Better Place Applauds Bipartisan Effort to put US into the Global EV Race, Better Place
Release Date: 2010-05-27
Washington, D.C. (May 27, 2010) -- Better Place today announced its support for federal legislation aimed at catalyzing electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the US, the Electric Vehicle Deployment Act (EVDA), introduced today by a leading bipartisan group of members of the Senate and House.The bills, introduced by Senators Dorgan (D-ND), Alexander (R-TN), Merkley (D-OR), and companion legislation by Representatives Markey (D-MA) and Biggert (R-IL), seek to accelerate EV adoption by allowing communities to compete for federal funding to build out regional EV ecosystems, including infrastructure deployment and consumer incentives to switch to EVs. By enabling regional-scale deployment of EVs, the legislation takes an important step forward in building a national effort to speed mass adoption of electric vehicles and put the U.S. into the global race for sustainable transportation.
“We are seeing countries and regions around the world such as the EU and China embracing efforts to aggressively move away from oil dependent transportation, and we are encouraged to see a bipartisan effort emerge in Congress to move the US in the same direction,” said Jason Wolf, VP of North America for Better Place. “Earlier this week we saw President Obama call for the U.S. to transition away from fossil fuels and move towards green technologies. Electric vehicles are essential to accelerating the shift to a more sustainable transportation system, and this legislation answers the President’s call with a deeper national commitment to electrification.”
“We’ve seen the global automakers make strong commitment to electric cars and as a country we’ve made big bets on battery innovation, but infrastructure has been the missing piece of the puzzle. One laudable element of the EVDA is that it represents a technology neutral approach focused on deployment, recognizing that we have the technologies today to make the transition to electric vehicles. The bill also recognizes the role of third party operators in enabling a systemic approach to overcoming barriers to EV adoption: such as range, price and convenience – ultimately creating the best conditions for mass EV adoption.
By making policy advancements around a national electrification strategy, Congress is helping to strengthen the US position in the global EV revolution. If adopted, this legislation will help to send a clear signal to the world that the US has no plans to be left behind as we move to a transportation system that will take us from a transportation system based on a volatile oil ecosystem to a more sustainable model that creates a market for clean energy and is based on electric cars.”
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | Better Place |
| Country: | United States of America |