Hybrid car

TOKYO   Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled a "plug-in" hybrid car based on its popular Prius model on Wednesday, saying it would test the fuel-saving vehicle on public roads   a first for the industry.

But the world's biggest automaker said the car, called the Toyota Plug-in HV, was not fit for commercialization since it uses low-energy nickel-metal hydride batteries instead of lithium-ion batteries believed to be a better fit for rechargeable plug-in cars.

Unlike earlier gasoline-electric hybrids, which run on a parallel system twinning battery power and a combustion engine, plug-in cars are designed to enable short trips powered entirely by the electric motor, using a battery that can be charged through an electric socket at home.

Many environmental advocates see them as the best available technology to reduce gasoline consumption and global-warming greenhouse gas emissions, but engineers say battery technology is still insufficient to store enough energy for long-distance travel.

"It's difficult to say when plug-in hybrids could be commercialized, since it would depend largely on advances in battery technology," said Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto, in charge of Toyota's powertrain technology, told a news conference.
 

The Toyota Plug-in HV, which is due to be tested also in the United States and Europe, has a cruising range of just 13 km (8 miles) on one charge, even with its trunkful of batteries.

Detroit's General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are also working on plug-in hybrids, with cooperation from battery makers such as Germany's Continental AG.

GM in January showed a concept version of the plug-in Chevrolet Volt that would be powered by a lithium-ion battery. It has set 2010 as a target for production.

Ford this month partnered with No. 2 U.S. electric utility Southern California Edison for real-world testing of a fleet of up to 20 rechargeable vehicles to be based on the Escape Hybrid SUV. Ford has said plug-ins could enter showrooms in five to 10 years.

Toyota, which launched the world's first mass-volume gasoline-electric hybrid car, the Prius, in 1997, said it would test eight prototypes of the plug-in hybrid to gather data on real-life driving over the next three years after gaining government approval on Wednesday.

Many automakers including Toyota, Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., are working with Japanese battery makers to develop next-generation lithium-ion batteries with improved capacity to store energy.

What Are Plug-In Hybrids?

How does this sound: 100+ MPG in a regular vehicle?

We can achieve that   today   with a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). A PHEV is essentially a regular hybrid with an extension cord. You can fill it up at the gas station, and you can plug it in to any 120-volt outlet. It's like having a second fuel tank that you always use first   only you fill up at home, from a regular outlet, at an equivalent cost of under $1/gallon.

You don't have to plug it in. But when you do, your car essentially becomes an electric vehicle with a gas-tank backup. So you'll have a cleaner, cheaper, quieter car for your local travel, and the gas tank is always there should you need to drive longer distances.

But wait, there's more:

* If your driving is mostly local, you'd almost never need to gas-up.
* Lifetime service costs are lower for a vehicle that is mainly electric.
* A PHEV can provide power to an entire home in the case of an outage; A fleet of PHEVs could power critical systems during emergencies.

2. Plug-In Hybrids Are Cleaner (Even on a Coal Grid) 

This entire section is finally obsolete   because we now have a definitive study by the Electric Power Research Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Here's our three-paragaph summary and a link to the first of several postings on the subject at CalCars-News:
July 2007 EPRI-NRDC Definitive Study: PHEVs Will Reduce Emissions If Broadly Adopted

The EPRI-NRDC studies finally give an environmental stamp of approval to PHEVs. Scientist have confirmed that unlike gasoline cars, plug-ins will get cleaner as they get older   because our power grid is getting cleaner.

For people looking for the most effective way to end our addiction to oil, PHEVs have made sense because carmakers can build them now, with today's technology and using today's infrastructure. But they've needed definitive proof that PHEVs won't increase pollution. The main study shows that under all nine scenarios for both rates of market penetration of PHEVs and the evolving power grid's characteristics (capacity/carbon intensity), PHEVs will vastly reduce greenhouse gases for the next 40 years. In the second study, for the next 20 years, even if, worst-case, we still use lots of coal, nationwide air quality for other emissions will also improve.
 

Three more points: Both reports match up well with previous studies. They reinforces the Pacific National Lab's January 2007 findings that we won't have to build new power plants for cars that charge at night. And we're gratified that General Motors recognizes this study as validation of its decision to evolve to the electrification of transportation.

