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This Week in Olympia, WA: PHEV Legislative Events with GM & King County Headliners
Feb 6, 2007 (From the CalCars-News archive)
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Washington State's PHEV advocates have organized two events at the State Capitol. Ron Sims King County Executive and Robert Babik, Director within the Public Policy Center of General Motors Corporation, are among the lead speakers. Look for more events this spring: CalCars hopes to make the trip North for the third year in a row!

In coordination with the events, Washington's Department of Ecology has posted Frequently Asked Questions on Electrification of Transportation that are a good survey of the main issues around PHEVs, EVs and heavy-duty vehicles. Worth checking out at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/­climatechange/­washington_electrifytransportation.htm

The FAQ is based on the 24-page "Electrify Transportation Briefing Book" http://www.climatesolutions.org/­pubs/­pdfs/­ETWG.pdf from the Electrify Transportation in Washington Group, written by Rich Feldman, Coordinator for the Apollo Alliance of Washington, www.apolloalliance.org and Executive Director of the Worker CenterKing County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and Patrick Mazza, Research Director for Climate Solutions, www.climatesolutions.org. The event announcement follows.

The first of two Washington State legislative work sessions on how we Electrify Transportation happens this Wednesday with a focus on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The second session is Feb 9 at 1:30 and focuses on port electrification, truckstop electrification and truck idling reduction. Both sessions explore the role of electricity as part of a set of strategies that includes transit, biofuels, vehicle efficiency and transportation efficiency to reduce petroleum use and GHG emissions.

Electrify Transportation in Washington -- Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles Wednesday Feb 7 3:30 - 5:30 Olympia, WA Senate Water, Energy & Telecom. Committee - Chaired by Senator Erik Poulsen Senate Room 4, JA Cherberg Building Session will be carried live by TVW and webcast at http://www.tvw.orghttp://www.tvw.org Two PHEVs conversions will be parked southeast of the Legislative Building (domed building) starting at 10:30 for rides, photo-ops and press availability.

Speakers include
- Ron Sims -- King County Executive
- Robert Babik, General Motors -- covering GM's Chevy Volt concept car and E-Drive see http://www.chevrolet.com/­electriccar/­http://www.chevrolet.com/­electriccar/­
- KC Golden, Policy Director -- Climate Solutions
- Rich Feldman, Washington State Coordinator--Apollo Alliance
- Steve Johnson, Executive Director --Washington PUD Association
- Dr. Jim White, P.E.
- David Kaplan, President & CEO -- V2Green
- Ron Johnston-Rodriguez, Economic Development Director, Port of Chelan County -- Advanced Vehicle Initiative

Factoids: -"A PHEV is like having a second fuel tank you always use first. You fill up at home from an ordinary socket at a cost equivalent to less than $1 per galllon," Felix Kramer, Founder of CalCars.
- Transportation represents 60% of Washington's energy-related CO2 emissions.
- In 2006, Washington drivers consumed 3.44 billion gallons of highway gasoline and diesel fuel.
- In 2025, Washington drivers will consume close to 5 billion gallons of highway fuels according to the Wash. Transp. Revenue Forecast Council.
- If by 2025, 35% of Washington's light duty vehicle fleet were PHEVs able to go 20 miles on a charge, 580 million of gallons of oil could be saved per year.
- A PHEV able to travel 40 miles on a charge from the today's Northwest grid would reduce CO2 emissions by 55% over a 2006 Toyota Prius hybrid, according to a study by ACEEE.
- We have sufficient off-peak underutilized capacity right now in the NW to power hundreds of thousands of vehicle with no need to add generation, according to a recent PNNL study. As we integrate more renewables in the grid, people will be able to drive on local power from the sun, wind and hydro instead of on oil from the Middle East.
- Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, and Brad Collins, Executive Director of the American Solar Energy Society, released "Tackling Climate Change in the U.S." This report finds that "Plug-in hybrid vehicles have the potential to provide a wide range of benefits. The most dramatic benefit is a reduction in petroleum consumption, but they also enable significant reductions in carbon emissions. Even though the current mix of electric generation in the United States gets the majority of its electricity from coal, PHEVs emit substantially less carbon than conventional vehicles because of the increased efficiency of electric drive. They can increase the adoption of renewable energy in the electric utility sector, and they can make the nation's electric system more stable, secure, and resilient."

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