H.R. 445 (111^th): Heavy Duty Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 2009

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/1/hr445.

Summary

H.R. 445 would establish a new competitive research, development, demonstration, and commercial application program to provide grants to carry out projects to advance the research and development and to demonstrate technologies for heavy duty plug-in hybrid vehicles. While the bill does not specify how many grants must be awarded each year, it caps the award at no more than $3 million per each recipient per year for each of the three years of the project.

The bill sets certain requirements for each grant recipient, including two phases that they must complete. Phase one requires the grant recipients to demonstrate advanced hybrid technology by producing or retrofitting one or more advanced heavy duty hybrid vehicles and submit a report on the vehicles specifications (including cost, emissions levels, etc). Recipients who successfully complete Phase one will be given two years to complete Phase two, requiring the grant recipients to demonstrate advanced manufacturing processes and technologies by producing or retrofitting fifty advanced heavy duty hybrid vehicles and submit a report analyzing the technology advances achieved, etc.

The bill requires the Secretary to conduct research into alternative power train designs for use in advanced heavy duty hybrid vehicles, and to report to Congress on the grant recipients projects and their own research.

The bill also establishes a pilot program through the National Laboratories and Technology Centers of the Department of Energy to research and test the effects on the domestic electricity power grid of the widespread use of plug-in hybrid vehicles.

The bill authorizes $16 million for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2012 to carry out the programs.

Cost

There is no CBO score available for H.R. 445, but the bill authorizes $16 million for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2011.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.