I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2079 

To reduce the Nation’s dependence on foreign sources of oil and reduce 

carbon emissions by promoting plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and related 

advanced vehicle technologies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2007 

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. DOGGETT, 

Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, and Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To reduce the Nation’s dependence on foreign sources of 

oil and reduce carbon emissions by promoting plug-in 

hybrid electric vehicles and related advanced vehicle technologies. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Plug-In Hybrid Elec5 tric Vehicle Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NEAR-TERM VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) BATTERY.—The term ‘‘battery’’ means a 

2 device or system for the electrochemical storage of 

3 energy. 

4 (2) BIOMASS.—The term ‘‘biomass’’ has mean5 ing given the term in section 932 of the Energy Pol6 icy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16232). 

7 (3) E85.—The term ‘‘E85’’ means a fuel blend 

8 containing 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gaso9 line by volume. 

10 (4) ELECTRIC DRIVE TRANSPORTATION TECH11 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘electric drive transportation 

12 technology’’ means— 

13 (A) vehicles that use an electric motor for 

14 all or part of their motive power and that may 

15 or may not use offboard electricity, including 

16 battery electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, hy17 brid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric ve18 hicles, flexible fuel plug-in hybrid electric vehi19 cles, and electric rail; and 

20 (B) related equipment, including electric 

21 equipment necessary to recharge a plug-in hy22 brid electric vehicle. 

23 (5) FLEXIBLE FUEL PLUG-IN HYBRID ELEC24 TRIC VEHICLE.—The term ‘‘flexible fuel plug-in hyVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:18 May 02, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2079.IH H2079

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1 brid electric vehicle’’ means a plug-in hybrid electric 

2 vehicle— 

3 (A) warranted by its manufacturer as ca4 pable of operating on any combination of gaso5 line or E85 for its onboard internal combustion 

6 or heat engine; or 

7 (B) that uses a fuel cell for battery charg8 ing when disconnected from offboard power 

9 sources. 

10 (6) FUEL CELL VEHICLE.—The term ‘‘fuel cell 

11 vehicle’’ means an onroad vehicle that uses a fuel 

12 cell (as defined in section 803 of the Energy Policy 

13 Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16152)). 

14 (7) HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE.—The term 

15 ‘‘hybrid electric vehicle’’ means an onroad vehicle 

16 that— 

17 (A) can operate on either liquid combus18 tible fuel or electric power provided by an on19 board battery; and 

20 (B) utilizes regenerative power capture 

21 technology to recover energy expended in brak22 ing the vehicle for use in recharging the bat23 tery. 

24 (8) PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE.—The 

25 term ‘‘plug-in hybrid electric vehicle’’ means a hyVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:18 May 02, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2079.IH H2079

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1 brid electric vehicle that can operate solely on elec2 tric power for a minimum of 20 miles under city 

3 driving conditions, and that is capable of recharging 

4 its battery from an offboard electricity source. 

5 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

6 the Secretary of Energy. 

7 (b) PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall conduct a pro8 gram of research, development, demonstration, and com9 mercial application on technologies needed for the develop10 ment of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, including— 

11 (1) high capacity, high efficiency batteries, to— 

12 (A) improve battery life, energy storage ca13 pacity, and power delivery capacity, and lower 

14 cost; and 

15 (B) minimize waste and hazardous mate16 rial production in the entire value chain, includ17 ing after the end of the useful life of the bat18 teries; 

19 (2) high efficiency onboard and offboard charg20 ing components; 

21 (3) high power drive train systems for pas22 senger and commercial vehicles and for supporting 

23 equipment; 

24 (4) onboard energy management systems, power 

25 trains, and systems integration for plug-in hybrid 


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1 electric vehicles, flexible fuel plug-in hybrid electric 

2 vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles, including effi3 cient cooling systems and systems that minimize the 

4 emissions profile of such vehicles; and 

5 (5) lightweight materials, including research, 

6 development, demonstration, and commercial appli7 cation to reduce the cost of materials such as steel 

8 alloys and carbon fibers. 

