Charging America Forward Act

Charging America Forward Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend through 2014 the tax credit for purchasing a new qualified hybrid motor vehicle, increase the the amount of such credit for certain hybrid and heavy vehicles, and provide for the transferability of such credit; (2) increase and extend through 2014 the tax credit for alternative fuel vehicle refueling property; (3) increase the limitation on the number of new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles manufactured in a taxable year that are eligible for a tax credit; (4) make refundable and provide for the transferability of the tax credit for new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles; (5) allow accelerated depreciation of smart meters and smart grid systems; (6) allow a 50% tax credit for investment in qualified used energy storage property (30% for energy storage property used for onsite storage); and (7) allow a nonbusiness energy tax credit for qualified used energy storage property.

Defines "qualified used energy storage property" as property comprised of pre-owned advanced large format automotive propulsion battery cells previously used in a qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle which are reconditioned into: (1) property that is designed to receive and store electrical energy, convert it to electricity, and to deliver such electricity for support to the transmission or distribution grid or for sale to unrelated parties and that has the ability to store 50 kilowatt hours of energy or to attain a peak power output of 20 kilowatts; or (2) property that is primarily designed and used to receive and store intermittent renewable energy generated on-site and to deliver such energy for primarily on-site consumption, or which provides supplemental energy to reduce peak energy requirements on-site, and that has the ability to store the energy equivalent of 20 kilowatt hours of energy and to maintain an output of the energy equivalent of 20 kilowatt hours of electricity for not less than 2 hours.

Directs the Secretary of Energy to make grants for the manufacturing of advanced batteries and components and provide facility funding awards to manufacturers of advanced battery systems and vehicle batteries that are produced in the United States.