CA, NY, MA and other states have had Zero-Emission Vehicle programs since the early 1990s because battery electric vehicles in those states, taking into account power plants, are far cleaner than gasoline cars in reducing urban air pollution and smog. The comparison keeps being raised, though studies are conclusive:

The "well-to-wheel" emissions of electric vehicles are lower than those from gasoline internal combustion vehicles. California Air Resources Board studies show that battery electric vehicles emit at least 67% lower greenhouse gases than gasoline cars   even more assuming renewables. A PHEV with only a 20-mile all-electric range is 62% lower (see printed page 95 in the 2004 study).

Nationally, two government studies have found PHEVs would result in large reductions even on the national grid (50% coal). The GREET 1.6 model in 2001 by the DOE's Argonne National Lab estimates hybrids reduce greenhouse gases by 22%, and plug-in hybrids by 36% (see table 2). An Argonne researcher reached consensus with researchers from other national labs, universities, the Air Resources Board, automakers, utilities and AD Little to estimate in July 2002 that PHEVs using nighttime power reduce greenhouse gases by 46 to 61 percent.

Only PHEVs and battery EVs get cleaner as they get older - because the electric grid gets cleaner every decade. Plus more people are installing rooftop solar photovoltaic systems, and clean wind power is vastly expanding nationally (see study by eminent environmentalist Lester Brown cited at CalCars Kudos). Finally, looking at the non-electric fuel, instead of using gasoline for long-trips, PHEVs could run on bio-diesel, cellulose ethanol, or other bio-fuels to further reduce greenhouse gases.
Additional resources:

CalCars Environmental FAQ
CalCars and Global Warming
Plug In Partners: Environmental Benefits
Summary of environmental benefits

PHEVs will generally recharge at night using excess power from plants that can't shut down completely   so they don't add to the peak load. PHEVs might one day actually help reduce it by providing power from parked PHEVs' batteries during daytime hours (see Vehicle-to-Grid in our FAQ).
3. PHEVs Are Cheaper to Run and Cheaper to Maintain 

1/4 the Price?
At $3 for a gallon of gas, driving a non-hybrid car costs 8-20 cents/mile (depending on MPG).

With a PHEV, your electric local travel drops to as little as 2-4 cents/mile.
We say above that you can fill up your "electric tank" for less than $1/gallon. How? Using the average U.S. electricity rate of 9 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), 30 miles of electric driving will cost 81 cents. If we optimistically assume the average US fuel economy is 25 miles per gallon, at $3.00 gasoline this equates to 75 cents a gallon for equivalent electricity. Compared to a regular hybrid's real-world 45 miles per gallon, it's effectively $1.20/gallon.

PHEVs are meant to plug-in at night. In many areas of the country, overnight power is available at a lower cost. As PHEVs start to enter the marketplace, we'll see increasing support from electric utilities, as they'll offer reduced nighttime rates to incentivize off-peak charging. In some areas where wind and hydropower is wasted at night, the rate can be as low as 2-3 cents per kWh. That's 20-25 cents a gallon.

Why Pay More for a PHEV?

Cost increments for a plug-in hybrid compact vehicle will be 10-20% more than a regular hybrid: $2000-3000 extra for a sedan; $5000 for an SUV. CalCars' mission is to narrow the cost gap through incentives, subsidies and rebates while making the case for paying extra to gain access to car-pool lanes, spend less time at gas stations, get home backup power, lower maintenance costs, and, most importantly, benefit society by reducing oil imports, greenhouse gases and pollution.
 

People routinely pay more for such options as sunroofs, automatic transmissions, V8 engines and leather seats. These are "features"   and no one asks about the payback. A JD Power survey shows buyers will pay more for cars with the "environmental feature." How much more? The high demand for the Honda Civic hybrid tell us it's at least $3,000.

The Bottom Line

Plug-ins cost more mainly because batteries are expensive. But battery technology is improving steadily (especially lithium-ion, with nano-technology versions also looking promising), and in large quantities current options are acceptable.

Additional resources:

Plug In Partners: Economic Benefits
Wikipedia: Plug-In Hybrids 
Regardless, a 2003 EPRI battery study shows that mass-produced PHEVs have already reached lifecycle cost parity with gas-powered vehicles   using gas prices from three years ago! This means the more maintenance-free electrical systems of PHEVs offset the initial higher cost of batteries.

