Obama breaking electric hybrid deadlock with $2.4 billion

Electric hybrid cars have enjoyed a tidal wave of publicity and they symbolize a new hope for the struggling auto industry. But there’s a problem. Even though electric hybrid cars require much less gasoline than their combustion engine cousins, they still require maintenance and a way to recharge on longer trips.

Building a replacement for the existing gas station infrastructure would require a significant investment, and so far that’s been a barrier for automakers looking to create a product the same universal appeal and flexibility as a combustion engine car.

Obama thinks he can break the deadlock with a $2.4 billion slice of the stimulus package, much of it earmarked for electric infrastructure development.

His goal is to put a million hybrid plugin cars on the road by 2015, according to Ars Technica. During a tour at the South Carolina Edison testing center, Obama revealed details on his plan which will put $1.5 billion toward a recharging station infrastructure, $500 million toward grants for components developers like General Electric, and another $400 million toward funding other research and demonstration projects.

Partnerships between the public and private sector are a regular occurrence in this industry, which is pointedly searching for a way to fund the way forward.

Another piece of the challenge in adopting electric hybrid cars as the mainstream transportation technology revolves around expanding the electric grid system in the United States to handle additional capacity requirements. Some of the problem can be addressed by charging vehicles at night, but powering a new network of recharge stations across the country will require more output.

Obama says “it won’t come without cost, nor will it be easy. We’ve got 240 million cars already on the road. We've got to upgrade the world's largest energy grid while it's already in use.”

As long as upgrading the power system doesn’t mirror the infamous road construction and repair experience, we may have some hope of making it through that process. And reducing pollution from vehicles is good news for an Earth sweating under heavy clouds of carbon.