Electric vehicles should provide three-fourths of U.S. driving needs by 2040, with oil imports effectively "reduced to zero," executives from companies including Nissan Motor Co., PG&E Corp. and FedEx Corp. said.
To reach the goal the federal government would need to provide about $130 billion in direct spending and loan guarantees for installing batteries and retooling auto plants, according to a report today by the Electrification Coalition, a Washington-based organization led by transportation and energy industry executives.
"We are simply on an unsustainable path" with global oil consumption, FedEx Chief Executive Officer Fred Smith said at a forum sponsored by the group. Electricity is "truly the only viable solution."
Federal aid to spur demand for more fuel-efficient autos has been luring companies including Nissan and General Motors Co. to push for all-electric vehicles. President Barack Obama seeks to have 1 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads within six years, compared with a few thousand being produced globally this year.
"Public-private collaboration is the key," said Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. "Automakers have the technology."
Ghosn has said he intends for Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan to become the global sales leader in the developing market for autos powered solely or in part by batteries that can be recharged at electrical outlets. He has forecast that electric cars will account for at least 10 percent of worldwide sales by 2020.
The coalition said in its report that the government should concentrate consumer incentives and infrastructure subsidies on as many as 33 cities by 2018. Targets leading up to the 2040 goal include 700,000 vehicles by 2013, 14 million by 2020 and 123 million by 2030, according to the report.
Among coalition members are executives from NRG Energy Inc., the second-largest power producer in Texas, Rockwood Holdings Inc., the world’s largest producer of lithium products, and AeroVironment, a maker of car-battery chargers.
