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Steven Chu at autonews.com
Innovate or be overtaken, U.S. energy chief tells automakers
Electric cars will benefit from 'plummeting' battery prices, U.S. energy chief says
Steven Chu at autonews.com
Innovate or be overtaken, U.S. energy chief tells automakers
“But we can’t rest. It’s a very competitive world out there. Our choice is very clear. We have to continue to innovate or we’ll be overtaken.”
“To compete in the global economy, it’s not only necessary for the United States to invent these technologies, we need to make them in the United States and sell our products worldwide,” Chu said.
Electric cars will benefit from 'plummeting' battery prices, U.S. energy chief says
Chu, speaking to reporters today on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show, said he thinks the industry has a "good shot" of hitting the Obama administration's ambitious target of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
"Whether it is 2015 or 2016 or whenever, I don't know. I think it is possible," Chu said. "It depends on a lot of things. The price of batteries is plummeting."
Three or four years ago, the cost of manufacturing a battery was $1,000-$1,200 a kilowatt hour, Chu said. It's now about $600 a kilowatt hour, he added. "It's going to come down and everyone knows this," Chu said, after touring the General Motors' display at the show.
He added: "The plug-in hybrids will become mainstream, followed by the all-electric vehicles."
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