DC 2010: Would a federal diesel tax rebate be in order? Diesel coalition thinks so
Filed under: Diesel, Hybrid, Legislation and Policy, EDTA Conference, USA, Washington DC Auto Show
Last year, BorgWarner and Robert Bosch LLC founded the U.S. Coalition for Advanced Diesel Cars. For the first anniversary party, the group is present in the EDTA advanced technology section of the Washington Auto Show to announce three new menbers - Tenneco, Dow Automotive and Umicore - and to explain that the latest diesel vehicles are clean, available today and need to stop being the ignored child in federal green vehicle policy.
Scott Gallett, vice president of marketing and public relations for BorgWarner, told AutoblogGreen that the U.S. Coalition for Advanced Diesel Cars is about more than simply promoting diesel in the U.S. Yes, it is U.S.-focused and it's pro-clean diesel, but it's specifically about passenger vehicles and it's only an advocacy group, not an educational organization, and lobbies to give diesel a level playing field against other technologies.
Specifically, the group is working on the consumer tax credit that applies to hybrid and other lean burn vehicles. The tax break is currently available but it is being phased out and no longer applies to some popular models, The value of that tax credit is based on how that vehicle performs in the city, which "is not really technologically neutral," Gallett said. At the very least, the Coalition is asking that the credit be based on a vehicle's city and highway miles per gallon rating. Gallett doesn't fault the lawmakers for this situation - the law was written for hybrids, which perform better in the city, after all. "I think it was just missed," he said.
The other side of the tax law they want to go after is the discrepancy at the pump, where diesel taxes are 33 percent higher than gasoline taxes (diesel is federally taxed at 24.4 cents per gallon, gasoline at 18.4 cents per gallon). Gallett said:
There's a good reason why it's like that. In the past, fuel prices and taxes went to repair roads, and they still do. Diesel was used only in large commercial trucks, which have a little more wear and tear on the roads, so they should pay more to have the roads maintained. That all makes sense. Now, though, there is clean diesel available in passenger cars.
The Coalition's proposal is to bring back a federal tax return rebate similar to a rebate that was available in the 1980s (worth, say, $400 a year for driving a diesel car). Gallett said that, for the most part, when lawmakers learn about the disparity, they are receptive to adjusting the laws, but just when and how things will change is unclear. Since the five members of the Coalition supply parts to automakers for all sorts of powertrains, Gallett said:
We're not trying to have some special push for diesels. We don't think it needs it. We think if you make the playing field level, consumers will vote and diesel will play its proper role in the U.S. market.
More details after the jump.
Secretary Chu announced the closing of Nissan's $1.4 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Loan Program loan (originally, the amount was for $1.6 billion) today during the Washington Auto Show. As expected, this money will used to kick off
While the news, such as it is, is about the all-electric Leaf and the 1,300 jobs this loan is expected to create in Smyrna, TN, Chu's speech touched on all sorts of advanced vehicle technologies, from cleaner gasoline engines to biofuels (e.coli making biofuel FTW!). Chu's statement about hydrogen, which part of the DOE's $13 billion advanced vehicle technology budget, was "longer in the distance, but we're still in there." He also
While discussing some of the other projects the DOE is funding, Chu somewhat surprisingly called the Fisker Karma "not a high-end cost vehicle," depending on who you are, and said that the Chevrolet Volt and the Tesla Model S were examples of "strong electric vehicle projects."
You can listen to the Secretary using the player below of download the MP3 here (5 MB, 15 minutes):
Read more after the break.
The pace of orders for GM's two-mode hybrid buses is picking steam. At the Washington DC Auto Show, General Motors has announced orders for an additional 1,732 GM-Allison diesel-electric transit buses. With the 1,000 Two-Mode bus being delivered to Las Vegas this month, the new orders will more than double the fleet since they first hit the road in 2003. The Washington Metro Transit Authority has placed the largest single order to date for 952 buses. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's has ordered for 480 buses and Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro Transit wants another 300. To date the buses on the road have accumulated 55 million miles with no battery failures. [Source: General Motors]
As General Motors prepares to start handing over the keys to fuel cell powered Equinoxes to the "customer" participants in Project Driveway, they announced the first Washington, DC-area drivers. At the Washington DC Auto Show, GM North America Sales VP Mark LaNeve introduced Tom Albert of Alexandria, VA, and Nick Williams of Washington, DC. Williams and Albert will each get a fuel cell Equinox free of charge for a three-month period. Over 100 Equinoxes are being prepared for a two-to-three-year field test. Drivers won't have to pay for fuel or insurance but will have to provide regular feedback to GM on the vehicles. The Equinox uses the current fourth-generation fuel cell stack and has a range of about 160 miles. [Source: General Motors]