Bringing Electric Cars to Market
Daniel Sperling
In response to these opportunities, the Clinton administration has pointed to the EV as one of 22 critical technologies for the nation's economic revitalization. Battelle Technology Management Group, a private consulting firm, listed fuel cells, batteries, and hybrid vehicles as three of the ten hottest technologies for 2005. Because their principal advantages – improved air quality, reduced emissions of greenhouse gases, and energy savings – initially will be outside the marketplace, only strong government action can give EV technologies a chance in the near term. But public policy must be formulated carefully so that it is flexible enough to permit midcourse corrections and to let the market, rather than government, pick the winners.
