Daily on Energy: Biden’s Electric-Car Plan Could Suffer from Obama’s Lackluster Legacy

by John Siciliano & Josh Siegel (Washington Examiner) ... Former vice president Joe Biden has some scratching their heads over a climate plan he introduced last week during the Democratic debates to deploy 500,000 electric-car charging stations if elected president in 2020. The “big question” for Biden is what he actually means, said Jeff Lenard, vice president for strategy at the National Association of Convenience Stores, a trade group representing a big chunk of the nation’s fueling stations.

Biden’s campaign didn’t give details on how the plan would actually work — whether it would mean subsidies, for example — after he announced it during Thursday night’s debate.

What about ethanol and other alternative fuels?: It also raises the question whether other alternative-fuel vehicles should be considered in reaching Biden’s goal, such as those powered by higher blends of ethanol.

Biden needs to improve his appeal in Iowa, the largest ethanol producer in the country, after failing adequately to answer questions over Reuters reports that he called for cutting annual ethanol blending requirements while vice president to benefit oil refineries in his home state of Delaware.

Geoff Cooper, the president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said last month on a call with reporters that the best thing Biden could do would be to visit an ethanol plant and be honest with farmers and the ethanol industry.

More ethanol cars than EVs: At the same time, the number of cars on the road that can run on 85-percent ethanol fuel blends, called flexible-fuel vehicles, has grown to 21 million, according to the Department of Energy.

The problem with the ethanol cars, produced primarily by Ford and GM, has been the lack of availability of E85 refueling stations outside the Midwest. But that is expected to change with the Environmental Protection Agency decision last month to allow year-round sales of 15-percent ethanol blends, repealing a previous restriction on the fuel due to its high Reid vapor pressure rating.

A number of fuel retailers, such as Sheetz and Kwik Trip, are already selling the fuel, which they blend on site from tanks full of 85-percent ethanol fuel, which a driver can also buy at the pump.

Sheetz has also worked with electric-carmaker Tesla to deploy charging stations at its gas stations and stores.

An online petition posted last week called on global automakers to embrace cars that can use higher ethanol fuel blends. Many Japanese automakers have resisted making cars that can use high blends of ethanol, favoring hybrids and electric cars instead.

Ethanol advocates who posted the petition want that to change. “We wish to support and promote the automakers that choose to produce quality cars and trucks that run on higher ethanol blends,” the petition reads. READ MORE