Plug-In Cars, Energy Security and Climate: American and European Perspectives

On November 18, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), 2020 Vision Education Fund and the Heinrich Boell Foundation, in association with the offices of Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), hosted a policy briefing on plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) – both hybrids and full electrics – and their potential to reduce oil consumption and mitigate climate change.

• Electric drive vehicles including plug-in hybrid cars are important to reducing greenhouse gas emissions--due to both the efficiency of electric motors and their potential to facilitate increased use of renewable energy sources for electricity.
• While true benefits of electric vehicles are achieved with renewable electricity, development of electric vehicles should not wait for efforts to "green" the grid. Rather, the markets for electric vehicles and renewable electricity need to expand together.
• Smart metering technology can be used to synchronize the charging of plug-in vehicles with times when renewable energy is most available to the grid.
• Emissions for plug-in vehicles using renewable electricity can be as low as 5 grams per kilometer traveled. Feed-in tariffs have been a critical factor in the aggressive expansion of renewable energy in Germany, especially in helping small and medium sized companies secure financing for new projects.
• Toyota and Tesla both represent important but different business models for researching, developing, and commercializing electric drive vehicle technology. Toyota is incrementally testing and developing plug-in vehicles (based on its original Prius hybrid) that can be offered at an affordable price, while Tesla skipped ahead to market an advanced all-electric vehicle at a high price point and hopes to drive down that vehicle down the price curve with market expansion and economies of scale.
• The tax credits for purchases of electric drive vehicles increase according to battery capacity. These credits should remain uncapped and "treat all kilowatt-hours the same".