leadership for the next 100 years.

It begins with a focused federal effort to use market-making policy tools, in combination with financial mechanisms and state-based partnerships that attract capital to help unlock the next wave of innovation, adoption and growth that comes from embracing a sustainable mobility model.

In so doing, we believe that such policies will allow the United States to significantly outperform President Barack Obama’s goal of 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. In fact, that goal is achievable in the Pacific Coast states alone, which could serve as a critical test-bed to demonstrate at scale the deployment of EVs and associated infrastructure.

We wholeheartedly endorse the president’s vision of the future, which is possible today, when he remarked in a March speech at an EV research facility in Southern California:

“True to form, California has already forged ahead with its own plans rather than wait for Washington. It’s fitting that the state home to the first freeway and the first gas station is already at work devising the next freeway and the next gas station. This ‘green freeway’ you’re planning with Oregon and Washington would link your states with a network of rest stops that allow you to do more than just grab a cup of coffee, but also charge your car ... or swap out a battery in the time it takes to fill a gas tank. Charging stations have begun to pop up around downtown San Francisco, and that city has joined with San Jose and Oakland with the vision of becoming the ‘electric vehicle capital of the United States.’”

Better Place believes the following “ABC” policy objectives help to lay the foundation for the United States to move off oil for transportation for the next 50 years while stimulating economic opportunity in energy, transportation, manufacturing and IT and reducing dangerous greenhouse gas emissions:

A=Automobiles: Of the more than 645,000 civilian and non-tactical military vehicles that constitute the U.S. government’s worldwide vehicle inventory, more than 330,000 are subject to a wide variety of requirements intended to improve their efficiency and reduce petroleum consumption.

The current system of alternative fuel vehicle requirements should be revised to reflect a carbon-constrained reality. A purchasing preference should be established for zero-emission vehicles, where they are commercially available at reasonable cost. Reasonable cost should be calculated not just on the basis of upfront vehicle purchase price, but should reflect the costs per-vehicle-mile-traveled, including a carbon compliance price as called for by the Obama administration.