Dec 2 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kevin Modesti Daily News, Los Angeles


Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a plan Tuesday to pave the way for a rush of new electric cars in 2010-11 by expanding Southern California's network of charging stations and offering incentives to drivers of the environment-friendly vehicles.

Under the agreement among government and private entities, the region's 400 existing electric-vehicle charging stations would be upgraded, and 100 would be added within a year after the adoption of new federal charging standards, expected to be issued in mid-2010.

Incentives would include subsidies as high as $2,000 for the installation of charging stations at owners' homes, lower rates for charging in off-peak hours, free or preferred parking, and access to high-occupancy-vehicle lanes.

Villaraigosa said the plan highlights Southern California's effort to turn the car capital of the world into "the electric-vehicle capital of the world."

"As we continue to see our climate change, and the impact it has on our daily lives, it's critical the Los Angeles region grasp this opportunity, shift the paradigm, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce our reliance on imported oil and create new jobs and new economic development," Villaraigosa said.

The announcement came at an afternoon news conference outside the Los Angeles Convention Center, where auto industry leaders and observers are gathering for the Los Angeles Auto Show's opening on Friday.

The plan to make the area "plug-in ready" involves collaboration among the cities of Los Angeles, Burbank, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Santa Ana, state agencies, utilities and automakers.

A key goal, leaders said, is to provide enough convenient charging stations to allow electric-vehicle drivers to travel "seamlessly" across Southern California.

Though he acknowledged the price tag could be high, including about $10 million for the $2,000 incentive program, Villaraigosa argued there's a higher "public-health cost" in the area having "the dirtiest air in America."

Villaraigosa trumpeted the plan as the broadest yet by an American metropolitan area to encourage the use of electric vehicles, coinciding with the scheduled late-2010 launches of new models from Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan, Toyota and other carmakers in response to federal fuel-mileage mandates.

Fuel-efficient, low-emissions vehicles will be featured among the 900 automobiles on display at the 10-day annual show.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger applauded the effort, known officially as the Southern California Regional Plug-in Electric Vehicle Collaboration.

"This agreement will increase the number of electric vehicles on the road, which means less pollution, a decreased reliance on costly oil, and new jobs -- which is exactly what California needs right now," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Villaraigosa was joined in the news conference by City Council president Eric Garcetti and Councilwoman Jan Perry, chairwoman of the City Council's Energy and Environment Committee and a board member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Both drive electric vehicles.

Garcetti said he began driving an electric car, the General Motors EV1, in 1998.

"It was an amazing car -- it felt great, it looked good," said Garcetti, who now drives a different electric car. "I had to put in this weird little charger at my house. People said, 'That's kind of a novelty thing, isn't it? You're an environmentalist, you want to do this to feel good, to look good. But you can't really use this in your daily life.'

"Well, 11 years later, I've lived a very happy life, drive around the city doing everything a council member and a resident of Los Angeles needs to do, driving an electric vehicle.

"For me, it shows we can do this."

(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services