Thirteen US companies and eight groups join the initiative

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said that the government aims to dramatically reduce the price of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), reports The Detroit News. Currently, EVs such as Ford Focus or Chevrolet Volt have a price almost twice as that of as similar ICE vehicles.

About the government’s aggressive plans to cut battery prices, Chu said, “They are ambitious goals but they are achievable goals.” Chu has unveiled an initiative, Workplace Charging Challenge which will support Obama's EV Everywhere programme, to boost EV infrastructure. He said that he expects mild hybrid technology to be become widespread in the next five to 10 years. Thirteen US companies and eight groups have joined the initiative to make workplace charging accessible to workers. The companies include 3M, Chrysler, Duke Energy, Eli Lilly, Ford, GE, GM, Google, Nissan, San Diego Gas & Electric, Siemens, Tesla, and Verizon. The companies will assess workforce charging demands and develop a plan to install workplace charging infrastructure for at least one site.

Significance: Chu said that despite EVs garnering low sales in 2012, the Obama administration was committed to EVs. President Barack Obama has made a commitment to get one million plug-in vehicles on the US roads by 2015. The administration has up until now awarded USD2.4bn in stimulus grants to battery makers and OEMs to speed up EV development. Obama has also asked for an increase in tax credits for EVs to USD10,000. Speaking about the one million plug-in vehicles plan, Chu was quoted in The Detroit News report as saying, “It's ambitious, but we'll see what happens.” EV sales in 2012 have been far below DoE’s projections, making the 2015 target seem quite ambitious. A report by US DoE released in February 2011 had said the one million EV target will be achieved. But the report’s 2012 projections have not been achieved.  While the report had said that Ford would sell 20,000 Focus EVs in 2012, the actual number was less than 700 and that GM would sell 120,000 plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volts in 2012, when the actual sales were 24,000 units.

After a solar panel start-up, and Solyndra had received more than USD500m in loans and filed for bankruptcy, the DoE refused to make any new loans to the automotive sector. Chu did not say if the DoE, as part of its USD25bn advanced technology vehicle manufacturing (ATVM) programme, would make any new loans. He said, “That programme is an important programme and if we can use it to actually have sustainable businesses that succeed… we'll look at all applications." Chu also said, “We're so focused on improving the technology. The rate of progress in batteries is just taking off.” But Chu also said that the consumers will decide what products to buy, “We're technology neutral. We are not going to pick whether natural gas or electric vehicles or fuel cells (succeed). We want a diversified choice for our transportation other than oil-based fuel.” The administration has proposed tax credits for compressed natural gas vehicles as well.
 

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