Electrification Coalition calls on the new US Congress to adopt their Fleet Electrification Roadmap, which is a plan to electrify 16 million fleet vehicles.
The Electrification Coalition is made up business leaders wanting to deploy more EVs.
The Electrification Coalition is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group of 21 business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles. The Washington DC-based group formed to advocate for electric vehicles on a mass scale. The group includes executives from leading US companies such as: FedEx Corp., General Electric, PG&E Corp., Nissan, Bright Automotive, and others, which are calling for the new Congress that will take office in January, to help increase the number of electric vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) in corporate and government fleets to 200,000 (including fleet electrification of the Postal Service) by 2015 and to do this by offering tax credits.
The Electrification Coalition would also like the government to extend tax credits for EV charging stations as well through 2018.
FedEx & the rest of the Electrification Coalition wish to see many more electric trucks on US roads.
In a Washington, DC news conference Fred Smith (the chief Executive of FedEx Corp), said expanding electric vehicle use is “the single most important initiative” available to U.S.A. to reduce reliance on foreign oil imports. He has also been quoted as saying “Fleet electrification alone will not solve our pressing energy security challenges, but by bringing costs down, it will provide a critical boost to the consumer electric vehicle market.”
According to Ken Burridge (Editor-in-Chief of EV.com) “What these company executives of the Electrification Coalition are asking the US government to do is literally a drop in the bucked compared to the tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies, and royalty payments exemptions for drilling on government property that have been given to the oil industry.
The oil royalty waiver alone according to the the US Government Accountability Office estimates that the deep-water waiver program could be costing the US Treasury $55 billion or more in lost revenue over the life of the leases. Originally Congress in 1995, had intended to provide royalty relief only when oil prices were especially low, which back then was about $18 USD per barrel, currently the price oil is four times higher, and yet those subsidies continue. One of the main reasons for that is due to the oil industry’s influence lawmakers and regulators, which comes from having 788 registered lobbyists. The Center for Responsive Politics (a nonpartisan research organization) estimates that since 1998, the oil industry has spent $966.8 million on lobbying, which makes it the sixth-largest-spending interest group in Washington. These lobbyists are using their influence to protect the profits of the fossil fuel industry, and their actions aren’t necessarily in the best interests of the US public and other US companies as well.
I personally applaud the electrification efforts of Fred Smith and if he is ever successful in implementing a biofuel program for the majority of the FedEx Express aircraft fleet I would be more than willing to return and fly for him again.
Watch an CNBC Video interview with Fred Smith about the Electrification Coalition’s actions in Washington, which might help bring more balance to the electric vs fossil fuel equation.
Ken Burridge drives a Nissan LEAF in Melbourne Australia
Green-Eco-EV News Reporting by Ken Green Burridge
EV of the Year Judge, CNN and Mother Earth News contributor, independent green journalist, photographer, author and sustainability activist that has published over 1000 articles. Mr Burridge’s travels have taken him to over 30 countries and 300+ major cities. He is originally from the USA, but has been residing in Australia for the last six years. Connect to Ken Burridge on: Twitter, facebook, Google+, Linked in or website
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