Assorted Afflatuses

Really John, can you think of nothing better? John McCain's latest proposal to wean the United States off our oil habit — a $300 million prize to the first company who manages to create the next great battery technology — serves as yet another sign that the Arizona Senator does not merit a stint in the Oval Office.

Every manufacturer of battery-powered goods already has a huge incentive to develop better battery technology.

Toyota expects to deliver some 64,000 Prius hybrid-electric vehicles this year, which use batteries at a core component of their hybrid system, each worth about $24,000 in revenue to the automaker. Given that Prius sales alone account for about $1.5 billion in yearly revenue for Toyota, the company has a huge incentive to improve their battery technology. What's more Prius sales alone do not take into account the half-dozen or so other hybrid vehicles Toyota could make more appealing to the consumer by improving their battery technology, and thus their vehicles.

Of course, Toyota is just the tip of the iceberg. Computer manufacturers love better battery technology too because it means they can make laptops thinner, lighter and more powerful, all without decreasing the amount of time the computers can operate unplugged. Industry analysts predict consumers and corporations will buy some 297 million laptop computers this year. Even conservatively assuming that the average laptop sells for $500, 297 million units represents $148.5 billion dollars in revenue. The $300 million McCain battery prize represents a whopping 0.2% of the laptop market alone, which would boost the marginal revenue on a laptop to $501 from $500.

Given the size of the existing market for batteries, the huge existing incentives and the lack of oomph $300 million would provide, John McCain's proposal has no merit. The money probably would do more good funding one of his much maligned "pork barrel projects" or, better yet, paying down the Federal Debt to aid the beleaguered greenback.

If John McCain — or Barack Obama, for that matter — is serious about taking on the climate change issue, he needs to take much bolder action. The US government's fleet of cars, trucks and vans is enormous. Senator McCain could have promised the first automaker to develop a viable zero-emissions vehicle a monopoly on vehicle sales to the government. That's an incentive that might make a difference.