The Wall Street Journal reported today that the Obama administration is proposing to spur production of electric cars with an offer that would enable auto makers to count each electric car as two vehicles when calculating corporate average fuel economy.
“One reason car makers are racing to get electric vehicles into the market is that ‘advanced technology’ vehicles produced ahead of 2012 can generate credits that auto makers can bank and use to reduce their overall fleet average,” the newspaper wrote.
The ability to boost corporate average fuel economy is huge for auto makers because new law calls them to hit an average fuel efficiency of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.
Auto makers have already started to roll out battery-powered electric vehicles. Tesla Motors’ Roadster is already on the road. Chinese auto maker BYD Co. and Nissan Motors have also announced pure electric vehicles that will come out in 2010.
