Washington — U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced two initiatives to help meet President Obama’s goals of reducing oil imports and putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
“First, the department is partnering with Google, private industry and our National Renewable Energy Labs to collect and make available the location of charging stations around the country,” Chu said in a conference call with reporters April 19. He said this collaboration will provide the public with more accurate and reliable information on the location of charging stations.
“Second, we’re making $5 million available to support community programs, plants, [electric vehicle] infrastructure and charging stations,” Chu added. He said this will help to pave the way for installation of both home and public chargers nationwide.
The secretary said the Energy Department is also taking steps to meet the president’s goal of reducing U.S. oil imports by one-third by 2025.
“This will require us to do several things: to improve the efficiency of our vehicles; to develop a new generation of cleaner alternative fuels; and deploy advanced vehicle technology like electric vehicles,” Chu said.
To meet these goals, the Obama administration is partnering with local communities and cities across the country.
“Working together, we can reduce our dependence on oil, save families and businesses money and put the United States in control of our energy future,” Chu said.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood also participated in the call. He said the Transportation Department is partnering for clean energy through efforts to set higher gasoline standards, to employ more high-speed rail systems and to work with the automobile industry to promote more battery-powered cars.
“These alternative forms of transportation are the answer” to carrying out the president’s vision for energy independence, LaHood said.
Chu said the latest initiatives will build on the success of the Energy Department’s Clean Cities initiative, which brings together federal, state and local governments, the auto industry, private-sector fleet operators and community leaders “to help communities use less oil and gasoline to power their vehicles.” The public-private partnership has saved nearly 3 billion gallons of gasoline since its inception in 1993, according to the Energy Department.