“I think the best way to get people to be early adopters and broaden the deployment of these vehicles is to bring the cost down.” - Former State Representative Thad Balkman

Mr. Balkman, who is now the Vice President of External Relations & General Counsel for Phoenix Motorcars, was quoted yesterday in this CNN Money.com article. Balkman was in Washington to testify before the Senate Energy Committee. Here is an excerpt from the CNN piece:

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The surest way to spur the widespread development of plug-in electric vehicles in the United States is to offer the consumer tax credits that have been proposed in Congress, makers of plug-in cars told a Senate committee Tuesday. The proposed tax incentives would lead to a spike in demand, allowing manufacturers to invest profits for further development of plug-in technology, industry officials told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Pending Senate legislation that would extend a wide range of expiring tax cuts would provide a tax credit of $3,000 for the purchase of qualified plug-in vehicles. While tax credits have long been available for the purchase of hybrid cars that use a combination of gasoline engines and electric batteries, the new tax credit is designed to spur the market entry of electric-only cars.

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Hat tip: aweintz