President Obama's goal of 1 million electric cars on the road within the next four years is achievable, according to an administration report to be released Tuesday, contradicting a finding last week from an industry panel.
The administration report finds that automakers are prepared to produce 1.2 million plug-in electric vehicles by 2015.
By contrast, a panel of industry leaders said that automakers' production plans are "currently insufficient" to meet the president's goal.
The opposing reports both attempted to tally electric-car production efforts, but differed over how many plug-in cars General Motors will manufacture and other matters. The administration used figures from media reports.
"When you start tallying up what the companies have said, the announced production capacity exceeds 1 million by 2015," said David Sandalow, assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at the Department of Energy. "The production capacity will not be a significant restraint in reaching the president's goal. This is an industry that is taking off around the world."
In his State of the Union address last month, Obama said he is aiming to get 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. But just how fast automakers can produce the cars, and how quickly drivers will buy them, is unknown.
The goal of reaching 1 million plug-in cars by 2015 is very aggressive, compared with the introduction rates for the last major change in propulsion technology, hybrid cars. Hybrids, which are much closer to conventional cars than plug-in electrics, took eight years to reach the 1 million-car mark.
Last week, the panel of auto industry experts concluded that automakers' announced production efforts will fall short of Obama's goal. Their report tallied the announced production goals of manufacturers of electric cars.
Read more at The Washington Post.