Lisa Simpson
Sep 3,2009
In: Finance

The Prime Reason for the Obama Government Granting $2.4 Billion for Electric Cars

electric car

The prime reason for the Obama government granting $2.4 billion for electric cars is because over half the funds will be used for manufacturing batteries. The hybrids made in USA are at present reliant on batteries coming from overseas.

The announcement made by the Obama government regarding this grant is laced with significance. It indicates that Washington is beginning to be serious about stopping battering from taking over the throne from oil.

Currently manufacturers from abroad, mainly from Asia, are leading the world in mass manufacturing of advanced batteries meant for vehicles. Even the hybrids made in USA like Ford Fusion have at the core a battery from Asia.

But the President’s team in the White House and many of the legislators in Congress are reluctant to exchange dependency on Saudi oil for batteries of South Korean origin. This cannot be the green future of USA. Thus the government has navigated $1.5 billion from $2.4 billion allotted for development of electric technology to projects related to manufacturing of batteries.

President Obama was quite specific when he said, “I don’t want to have to import a hybrid car. I want to build a hybrid car here. He was speaking in Warakusa, Indiana.

Some might think that comparing oil with batteries may have been too much exaggerated. But HIS Global Insight apprehends that by another decade (2020) 47% of all the cars sold in US would have some sort of battery power at its core – either coupled with smaller sparked engines in hybrids or independently in fully electrical cars as well as trucks.

Dan Sperling of Institute of Transportation Studies (University of California) said, “More research and more development of batteries is urgent and critical. Advanced batteries of different sizes and shapes will be in every car of the future.”

The announcement by Obama was touched with political overtones – needless to add. Important officials were sent to destinations right across the country to make the announcements to the firms that had won a piece of the pie in cash. Accordingly while Obama was in Indiana, Biden was in Michigan – these being the two states that will be getting the maximum share of the electric vehicle dollars.

The critics wanted to know whether these governmental policies had any positive impact on recession. The officials answered that it was closely linked to providing locals with jobs.