Stabenow, Peters Bill Aims More Dollars at Research

Mention electric-powered vehicles and everyone thinks of small cars. At Robert Bosch LLC, they're thinking mid-sized and heavy trucks.

Bosch is developing and testing alternative gasoline and diesel technologies in its facility on Hills Tech Drive in Farmington Hills. That kind of innovation is the focus of legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) and U.S. Rep. Gary Peters (D-9th District), who promoted the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act on Monday morning at Bosch.

H.R. 1367 reauthorizes a Department of Energy grant program that funds research on fuel-efficient cars and trucks.

Tied to a $300 million appropriation, the bill expands the program to allow applicants to partner with suppliers and to focus on mid-size and heavy trucks, Peters said. It also authorizes the program for five years, he added, because "businesses need to know there's some certainty over time."

"The technology will be driven by what works in the marketplace," Peters said. "We're going to let the market and science drive it, which is also different from the past."

Both elected officials emphasized the need for investment in current technology.

"In the next 10 days, we will have a go at eliminating huge oil subsidies ... and we can take that $4 billion a year and invest in new energy technology," Stabenow said.

The House passed the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act last year with bi-partisan support, but it failed to clear the Senate. Peters said the House bill was backed not only by environmental groups, but also manufacturers, unions and the U.S. Chamber.

"It's unusual to get all those parties together on one piece of legislation," he said. "This is just the right thing to do for America."

The bill has been reintroduced, and Stabenow hopes to get it through the Senate Energy Committee in the next few weeks, then onto the Senate floor. However, she said, there's always the potential that it would be stalled by a filibuster.

"When we look at where we should be investing ... it doesn't make sense to me that we continue to give huge tax subsidies to 19th century technologies," she said. "We should be focused on 21st century technology. That's really what this is all about."

Expanding technology gives consumers more choices at the pump, she added, and creates new jobs.

Bosch President and CEO Peter Marks said his company believes "strong public engagement and partnership" is important, "and it certainly delivers results." Bosch recently announced it employs 1,000 associates in North America.

"Part of this is (due to) the good relationship we have with government, where we have gotten help from the government to develop new technology."

Stabenow and Peters toured a display of developing technologies from several companies outside Bosch headquarters, then moved inside to view Bosch's work on diesel and gasoline projects designed to optimize power train technology and improve vehicle efficiency and fuel economy, according to Chandra Lewis, Bosch's director of corporate communications.