Morning Edition / Corporations Push Congress on Climate Policy

Morning Edition, June 13, 2007 · The U.S. Congress has begun to grapple with climate change.

This new interest isn't necessarily reflected in the street parking around the Capitol. Stroll through the areas where senators and top staffers park, and you'll see a big Cadillac from Oklahoma, and a GMC Envoy SUV from New Hampshire. You might see one or two Ford Escapes — SUV hybrids.

But as the climate change debate gets serious, lawmakers are more likely to be interested in vehicles like Les Goldman's Toyota Prius.

The shiny, black Prius has a newly designed nanophosphate battery pack that turns it into a plug-in hybrid. If you could buy the car — which you can't — you could recharge it from a wall socket; there's a plug in the rear bumper.

A company called A123 Systems invented the battery pack. Les Goldman is the lawyer hired by the company to represent it in Washington. He has been bringing the Prius up to Capitol Hill, singing its praises to senators and staffers. He tells them it gets 100 to 170 miles per gallon — "and that includes charging the battery every 40 miles or so. And one charge, which takes about four hours, will cost you at the electricity rates in the Washington metropolitan area, at night at about 55 or 60 cents."


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