A confident President Obama stated last year that "with more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015." The President's plan assumed electric vehicle production capacity would stand at 1.2 million units through 2015 and that his 1 million unit EV target would "not likely to be constrained by production capacity."
But rather than admit to defeat in an election year, the White House is simply changing the wording of its "Blueprint For A Secure Energy Agend". Instead of aiming for 1 million EVs in consumers' hands by 2015, the revised plan now states that "by 2015, the United States will be able to produce enough batteries and components to support one million plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles." However, that change seems a little unnecessary since the previous plan said electric vehicles would "not likely to be constrained by production capacity."
Given the early stages of electric vehicle technology, the President's 1 million unit target was essentially doomed from the onset. Manufacturers and consumers are still working through the shortfalls of electric vehicles, with a mass-market solution not likely to be available for several more years. The White House's misstep also illustrates that the government doesn't have the power to dictate market demands.
But the outspoken right has also had a hand in at least somewhat limiting the demand for electric vehicles. The Chevy Volt has been transformed into a political punch bag as the result of the federal government's bailout of General Motors. The right has also inaccurately portrayed the Volt as a rolling fire hazard championed under the Obama administration.
