Congressional leaders give electric cars a boost

A bi-partisan collection of Congressional leaders dubbed the " Electrification Coalition" has given the electric vehicle movement in the US new energy with the introduction of new legislation designed to accelerate the deployment of EVs in key markets.

A pair of bills were last week introduced in the Senate and the House of Representatives, titled the Electric Vehicle Deployment Act and the Electric Drive Vehicle Deployment Act, respectively.

The legislation proposes that communities should be given up to $800m (£554m) to introduce electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, while consumers would receive up to $2,000 in federal tax credits for the purchase of EV chargers.

Under the new bills, businesses would also be given up to $50,000 to install multiple chargers, while a $1.5bn fund would be created to support battery research.

The legislation would also incentivise utilities and businesses to work together to roll out charging infrastructure, and would provide up to $5bn in loans for companies that retrofit or introduce new plants to produce electric vehicles.

The proposed legislation was praised by advocates of electric transport, including Bright Automotive, and A123 Systems, which resides in Massachusetts, the home state of Representative Edward Markey, one of the congressional sponsors of the legislation.

In related news, EV charging station manufacturer Coulomb Technologies has announced a new initiative to provide 5,000 charging stations to nine regions across the US.

The company, which received $15m in grant funding from the DoE's Transportation Electrification Initiative to put towards the $37m project, is working with Ford, Chevrolet and smart USA on the initiative.

The group will deliver electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in Austin, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Sacramento, the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Redmond, and Washington DC as part of the initiative.

In related news, French paper Le Tribune reported last week that European car giant Renault plans to deliver 200,000 electric cars by 2015, further underlining the growing confidence in the emerging sector.