Senate Energy Committee Passes Vehicle Electrification Bill
Posted July 21, 2010 at 10:49 am 
Filed in: Automotive, Electricity, Electrification, Oil Dependence, Policy The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today approved by a 19-4 vote Senate Bill 3495, the Promoting Electric Vehicles Act of 2010, designed to advance the wide-scale deployment of electric vehicles and infrastructure needed to support them. Under the bill, communities would compete to be selected as “deployment communities,” eligible for increased funding to allow all elements of an electrified transportation system to be simultaneously deployed.
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), the bill’s sponsor, was passionate in his belief that electric vehicles must play a fundamental role in America’s mission to reduce oil consumption. After speaking broadly about the problems caused by America’s dependence on oil, Dorgan argued that the deck has been stacked in favor of the internal combustion engine for 100 years, and that the time has come to “unstack the deck” to allow other technologies to compete.
Encouragingly, although four senators did oppose the bill, Senators unanimously supported the concept of vehicle electrification. Central to the bill’s debate was the concept of “picking winners.” Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) had previously decried Washington’s “dismal record of picking winners and losers” in the field of transportation technology. Too often, she has stated, Washington has offered financial support for technologies that ultimately turned out to be unsuccessful. Today, however, Murkowski appeared compelled toward action by the urgent need to reduce U.S. reliance on oil. Recognizing electric vehicles as “the best of limited options,” Murkowski proclaimed that even in spite of her general aversion to “picking winners,” she was willing to “place a bet on electrification.”
Other Republican senators offered similar support for the bill. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) spoke optimistically of his vision of an electrified transportation fleet, fueled by nuclear energy. Corker also seemed excited by electric cars’ presence as a platform around which Democrats and Republicans could work together to forge a path away from oil dependence. Referring to electrification as the optimal transportation fuel, Corker claimed “I choose this winner.”
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AK) was the only senator to verbally oppose the bill, voicing caution against overly subsidizing any industry. Sessions also noted that the bulk of America’ electricity supply is currently carbon-based, and thus argued that the bill would not necessarily lead to reduced carbon emissions. However, Sessions remains convinced that electricity is the transportation fuel of the future, but expressed concern over the number of incentives currently in place for a wide array of energy technologies.
As a whole, the message from today’s resounding passage of S. 3495 was clear: electric vehicles have emerged as a bipartisan way forward on the path away from oil dependence.
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