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Legislation that includes tax credits for plug-in electric vehicles has passed the Senate. Now the House gets a chance to look things over and put it to a vote. The tax credits allow buyers of PHEVs to receive a credit as high as $7,500 and as low as $2,500 depending on the capacity of the vehicle's battery. Toyota had raised concerns that the bill focused solely on battery capacity, as its currently announced hybrid plans do not include anything that would approach the maximum credit. In fact, the Chevy Volt sits alone as the only product that has enough battery capacity for the top tier. Chrysler's recently shown electric vehicles would theoretically qualify if they ever see the light of day.

Once 250,000 qualifying PHEVs are sold, the credits begin to get smaller until they go away completely. At this point, the legislation -- and the vehicles -- have a long way to go before anybody could actually purchasing a qualifying car, but the framework is now in place.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Once the Senate removed a big $21.8 billion tax package that Democrats had hoped would be included in our nation's new energy bill, the bill itself began sailing through the halls of Congress. After finally being passed by the Senate on the third try, the bill returned to the House of Representatives, which has to revote on it since the Senate had trimmed a little here and added a little there. The core of the bill, an increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 35 mpg by 2020, has remained and the House overhwhelmingly passed the revised bill today by a vote of 314 - 100. Thus, we can now officially say that the United States Congress has approved the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. You'll know doubt hear politicians crooning about its historical significance on the news networks tonight, and truth be told, it is a big deal and will force automakers to apply every bit of ingenuity they have to meet the new CAFE standards in time while providing consumers with cars and trucks that they actually want to buy.

The bill will now be delivered to President Bush who has said he will sign it into law tomorrow. Ladies and gentleman, drink up, we have a new energy bill.

UPDATE: Ford and Chrysler's official responses to the new energy bill added after the jump.

[Source: Associated Press, Reuters]

Earlier today, the U.S. Senate voted on the new Energy Bill that was recently passed by the House of Representatives before failing to get enough votes on the Senate floor its first time around. Today the bill again failed to pass in the Senate's hallowed hall by a single vote. The end tally was 59-40, which means Democrats much have changed a few minds since the first vote was 53-42.

But all hope is not lost for the Senators who want to get this bill passed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said that $21.8 billion in new taxes will be removed from the bill and another vote will take place later today. The hope is that by dropping the taxes, the bill will curry favor with at least one more politician who was previously unwilling to vote for it before. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has already confirmed that House would pass a new version of the bill sans the $21.8 million in taxes, which tells you just how much Democrats want this bill to land on the President's desk.

So what gets left behind in order to get the new Energy Bill passed? The Detroit News reports that the revised bill will not include $1 billion in consumer tax credits for buying plug-in hybrids, and will nix a 20% tax credit for people who convert their vehicles into plug-in hybrids. What remains of the bill, however, is its core piece of legislation that will raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35 mpg by 2020. The White House has repeatedly stated, however, that it plans to veto the bill if it passes both houses of Congress. And the saga continues...

[Source: The Detroit News]