4. PHEVs Are Domestically-Powered 

The nationwide electrical grid is only 3% petroleum-fueled, whereas transportation is almost completely powered by oil   60% of which comes from foreign sources (and growing). Adoption of plug-in hybrids will transfer the overwhelming majority of our miles driven to nearly oil-free electricity. If all vehicles were plug-in hybrids we would cut our oil needs by 55%, nearly enough to eliminate foreign sources altogether.

The winning combination from an environmental and national-security perspective is the flexible-fuel PHEV   one that runs on biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, methanol, or alternative liquid fuel in place of gasoline. This will reduce the transportation sector's use of oil to almost zero   and cut the United States' annual oil needs by 2/3.
 
5. PHEVs Already Exist 

We use this section to track existing plug-in hybrids, to prove definitively that PHEVs rely exclusively on existing technology   no new advances are required. PHEV conversions are emerging at a frenzied rate (see the frequency of CalCars-News postings), to the point where it's no longer feasible to track every instance of a PHEV. See What Carmakers Say about PHEVs for the latest. In short:

* Many automakers have built PHEVs in private workshops, and DaimlerChrysler has publicly tested PHEV prototypes. They are converting up to 40 15-passenger Mercedes commercial vans into PHEVs, with some vehicles using NiMH and others advanced lithium-ion batteries, plus diesel and gasoline engines. The program is in cooperation with California's Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), South Coast Air Quality Management District, and Southern California Edison. See the press release, EPRI announcement and Daimler's description (with graphics).
* General Motors has announced its intention to mass-produce two PHEVs   a Saturn VUE SUV, and the Chevy Volt, a series hybrid (where only the electric motor powers the wheels and the gasoline engine recharges the batteries). See CalCars-News Archive for updates.
* The advanced hybrid vehicle research center at University of California-Davis (founded and directed by the modern inventor of the PHEV, CalCars advisor Prof. Andy Frank) has converted nine sedans and SUVs into PHEVs that have repeatedly won prizes in US Energy Department-sponsored "FutureTruck" competitions. Dr. Frank, widely known as the "Father of the Plug-In Hybrid," has been working on PHEVs for thirty years, and building them with students for more than a decade.
* CalCars produced the world's first plug-in Prius (the PRIUS+) in 2004. Since then a number of companies have emerged to offer conversions for sale to consumers and fleet buyers, and CalCars has worked to support a growing open-source conversion movement.
* In 2003-04, the US Marine Corps demonstrated a diesel-electric PHEV-20 HUMVEE. (The military likes the silent, zero-heat "footprint" in all-electric mode, and appreciates saving fuel that can cost well over $100/gallon to deliver to front lines.) This advanced Shadow RST-V (Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Targeting Vehicle) PHEV, built by General Dynamics, uses lightweight lithium-ion batteries and motors in four wheel hubs. See details and photos and more descriptions.
* Several companies are building plug-in hybrid schoolbuses (see bottom of page at Where-PHEVs-Are). And Long Island, NY has converted a city bus to a plug in hybrid with 40 miles of all-electric range. Many more heavy-duty vehicle conversions (including three recycling dump-trucks that will run in "silent" mode for pickups) are in progress.

CalCars is a non-profit startup formed by entrepreneurs, engineers, environmentalists and consumers. Our projects tackle national security, jobs and global warming   at the same time.

Gas sign shows plug-in hybrids cost under $1/gallonWe promote plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). PHEVs are like regular hybrids but with larger batteries and the ability to re-charge from a standard outlet (mostly at night). They're the best of both worlds: local travel is electric, and you always have a gas-tank backup.

We've built prototypes, including the world's first plug-in Prius, and are working on others to show what can be done now with existing technology. Our goal: get carmakers to build PHEVs.

Why No Plug Required
Plug in my hybrid car? Why, you ask?

The reasons are simple and the technology doable today, but first let's make one thing clear. The current crop of hybrid cars from Toyota, Honda, Ford and Lexus do not need to be plugged in to recharge their batteries. In fact, they can't be plugged in. Anxious to not have their cars confused with pure electric cars, carmakers have gone to great pains and expense to reassure potential buyers that their products have none of the limitations associated with battery-only cars, including having to plug it in at all.

