A collection of businessmen on Monday launch a coalition to advise the federal government to make a major investment in electric transportation, pointing to electric cars as the top way to confront the nation's dependence on imported oil.


Top executive with more than a dozen companies, as well as Nissan Motor Co., FedEx Corp., electric utility PG&E Corp. and battery developers A123 Systems Inc. and Johnson Controls-Saft, announce the formation of the Electrification Coalition to lay the foundation for millions of electric cars to reach U.S. highways.

Issuing a lengthy plan to electrify the nation's fleet, the coalition urged Congress to pass a series of tax credits and loan guarantee to bring 14 million electric cars to the road by 2020 and more than 100 million by 2030. The group envisions a network of electric vehicles in 6 to 8 cities in the short term and growth across the country, making 75 percent of all vehicle miles travel powered by electricity by 2040.

"There's no pie-in-the-sky here," said Frederick Smith, FedEx's chairman, president and CEO. "It's simply a matter of group, a matter of will and a matter of execution." participant, though, recognized that the proposal would be expensive and would require a major commitment from Congress. The group's blueprint would cost more than $120 billion over eight years and encourage tax credits for the fitting of advanced batteries, loan guarantees for the retooling of plants, and tax credits for public charging station and home charging equipment.


"Ultimately the customer will make the decision about where this country goes, but from the point of view of public policy we can set the stage for it," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who joined the group for its statement.

Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn said the auto manufacturing was working quickly to expand zero-emissions cars in response to concerns about oil security, tighter emissions requirements in the United States and elsewhere and a public thirst for choice vehicles not tied to petroleum.

Ghosn said the world market of 600 million vehicles is likely to expand to 2.5 billion vehicles in 2050 with the growth in vehicle purchasing in rising nations such as China and India, making electric cars a must. Nissan is release the Leaf, an all-electric car, in limited statistics next year and plans to put the vehicle into mass-production globally in 2012.