U.S. presidential candidates position on plug-in hybrids

Energy, specially plug-in hybrid, policy is dominating the campaign.

February 2008
As of February, 2008, all three of the major U.S. presidential candidates have taken a position on plug-in hybrids:
* Senator Barack Obama delivered a speech on February 28, 2006 calling for every government car to be a PHEV. On April 19, 2007, Obama joined with senators Maria Cantwell and Republican Orrin Hatch to introduce legislation providing: tax credits to consumers who purchase plug-ins, patterned after existing incentives for conventional hybrids; tax incentives for the U.S. production of PHEVs and dedicated parts; and incentives for electric utilities to provide rebates to customers who purchase plug-ins, scaled to provide larger incentives to utilities producing greener energy.
* Senator John McCain pledged on April 23, 2007 to promote partnerships between utilities and automakers to accelerate the deployment of plug-in hybrids.
* Senator Hillary Clinton called on February 11, 2008 for investment in research and to stimulate demand for the first commercial PHEVs by investing $2 billion in research and development to reduce the cost and increase the longevity and durability of batteries; offering consumers tax credits of up to $10,000 for purchasing a plug-in hybrid; and adding 100,000 plug-in hybrids to the federal fleet by 2015.

June 2008
It's now clear that candidates, advocates and carmakers are all focusing on January 20, 2009. Brookings' David Sandalow's book, "Freedom From Oil" .

* John McCain proposed in Jun 23, 2008 a "Clean Car Challenge" including $5,000 incentives for zero-emission vehicles and a $300M prize for a battery that's 30% better than we have today .
**CalCars reaction:"We're glad that plug-in cars are becoming a central focus for Senator McCain.The tax credit idea sends the message to carmakers that Washington understands that federal support in electrifying transportation is a great investment and it's the end of business as usual...As for the battery prize, prizes do a great job catching people's attention and inspiring innovation, but we hope the call for improved batteries doesn't obscure the reality that today's batteries are good enough for Version 1.0 PHEVs. General Motors in particular is showing we don't have to wait for new technology. Cheaper and lighter batteries will be the icing on the cake"
* Meanwhile, over the 21 and 22 of june weekend, Senator Obama told a group of Democratic governors in Chicago, that "he would invest $150 billion over the next 10 years to create green jobs, particularly in the automotive industry and to improve the electricity grid so people can drive plug-in hybrid vehicles.
**CalCars reaction:"Senator Obama has a history of support for PHEVs that goes back to his 2005, including the Obama-Insley "Health Care for Hybrids" bill introduced in 2006.We know that he has been hearing from many sources that it's time to talk about the benefits of plug-in cars and what can be done to promote and incentivize them, and we look forward to hearing more.As for the power grid, there are many reasons to modernize and improve it, but plug-in cars don't have to wait for that. Reports from federal laboratories and speeches by utility CEOs confirm that we today's power grid is more than adequate to begin plugging in tens of millions of cars, especially at night when we have more power than we can use".

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