Electric Car Forum Held In Nashville
Sen. Lamar Alexander Pushes Car Makers To Produce Electric Cars
POSTED: 10:22 am CDT June 16,
2008
UPDATED: 7:04 pm CDT June 16,
2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A U.S. senator from Tennessee is leading the charge to find an alternative to petroleum-powered cars.
Video: Tenn. Senator Promotes Electric Car Development"We'd stop sending money to people who are trying to kill us. We'd lower our gas prices, and we'd help our economy," said Sen. Lamar Alexander.Alexander proposed that the U.S. start using plug-in, electric hybrid cars and trucks. He spent a few hours in Nashville on Monday with other lawmakers and auto industry leaders."Because we use a quarter of all the oil in the world, we have to find ways to use less oil. Using electricity instead is the best way to do it. … If we electrified half of our cars and trucks, we'd cut the money we're sending overseas from about $500 billion a year to about $250 billion," he said.Some existing cars can already be modified to increase fuel economy, though it is costly.For example, an A123 Systems battery can be installed on the Toyota Prius. The batter takes the car from averaging about 40 miles per gallon to about 120-miles per gallon."It's the only thing I'm aware -- in the short term -- that's ahead of the policy makers that starting now, starting with orders next month, car-by-car that can get you a 70 percent oil savings and a 60 percent emissions savings and can put you in a car for around $30,000. It'll get you 120 miles to the gallon," said A123 representative Les Goldman.The downside is that the big batteries cost about $10,000, although the price is expected to go down. But Channel 4’s Aaron Solomon reported that the batteries are durable and could last eight years.Another possible downside is the increased use of electricity."We'd also have to make sure the new electricity didn't pollute the air, but we need to clean up our coal plants anyway, but we do all of this without building any new power plants," Alexander said.The cost of just plugging into a garage wall and filling up the battery for only 60 cents and getting 120 miles per gallon of gas get drivers’ attention.Alexander said Nissan, Toyota, GMC and Ford are all planning to start manufacturing electric plug-in cars in the next three to four years.
Video: Tenn. Senator Promotes Electric Car Development"We'd stop sending money to people who are trying to kill us. We'd lower our gas prices, and we'd help our economy," said Sen. Lamar Alexander.Alexander proposed that the U.S. start using plug-in, electric hybrid cars and trucks. He spent a few hours in Nashville on Monday with other lawmakers and auto industry leaders."Because we use a quarter of all the oil in the world, we have to find ways to use less oil. Using electricity instead is the best way to do it. … If we electrified half of our cars and trucks, we'd cut the money we're sending overseas from about $500 billion a year to about $250 billion," he said.Some existing cars can already be modified to increase fuel economy, though it is costly.For example, an A123 Systems battery can be installed on the Toyota Prius. The batter takes the car from averaging about 40 miles per gallon to about 120-miles per gallon."It's the only thing I'm aware -- in the short term -- that's ahead of the policy makers that starting now, starting with orders next month, car-by-car that can get you a 70 percent oil savings and a 60 percent emissions savings and can put you in a car for around $30,000. It'll get you 120 miles to the gallon," said A123 representative Les Goldman.The downside is that the big batteries cost about $10,000, although the price is expected to go down. But Channel 4’s Aaron Solomon reported that the batteries are durable and could last eight years.Another possible downside is the increased use of electricity."We'd also have to make sure the new electricity didn't pollute the air, but we need to clean up our coal plants anyway, but we do all of this without building any new power plants," Alexander said.The cost of just plugging into a garage wall and filling up the battery for only 60 cents and getting 120 miles per gallon of gas get drivers’ attention.Alexander said Nissan, Toyota, GMC and Ford are all planning to start manufacturing electric plug-in cars in the next three to four years.Copyright 2008 by WSMV.com. All rights reserved.
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