WASHINGTON — David Sandalow starts his 5-mile commute each day by unplugging an orange extension cord connecting his Toyota Prius hybrid to an outlet in his brick carport. His Prius, converted two years ago to allow him to recharge the battery from an electric outlet, gets more than 80 mpg and lets him drive 30 miles on a charge. He fills up his car with gasoline about once every month or two, an oddity in a transportation sector long dominated by the internal-combustion engine.
Sandalow, the Energy Department’s assistant secretary for policy and international affairs, says, “It’s strange that we are utterly dependent on this one fuel source for mobility.”
Crafting policy from the vantage point of an electric-car driver himself, the former Brookings Institution scholar has helped shape the Obama administration’s ambitious plan to pump billions of dollars into partnerships aimed at developing cars running on electric power, creating an advanced battery industry and helping communities prepare for the transition. The Associated Press
