Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton acknowledge global climate change as a crisis that requires immediate, committed and significant response. Both Candidates plan to promote the adoption and production of PHEVs and overhaul the Electric utility grid. The proposed changes in the grid would provide for communication between power grid operators/systems and appliances and vehicles. This would allow for Vehicle-to-grid technology as well as smart appliances that would delay their operation until off-peak times when electricity rates are lowest.

Political elites have the power to make a difference and promote the development of new technology. The establishment of a long term regulatory and tax policy gives utility operators incentive and confidence to make investments that rely on stable tax credits and rates.

The information provided below was retrieved from the candidates’ campaign websites.

source ( http://www.hillaryclinton.com/ )

 “Imagine if you could charge your car in your garage at night, and sell power back to the utility when your car is parked at work during the hours of peak energy demand…Imagine if the system could manage the stresses on the grid continuously, cutting peak demand to avoid brown outs, conserve power and save money.
  We'll accelerate the production of plug-in hybrids. These are vehicles that can be filled up at the gas station and charged up in a standard outlet. A vehicle powered by electricity releases one-third less global warming pollution, even if the electricity comes from coal. These cars can offer the promise of 100 miles to the gallon. And if the plug-in is a flex-fuel vehicle running on E85 ethanol, it could potentially travel 500 miles for every gallon of gas consumed.
 But the plug-in revolution can't happen fast enough. As President, I will invest $2 billion in research and development to reduce the cost, improve the capacity and the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries. I will offer consumers a tax credit of up to $10,000 for purchasing a plug-in hybrid. And I want to add 100,000 plug-in hybrids to the federal fleet by 2015.”
-Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (November 2007) (Ref. 5)

source ( http://www.barackobama.com )

 “Obama will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid… Obama will pursue a major investment in our utility grid to enable a tremendous increase in renewable generation and accommodate modern energy requirements, such as reliability, smart metering, and distributed storage” (Ref. 6)