By Kathryn A. Wolfe, CQ Staff
The House passed a bill Wednesday designed to spur the development of plug-in hybrid utility and delivery trucks.
The measure , which passed by voice vote, would create a competitive grant program at the Energy Department to help businesses research, develop and ultimately sell these vehicles.
During a June hearing on the bill, sponsor F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., said delivery trucks often drive short distances but idle for hours once they reach their destinations.
A plug-in hybrid engine in a utility truck, he said, could use up to 60 percent less fuel.
The bill would authorize $16 million a year through fiscal 2011 for the program.
Nick Lampson, D-Texas, chairman of the House Science and Technology subcommittee that shepherded the bill, said heavy commercial trucks are pervasive, and that raising their fuel economy would have environmental benefits and could also drive down prices for consumer goods.
"From school buses to trash collectors, utility trucks to delivery vans, long-haul tractor trailers to road work equipment, one would be hard-pressed to identify an aspect of our daily life that did not intersect with medium- to heavy-duty trucks," Lampson said.
The House Science and Technology Committee approved the legislation July 16.
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