Strategy for Overcoming Cost Hurdles of Plug-In–Hybrid Battery in California Integrating Post-Vehicle Secondary Use Values

greenhouse gas emissions, and the low carbon fuel standard. • Electric drive technology has advanced in performance and reduced in cost, with much improvement in electric motors and power electronics and with high-performance lithium-based batteries now on the cusp of volume production. • The dramatic rise in crude oil and gasoline prices in 2008 spurred a consumer shift toward more efficient vehicles. • The U.S. automobile industry has fallen on hard times, with a faltering business model overly dependent on sales of the largest, heaviest, conventionally powered passenger vehicles, and is now recognizing that it must innovate and focus on electric drive technology in order to compete globally.