http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/12/exclusive-gang-of-10-part-5-the-bills-full-text/ The Latest on Climate Science, Solutions, and Politics Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:12:19 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/12/exclusive-gang-of-10-part-5-the-bills-full-text/#comment-19071 Cyril R. Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:20:32 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/12/exclusive-gang-of-10-part-5-the-bills-full-text/#comment-19071 Looks like an excellent proposal. I'd make the rebate even bigger, considering the importance of plugin-hybrids, but then that may not be politically achievable... Looks like an excellent proposal. I’d make the rebate even bigger, considering the importance of plugin-hybrids, but then that may not be politically achievable…

]]> http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/12/exclusive-gang-of-10-part-5-the-bills-full-text/#comment-19047 Costa Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:23:18 +0000 http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/12/exclusive-gang-of-10-part-5-the-bills-full-text/#comment-19047 Joe- Thanks for posting these details, and keep them coming. That is a great start for a PHEV credit, and I'm glad they are proposing a graduated approach based on battery capacity. Remember that most PHEVs will likely be designed to leave 20% of the battery charge unused (or an 80% depth of discharge), to help prolong battery life. So if you want 20 miles of EV range getting 0.3 kWh/mile, you need 6 kWh for travel and another 1.5 kWh to leave 20% of the battery unused, so a total of 7.5 kWh. With installed batteries costing $1000-$2000/kWh, maybe another 20% isn't a big deal on a small PHEV, but if a 40-mile Volt needs another 3 kWh of capacity (12 for travel, 15 total), then that starts to add up. On the supply side, we should be thinking about innovation and investment policies to help bring down the cost of batteries. On the demand side, we need to start talking about a comprehensive bundle of value for PHEVs- federal tax credit, state sales tax exemption (or deduction) and maybe some incentives such as some low-cost, low-carbon charging from utilities (as being done in <a href="http://www.portlandgeneral.com/about_pge/current_issues/charging_stations.asp" rel="nofollow">Portland</a>, which is providing free electricity, at least in the test phase) if accelerating PHEV adoption is the goal. Joe-
Thanks for posting these details, and keep them coming. That is a great start for a PHEV credit, and I’m glad they are proposing a graduated approach based on battery capacity. Remember that most PHEVs will likely be designed to leave 20% of the battery charge unused (or an 80% depth of discharge), to help prolong battery life. So if you want 20 miles of EV range getting 0.3 kWh/mile, you need 6 kWh for travel and another 1.5 kWh to leave 20% of the battery unused, so a total of 7.5 kWh. With installed batteries costing $1000-$2000/kWh, maybe another 20% isn’t a big deal on a small PHEV, but if a 40-mile Volt needs another 3 kWh of capacity (12 for travel, 15 total), then that starts to add up. On the supply side, we should be thinking about innovation and investment policies to help bring down the cost of batteries. On the demand side, we need to start talking about a comprehensive bundle of value for PHEVs- federal tax credit, state sales tax exemption (or deduction) and maybe some incentives such as some low-cost, low-carbon charging from utilities (as being done in Portland, which is providing free electricity, at least in the test phase) if accelerating PHEV adoption is the goal.

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