John McCainAnd the presidential race heats up, with energy becoming one of the points for a political slugfest. Republican candidate Sen. John McCain called for a whopping $300 million prize to whoever will be able to develop a battery that would make a breakthrough development in hybrid and electric car technology.

McCain cites the soaring oil prices as the motivation for offering such prize to “deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs.” This prize is equivalent to $1 for each of the members of the US population and is considered as a “small price to pay” to break oil dependency.

Aside from this, McCain called for a “Clean Car Challenge” which is aimed to further incite US automakers to develop zero emission vehicles. Consumers of said ZEVs will enjoy $5,000 tax credits making it a lot more appealing to the public.

Source: CNN