Missouri S&T has been given a $1.66 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide clean battery-powered transit to Kansas City, MO.  U.S. Sen. Kit Bond helped secure the federal funds in the 2008 omnibus appropriations bill to fund research and pilot projects for alternative energy vehicles and plug-in hybrids here at S&T.  The funds will go to support design and infrastructure.

“With the current auto industry troubles, Missouri is at risk of losing 200,000 auto-related jobs,” said Bond. “This project will harness Missouri’s battery technology know-how to help produce the next generation of clean transit vehicles and create jobs. We can do both.”
The project will reduce Kansas City’s carbon emissions and provide them with about a dozen smaller cars for government employees. Missouri S&T will be partnered with the local government and Kokam America Inc., the American arm of a Korean maker of batteries, based in Lee’s Summit.  The car appears to be quite similar to the Chevy Volt, 40 mile electric range with a battery-gas engine to take over after that range has been depleted. Most commuter trips are around 30-40 miles, so theoretically the gasoline engine would never be used. I did some small research and you can get a Prius with a plug-in conversion for under $50k. Think of what we could do with all that extra money....