Washington--Senator Evan Bayh today urged the Bush Administration to include funding for initiatives focused on electric vehicle technology in its 2009 budget request to help reduce dependence on foreign oil, decrease pollution and save consumers money at the pump.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle, Bayh and 19 of his colleagues asked that the President’s 2009 budget request include funding for electric vehicle technology initiatives that Congress has authorized. The letter specifically calls for funding for the development and promotion of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and advanced mobile and stationary batteries.

“As you may know, 97 percent of our nation’s transportation sector is dependent on oil,” the senators said in the letter. “The electrification of our transportation sector through PHEVs and other measures holds the promise of significantly reducing our nation’s dependence on oil, while saving consumers hundreds of dollars at the pump and reducing vehicular pollution and greenhouse gases. A financial commitment from the federal government is vital if we are to see PHEVs on the road over the next few years.”

Electrification of the nation’s transportation sector was one of the key components of the DRIVE Act, which Bayh introduced earlier this year with broad bipartisan support. Several provisions of that bill were signed into law today by President Bush as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The Bayh provisions signed into law include:

· Incentives for domestic manufacturers to refurbish their facilities to produce advanced technology vehicles, such as PHEVs and advanced diesel vehicles;
· A requirement for federal fleets to reduce their petroleum use by 20 percent by 2015;
· Provisions that allow federal agencies to purchase electric-drive vehicles; and,
· The creation of a Department of Energy research and development program to improve vehicle fuel efficiency through the use of lightweight materials like high-strength steel alloys and advanced carbon composites.

The bill signed into law today also raises corporate average fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks, including SUVs, to an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a roughly 40 percent increase that will reduce oil use by an estimated 1.1 million barrels per day when phased in. Bayh fought for and secured a provision to establish a separate fuel economy standard for work trucks and medium- and heavy-duty trucks that will protect manufacturing jobs in Indiana while increasing fuel efficiency of these trucks over the next few years.

In addition to Bayh, the letter to Bodman and Nussle was signed by Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Robert Casey (D-PA), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), John F. Kerry (D-MA), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Dick Lugar (R-IN), Barack Obama (D-IL), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

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