Bill Promotes Plug-In Hybrids

A new bill has been introduced in the Senate to promote efficient plug-in hybrid vehicles. The bill, which takes license with acronyms to new and questionable heights, is the "Fuel Reduction using Electrons to End Dependence on Mideast" Act of 2007...otherwise known as the FREEDOM Act.  In our minds, this rates right up there in the lets-see-how-far-we-can-stretch-the-English-language department as Subaru's "Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter" - or BRAT - sport truck several decades back. But we digress.

The FREEDOM Act would provide substantial tax credits for those who buy battery electric, extended range electric, plug-in hybrid, and plug in fuel cell vehicles...all categorized as Plug-in Electric Drive Vehicles, or PEDVs. Consumers who convert their conventional hybrids to plug-in hybrids also get a tax break until such time as the market transitions toward commercially available plug-in hybrids. The bill would additionally provide tax credits for U.S. production of PEDVs and the parts that directly relate to their production. Finally, electric utilities would receive incentives that allow them to provide rebates to customers who buy PEDVs, with the largest incentives going to utilities with the greatest level of "green" electricity production.

The bill was introduced by Senate Finance Committee members Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).