EC Applauds Inclusion of Electrification in New Legislation

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Robbie Diamond, president of the Electrification Coalition (EC), released the following statement after the introduction by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of S. 3815, the Natural Gas Vehicle and Electric Vehicles Act of 2010:

"We are gratified that Majority Leader Reid has included language to spur the deployment of electric vehicles and infrastructure in his newly-introduced legislation. There is bipartisan support not only for electrification, but for the creation of deployment communities, which represent the best way to move the vehicles at scale while avoiding the danger of falling into a niche market. Electrification of transportation remains the best way to end our nation's dangerous dependence on oil, and we thank Senator Reid and all of its supporters—Republicans and Democrats alike—who continue to fight to pass this critical legislation before the next Congress."

On May 27, Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate introduced legislation designed to advance the wide-scale deployment of electric vehicles and to develop the infrastructure needed to support them. The Senate bill, entitled the "Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010" was introduced by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). The House legislation, entitled the "Electric Drive Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010," was cosponsored by House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA). A version of the legislation was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on an overwhelming bipartisan 19-4 vote on July 21. The proposal, supported by nearly $4 billion in authorizations, was then included in the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act, unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on July 27.  Days later, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell emerged from a meeting with President Obama and said that electric vehicles represented one of the areas in which Republicans could work with the White House.

The legislation echoes recommendations put forward by the Electrification Coalition, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security dangers caused by our nation's dependence on petroleum. The EC's Electrification Roadmap, released in November 2009, proposed a set of policies in which geographic areas would compete to be selected as electrification deployment communities: specific areas in which targeted, temporary financial incentives are employed so that all of the elements of an electrified transportation system are deployed simultaneously.

SOURCE Electrification Coalition