US Bets on EVs to Recapture Lead in Automobiles

The United States is focused on developing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), pouring massive amounts of capital into PHEVs and the "Smart Grid."

On the other hand, Japanese corporations are showing signs of cooling off, while European companies are banding together as a counter measure. Simultaneously, electric vehicles (EV) are beginning to spread to places like India and China.

"We'll bring cars back to the US," says the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), summingup the activities of the American government as it tries to resuscitate the automobile industry shattered by such failures as the bankruptcies of Chrysler LLC of the US and General Motors Corp of the US. The keys to this recovery are the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and the Smart Grid.

The concrete goal of the US Government is to incorporate the charging systems for PHEVs into a new "Smart Grid," a multi-function commercial power distribution system currently under development. By promoting the development of PHEVs, positioned as the "next hybrid vehicle" by Toyota Motor Corp of Japan, together with the deployment of the Smart Grid, American planners hope to make up for lost ground in EV development in a single bound. If they can win the competition for the EV, the next hot prospect in automobiles, the American government believes it can lead the automotive industry once again.

As a result, the US Government is investing on an entirely different order from previous efforts. Smart Grid development can tap up about US$11 billion in funds. PHEVs, with a target of a million vehicles on the road by 2015, have about US$17 billion in funds available for purchasing incentives, development, etc.

The American industry is now boiling with the heat of a massive investment of capital. At the 24th International Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Symposium & Exhibition, held in Norway May 13-16, 2009, sixty-three of the total of three hundred and seventy papers presented were given by American corporations, research institutions, etc, and almost all of them dealt with the Smart Grid, PHEVs and related topics.

Source : TechOn, by, Naoshige Shimizu, August 28th, 2008