9 (c) PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE DEM10 ONSTRATION PROGRAM.— 

11 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es12 tablish a competitive grant pilot demonstration pro13 gram to provide not more than 25 grants annually 

14 to State governments, local governments, metropoli15 tan transportation authorities, or combinations 

16 thereof to carry out a project or projects for dem17 onstration of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. 

18 (2) APPLICATIONS.— 

19 (A) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall 

20 issue requirements for applying for grants 

21 under the demonstration pilot program. The 

22 Secretary shall require that applications, at a 

23 minimum, include a description of how data will 

24 be— 

25 (i) collected on the— 


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1 (I) performance of the vehicle or 

2 vehicles and the components, includ3 ing the battery, energy management, 

4 and charging systems, under various 

5 driving speeds, trip ranges, traffic, 

6 and other driving conditions; 

7 (II) costs of the vehicle or vehi8 cles, including acquisition, operating, 

9 and maintenance costs, and how the 

10 project or projects will be self-sus11 taining after Federal assistance is 

12 completed; and 

13 (III) emissions of the vehicle or 

14 vehicles, including greenhouse gases, 

15 and the amount of petroleum dis16 placed as a result of the project or 

17 projects; and 

18 (ii) summarized for dissemination to 

19 the Department, other grantees, and the 

20 public. 

21 (B) PARTNERS.—An applicant under sub22 paragraph (A) may carry out a project or 

23 projects under the pilot program in partnership 

24 with one or more private entities. 

25 (3) SELECTION CRITERIA.— 


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1 (A) PREFERENCE.—When making awards 

2 under this subsection, the Secretary shall con3 sider each applicant’s previous experience in4 volving plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and shall 

5 give preference to proposals that— 

6 (i) provide the greatest demonstration 

7 per award dollar, with preference increas8 ing as the number of miles that a plug-in 

9 hybrid electric vehicle can operate solely on 

10 electric power under city driving conditions 

11 increases; and 

12 (ii) demonstrate the greatest commit13 ment on the part of the applicant to ensure 

14 funding for the proposed project or 

15 projects and the greatest likelihood that 

16 each project proposed in the application 

17 will be maintained or expanded after Fed18 eral assistance under this subsection is 

19 completed. 

20 (B) BREADTH OF DEMONSTRATIONS.—In 

21 awarding grants under this subsection, the Sec22 retary shall ensure the program will dem23 onstrate plug-in hybrid electric vehicles under 

24 various circumstances, including— 

25 (i) driving speeds; 


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1 (ii) trip ranges; 

2 (iii) driving conditions; 

3 (iv) climate conditions; and 

4 (v) topography, 

5 to optimize understanding and function of plug6 in hybrid electric vehicles. 

7 (4) PILOT PROJECT REQUIREMENTS.— 

8 (A) SUBSEQUENT FUNDING.—An applicant 

9 that has received a grant in one year may apply 

10 for additional funds in subsequent years, but 

11 the Secretary shall not provide more than 

12 $10,000,000 in Federal assistance under the 

13 pilot program to any applicant for the period 

14 encompassing fiscal years 2008 through fiscal 

15 year 2012. 

16 (B) INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall 

17 establish mechanisms to ensure that the infor18 mation and knowledge gained by participants in 

19 the pilot program are shared among the pilot 

20 program participants and are available to other 

21 interested parties, including other applicants. 

22 (5) AWARD AMOUNTS.—The Secretary shall de23 termine grant amounts, but the maximum size of 

24 grants shall decline as the cost of producing plug-in 

25 hybrid electric vehicles declines or the cost of conVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:18 May 02, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2079.IH H2079

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1 verting a hybrid electric vehicle to a plug-in hybrid 

2 electric vehicle declines. 

3 (d) COST SHARING.—The Secretary shall carry out 

4 the program under this section in compliance with section 

5 988(a) through (d) and section 989 of the Energy Policy 

6 Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16352(a) through (d) and 16353). 

7 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary— 

9 (1) for carrying out subsection (b), 

10 $250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 

11 2012, of which up to $50,000,000 may be used for 

12 the program described in paragraph (5) of that sub13 section; and 

14 (2) for carrying out subsection (c), $50,000,000 

15 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012. 

Æ 


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