The Energy Department can now spend an additional $200 million annually on R&D for cars and auto parts. This is in addition to Administration plans announced this week to boost fuel efficiency requirements to 35.5 MPG by 2016.
The bill authorizes the Energy Department to spend $2.9 billion to increase research over five years. Increasing fuel economy with more advanced parts is considered key to growth in the US auto market. The new money will be spent in partnerships with companies and Universities doing research on fuel cells, electric cars, hybrid cars, hydrogen fuel cells, and electric grib enhancements.
This sounds like good stimulus spend to us!