DOE Charges Up Plug-Ins With $30M for the Big Three

The Department of Energy is putting up to $30 million into plug-in hybrid electric vehicle projects at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler over the next three years. Andy Karsner, the assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy at the DOE, made the announcement from a panel on federal policy for plug-in vehicles at the Plug-In Electric Vehicles 2008: What Role for Washington? conference, sponsored by the Brookings Institution and Google.org.

We were at the conference, and grabbed this video of Karsner’s talk just prior to the announcement, which includes his defense of the Bush administration’s energy policies. Our favorite quote was this weird statement on how other countries can’t compete with the sexiness of the Volt:

“I don’t have to tell you how sexy the Volt is. The Japanese and Chinese couldn’t possibly put out something that appealing to middle America.”

Check out the video, and Karsner’s comments. As moderator Thomas Friedman said, “Until you’ve heard Andy debate Al Gore, you haven’t lived.” Yuks all around.