Zero Emissions by 2030? | Photo Credit: AutoNews.com

Legislation approved by a Senate committee earlier today could put millions of electric-powered cars and trucks on the road, significantly reducing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil, as well as dramatically lowering carbon emissions.

The legislation, which was passed by a 19-4 vote, was one of several bills cleared by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. It’s possible that all the bills might be combined into a broad energy and climate bill supported by Senate Democrats.

This bill, however, would provide roughly $3.9 billion over ten years to be used by select communities in order to construct the infrastructure needed to charge electric cars, conduct research, and offer incentives to consumers who buy plug-in cars, with the ultimate goal being to put America on track to electrify half of the countries vehicles by the year 2030, which would result in a one-third reduction in oil demand.

Senator Byron Dorgan, the bill’s main sponsor, told the press, “Passing this legislation will strengthen our national security and improve the air we breathe, while relying on our abundant and diverse electricity supply to fuel our cars.”

A bill like this, which addresses both climate change and renewable energy, is a major goal for the Obama administration, which is racing against the lock to accomplish something before Congress recesses in August, and elections occur in November. A new bill that addresses climate change and renewable energy is a key priority for the Obama administration but time is running short on the congressional calendar with a scheduled August recess and congressional elections looming in November.

The chair of the energy panel, Senator Jeff Bingamen, said he wasn’t certain whether or not Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would unveil his overarching energy and climate legislation next week, but says the bill will be in trouble if it isn’t passed by the Senate before the August break.

According to industry authority Automotive News, Bringamen told reporters, “It will be difficult to get a final bill to the president for signature. The earlier that the full Senate would act the better position we’ll be to actually get a bill to the president.”

Congress is scheduled to work through the first or second of week of August, and then recess until after Labor Day in early September. On Tuesday, Senator Reid said he was still trying to bring fellow Democrats to consensus.

According to a company representative, the new vehicles will include a plug-in version of the Prius, a battery electric vehicle, and a third vehicle, also likely to be a Prius variant, and all of them should be on dealer lots in the early part of 2012. As of yet, no details have been provided with regard to the Prius model, though it’s rumored to be the Prius Alpha, which is a more “people friendly” MPV version of the existing hybrid.

The battery electric vehicle (BEV) is cloaked in a bit more mystery, though there is speculation that it might be an electric version of the Toyota iQ, which will be named the Scion iQ here in the states. There was an electric version of this car on display at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has allegedly verified that his company is already testing cars with Tesla-provided battery packs, so it’s a possibility that the new BEV is a partnership effort between the two carmakers, though since Toyota has a battery deal in place with Panasonic, that is unlikely.

However, Californians who drive conventional hybrids should be aware that another bill, SB 535 is being reviewed by the state legislature right now, and if that one is signed into law, while the carpool lane privileges currently set to expire on January 1st of next year will be extended through July 31st, 2011, they will not be extended beyond that point. Also in the bill is an incentive offered to 40,000 owners of plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt and Fisker Karma, which are currently excluded from solo diamond lane access.

While the law only applies to California, other states with similar provisions for their carpool / HOV lanes, states like Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Virginia, might follow suit. Essentially this means 85,000 California hybrids will be banned from carpool lanes when driven solo, in order to make room for more electric cars.

While some commuters love the ability to use the carpool lane without penalty, there is no certainty about whether or not such incentives actually promote the use of greener cars.

The gas powered 2011 Jetta, which made its own global debut earlier today in New York, is priced at $16,000 – roughly $1,700 under the current model. In the words of VW product strategist Toscan Bennett, “With the new Jetta, we’ve kept everything people liked, but also made the car more accessible to the entry-level buyer in the compact segment. We want people who had considered Jettas too expensive to put us on their shopping lists.”

As the year goes on, VW is set to launch the Touareg Hybrid SUV, its first hybrid, but it won’t be at all affordable. Instead, if the pricing announced in Europe is Later this year, Volkswagen will introduce the Touareg Hybrid SUV, its first hybrid, but it will hardly be affordable. Based on pricing announced in Europe, the cost of the Touareg Hybrid could exceed $90,000 in the U.S. As well, it will be joining a field of expensive luxury SUVs already overloaded with options.

The Hybrid Jetta, on the other hand, will most likely be priced in the low $20,000s, and is probably going to offer fuel economy stats in the mid-40 mpg range. It will also represent the first time an auto company offers both a hybrid and a clean diesel version of a car in a cost-competitive model.

The Silicon Valley-based company has joined with Ford, GM and Smart to provide both home and public ChargePoint Network stations in nine metropolitan areas around the country. The roll-out will begin with fall, coinciding with the launch of the Ford Transit Connect delivery van and Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric vehicle.

Most major auto companies are currently developing “cars with cords,” with the first of them to be on showroom floors by year’s end, but the ongoing question is where drivers of these electric vehicles will be able to charge them if they live in apartments (where a charging station can’t be installed) or aren’t at home. With the Obama administration pushing us toward EVs, this issue is hardly trivial.

