Valley Could Be Focus of Push to Build Electric Car : Pollution: The House has passed Rep. Howard L. Berman’s measure setting aside federal funds as seed money for public-private regional partnerships.

A measure that would provide $12 million in federal funds for research and development of electric cars and cleaner mass transit systems--possibly in the San Fernando Valley--has passed the House of Representatives.

The initiative, part of the massive $151-billion transportation funding bill approved last week, includes seed money for regional partnerships between manufacturers, universities and governments that seek to develop low-polluting or nonpolluting electric cars and buses as well as advanced-technology trains.

“American consumers will be buying these vehicles within the next five years,” said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), the measure’s sponsor. “I want to make certain they are built by Americans, and I’d like to see it happen in this country’s largest high-tech manufacturing center--Southern California.”

Berman’s proposal is a cornerstone of a broader effort by the lawmaker and others in various fields to jump-start an electric-car and high-tech mass transit industry in the Golden State. In the process, they seek to ease Southern California’s chronic smog, reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil and provide jobs to defense workers and contractors hard-pressed by defense cutbacks and the departure of aerospace firms from the state.

The measure, in fact, gives priority to regions--such as Los Angeles County--that have failed to meet federal clean air standards and that have a concentration of aerospace suppliers. The maximum federal grant under the legislation would be $4 million; public or private sources within the recipient states would then be required to commit matching funds. Grant recipients would be selected by the Transportation secretary.

The state Department of Transportation, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission or private entrepreneurs--all of which have expressed preliminary interest in contributing to the formation of an electric-car and advanced-technology mass transit consortium--would be prime candidates to supply the matching funds for the state, said John Slifko, a Berman aide specializing in the high-tech transportation effort.

Within California, both the Canoga Park-Chatsworth region and Burbank are already considered potential focal points for such an enterprise under Berman’s bill, Slifko said. He said both regions are home to numerous advanced-technology companies and well-trained aerospace workers.

If Southern California should win such a grant, “it will give the effort to produce an electric car in California a tremendous boost,” said Allen J. Scott, acting director of UCLA’s Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, which has completed a report on the prospects for a Southern California electric-car industry that highlights the need for a governmental role. “It will help focus a lot of the energies that are currently being mobilized.”

The grant program would be aimed at small- and medium-sized manufacturers, including those that want to convert from doing defense work to building electric cars or buses or providing components for these vehicles. The federal funds are intended to stimulate private investment by universities, foundations and venture capitalists.

“These grants could, for example, provide manufacturers with access to computer simulators to design parts for a vehicle,” Berman said. “They could link manufacturers to researchers in universities or operate a locater service for large manufacturers to find small and medium-sized suppliers and skilled workers.”

Initially introduced as the Advanced Transportation Competitiveness Act, the measure has been absorbed into the much-debated six-year transportation package that would restructure the way the federal government hands out aid for roads, bridges, bus systems and rail lines, and extend a 2 1/2-cent-a-gallon gasoline surcharge. The initiative is not included in the Senate version of the bill--which must be reconciled with the House measure--but aides to Berman said that his proposal has enough Senate support to ensure its inclusion in the final legislation.