Monday, June 23, 2008

McCains $300 Million Dollar Battery Prize

Well, get to work all of you backyard engineers you too could win $300 million.

John McCain is hoping to solve the country's energy crisis with cold hard cash. The presumed Republican nominee on Monday proposed a $300 million government prize to whoever can develop an automobile battery that far surpasses existing technology. The bounty would equate to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country, "a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency," McCain said at Fresno State University.

That sounds like a workable plan. Hell, I would pesonally give $100 to a person who developed this superbattery so we can have a 100% oil-free car. So I would rather see them bump the prize to a billion dollars but I guess $300 million is good start. It is just that the Billion Dollar Clean Car Challenge sounds cooler for some reason.

McCain is also proposing a $5000 credit for buying a zero emission vehicle. I guess that means a plug in battery powered Ed Begley Jr-mobile will net you a free $5000 plus all of the gas savings. I think the car company making this car should get some sort of tax incentive as well. Maybe a credit for every car sold or a tax-break on R&D or something.

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