N.C. State will be the host of a new Advanced Transportation Energy Center, Governor Mike Easley announced Tuesday, to develop technology for plug-in hybrid vehicles and other energy-saving devices.
“The new age is coming and it’s time for North Carolina to take the lead,” Easley said at the second day of the Emerging Issues Forum in the McKimmon Center.
The ATEC will be developed in partnership with Progress Energy and Duke Energy, Easley said, and General Motors may also contribute.
The center will be located on Centennial Campus, and he said the plug-in vehicles with both electric batteries and back-up gasoline engines would help lessen the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, with the ability to drive 100 miles per gallon.
Easley said his first goal for the center will be making these vehicle’s batteries lighter, stronger and less expensive. This would mean reducing the current cost of a battery, $10,000, to $3,000, and he said this would be easier to do once the technology is more widely-used.
These vehicles could be plugged into a normal household outlet, he said, and he said he hopes the hybrids will transition into completely electricity-dependant vehicles after they are more widely used.
And after these vehicles are in production, Easley said Progress Energy will have recharging grids available for drivers to stop and refuel their cars with electrical power.
With only 40 to 50 years of oil left to use, he said, the demand for gasoline could grow so high that prices will unmanageable for consumers, who are already suffering.
“People are getting hurt by these gas prices,” Easley said.
According to Easley, $450 billion is spent on gasoline every year, and that money goes to other countries’ economies.
By diverting from using oil for transportation, he said we can channel that money into American jobs instead of being used by other nations.
W.A. Wilkins, a member of the N.C. General Assembly, said he was surprised by Easley’s enthusiasm for the center.
“That’s much more passionate than my governor [normally] is in a speech,” Wilkins said. “Normally, he’s much more matter-of-fact, so I think he’s sold on this, and the rest of us need to be.”
As a part of the General Assembly’s global climate change study committee, Wilkins said the type of center Easley discussed was necessary, and the governor was right to express urgency.
Provost Larry Nielsen said the center is important because it unites industry, government, non-profit organizations and educational centers.
“It’s a terrific idea,” Nielsen said. “We’ve got the right kind of faculty and expertise already.”
Using this technology, Easley said, will help the U.S. stay on top of innovation, as other countries are currently leading the way.
“Israel is going to do this by 2011,” he said.
