Obama’s Plan for Millions of Electric Vehicles

 

At his first White House press conference on Monday, President Obama said, “The days of Washington dragging its heels are over,” and ordered an immediate review of the Bush administration’s refusal to give California authority to enforce tough new emission and fuel efficiency standards on gas and diesel powered automobiles.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been trying for the last two years to impose stricter standards on automobile manufacturers in an effort to open up room for plug-in electric vehicles and now the Obama administration may give him the go-ahead, signaling it may grant California’s request in only a matter of weeks. Eighteen other states have also signed on, indicating they will follow California’s lead to establish the framework for a new nationwide market for plug-in electric vehicles.

Obama’s Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Jon Wellinghoff, says regulators and automobile manufacturers must integrate the new plug-in electric vehicles into the national power grid:

 “If you’re an automobile company, you’d better get on the bandwagon…because there is definitely going to be a move toward electrification.”

Obama’s bold moves on the transmission grid and electric cars are widely viewed as a bonanza for semiconductor makers and power companies.