The program, called ChargePoint America, has a pricetag of $37 million, and is being partially funded by a $15 million grant issued by the Department of Energy via the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (aka the ’stimulus package’). It joins another effort, led by Nissan and Ecotality to the tune of $99.8 million, to bring 11,200 chargers to five states.

Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb told the press, “The Obama Administration has set significant and considerable goals for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles in the coming years. These charging stations will build upon our already growing and established network of infrastructure and will accelerate the deployment of public and private charging infrastructure, which will in turn encourage people to buy electric vehicles.”

The free charges are destined for Austin, Texas; Detroit; Los Angeles; New York; Orlando, Florida; Sacramento, California; the San Francisco Bay Area; Redmond, Washington; and Washington D.C.. They are all “Level 2″ (220 volt) units and roughly half will be installed in curbside locations and other public places. The rest will be given to consumers who purchase electric vehicles from General Motors, Smart, or Ford.

Coulomb plans to install a thousand chargers by the end of this year, with the rest to be in place by the end of 2011. As BMW discovered when field-testing it’s Mini-E electrics, getting the proper permits can be a nightmare, so Coulomb is working with the cities included in the program in order to cut through as much red tape as possible. While the chargers themselves are free, those receiving them must foot the installation bill.

The ChargePoint stations are network-capable, and can be configured to enable energy usage tracking. As well, they can be configured to bill users so that host-businesses can recoup maintenance and energy costs to offset public charging.

May 20, 2010 – Palo Alto, California, U.S.A. — Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla) and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) today announced that they intend to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support.

The two companies intend to form a team of specialists to further those efforts. TMC has agreed to purchase $50 million of Tesla’s common stock issued in a private placement to close immediately subsequent to the closing of Tesla’s currently planned initial public offering.

“I sensed the great potential of Tesla’s technology and was impressed by its dedication to monozukuri (Toyota’s approach to manufacturing),” said TMC President Akio Toyoda. “Through this partnership, by working together with a venture business such as Tesla, Toyota would like to learn from the challenging spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility that Tesla has. Decades ago, Toyota was also born as a venture business. By partnering with Tesla, my hope is that all Toyota employees will recall that ‘venture business spirit,’ and take on the challenges of the future.”

“Toyota is a company founded on innovation, quality, and commitment to sustainable mobility. It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Toyota would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla,” said Tesla CEO and cofounder Elon Musk. “We look forward to learning and benefiting from Toyota’s legendary engineering, manufacturing, and production expertise.”

TGC already produces hydrogen and synthetic natural gas, and will use its 1,000-mile utility pipeline system to help establish the fueling stations.

Charles Freese, executive director of GM Global Fuel Cell Activities said in a statement to the press, “This is the type of enabler that a hydrogen transportation infrastructure needs because it addresses both the source of the hydrogen and a feasible way to deliver it for fuel cell vehicle use. The Hawaii infrastructure could eventually support tens of thousands of fuel cell vehicles.”

The state of Hawaii has already committed to reducing its petroleum consumption by seventy percent over the next several years, and a new hydrogen fueling infrastructure is likely to play a significant part in meeting that goal, but right now, only a single hydrogen-powered vehicle – a modified Chevrolet Equinox leftover from GM’s Project Driveway initiative – exists on the island of Oahu.

Take a look:

The good news is: government and corporate vehicle fleets can switch to hybrid vehicles much more quickly than the general public, which is why it’s pretty cool that both UPS and FedEx are going green.

Specifically, UPS announced last Tuesday that it’s expanding it’s fleet of hybrid-electric delivery trucks from fifty to two hundred and fifty. These trucks are powered by a system that uses a standard diesel engine in tandem with a battery pack to reduce emissions and save on fuel. The additional 200 hybrid trucks are expected to decrease fuel consumption by about 176,000 gallons over the course of a year (as compared to the same number of traditional diesel trucks). The batteries being used are lithium ion cells, which provide greater longevity and faster recharging than older hybrid batteries.

On a smaller scale, FedEx will be adding four electric delivery trucks to its Los Angeles fleet of 600 vehicles next month, as part of a pilot project to determine if wider use is feasible in the US. The five-ton trucks, produced by Navistar (an Illinois-based company) can travel 100 miles on a single charge, though FedEx’s drivers will be covering less than fifty miles a day. These trucks represent only a tiny fraction of FedEx’s 40,000-vehicle fleet, but the idea behind the pilot is to increase demand for such vehicles, thereby reducing the cost. FedEx has actually been pursuing fuel-efficient technology since 2004, when it added 325 hybrid vehicles to the global fleet. Those 325 trucks have saved almost 34 million gallons of fuel, according to FedEx.

Also getting into the electric truck scene is the U.S. Postal Service, which spent $210 million on 6,500 vehicles last June. Those vehicles are either powered by gas-electric hybrid powertrains, use smaller gas engines than conventional trucks, or are ethanol-capable.