Instead, the batteries in today's gasoline-electric hybrids are kept recharged by an engine-driven generator. In addition, hybrids can also make use of the vehicle's own kinetic energy. Apply the brakes on your Prius or Insight or Escape and you actually engage the generator, which not only makes electricity, but actually helps slow down the car. You get back some of the energy (between 10-50% depending on how "mild" your hybrid is) you expended to move the car down the road and save wear-and-tear on your brakes at the same time.

Cool, huh?
CO2 Impact

If we run cars off of electricity, won't that generate more greenhouse gases?

No. They will generate significantly less. Here's why.

If your car gets 20 mpg, you will generate almost 24 pounds of carbon dioxide driving 20 miles, while burning one gallon of gasoline.

By contrast, a 20-mile-range plug-in hybrid might consume 5kW hours of electricity. Given transmission line and battery losses, it would take about 5 pounds of coal to go the same distance.

Depending on how much coal and natural gas your utility burns compared to other non-CO2 fuels like hydroelectric power or wind, every kilowatt might generate about 1.4 pounds of carbon dioxide. That's just 7 pounds to drive those 20 miles on electric power-only compared to the 24 pounds of the gasoline-only car. And since ethanol is virtually CO2-neutral, a flexible fuel plug-in hybrid would produce two-thirds less CO2 emissions than a gasoline-engine car.
Electric Hybrids   An Idea Whose Time Has Come

What we call an "Electric Hybrid", also known as a plug-in hybrid, grid-connected hybrid, gasoline-optional hybrid or just PHEV, works pretty much the same as your conventional hybrid, but with one big exception: it has a bigger battery pack.

Take the much-in-demand Toyota Prius, for example. It has a 201 volt, 1.3kWh battery pack mounted under the rear passenger seat. It is a technological marvel all by itself. If the battery is fully charged and the engine warmed up, you can drive around the block without the gasoline engine turning on at speeds up to 42 mph. In effect, you're driving an electric car, and it's great for creeping along the congested 405 in Los Angeles. But wouldn't it be great if you could go further than a kilometer or two?

We could if we replaced that 1.3kWh, Panasonic NiMH battery pack with sometime a bit larger, say 9kWh? What would that   and some nifty computer code hacking   do for the Prius?

That's exactly what a California non-profit and small R&D company wanted to find out. The California Cars Initiative and EnergyCS have built prototype Electric Hybrids; CalCars building the first prototype, which they call "PRIUS+", with affordable, but heavier, low-energy density batteries, which will be replaced with NiMH; and Energy CS, using lighter Lithium-ion batteries.

In the case of Energy CS's Electric Hybrid Prius, the engineering teams estimates that the car, if carefully driven, can get between 120-to-180 mpg; while using only 115-150 Whr per mile. The last part, Watt hours per mile, is important. Here's why.

The 9kWh Lithium-ion pack provides enough energy to propel the car at freeway speeds for about 60 miles or so   a really exciting improvement. At that point, the car returns to normal hybrid operation, running the gasoline engine for most of the time and getting about 50 mpg.

In effect, you didn't burn a little over one gallon of gasoline for the first 60 miles or so, as long as you don't go faster than 40 mph[1]. Instead, you consumed something less than 9kWh of electricity. Why less than 9kWh? It's a safety and durability precaution so you won't fully discharge the battery and shorten its life. So, let's say you used 80% of the 9kWh. That's 7.2 kiloWatt hours.

Now comes the fun part. Let's say you live in a city where electricity costs you 10 cents a kilowatt hour. To travel that 60 miles, it cost you 72 cents compared to the current national average price of gasoline at about $2.20/gallon in the US (as of April 2, 2005). In effect, for the same $2.20, you could drive up to 180 miles   on three successive days, of course   giving you the equivalent of 180 miles per gallon.

Nifty, don't you think?

Better yet, you generated no smog-forming tailpipe emissions and used American-produced energy including renewables, nuclear, coal, and natural gas, and virtually no imported oil. Can you start to appreciate the economic, environmental and national security implications here?

 All About Plug-In Hybrids on the CalCar's web site.
RESOURCES Organizations California Cars Initiative
EnergyCS
Electric Power Research Institute
Institute for the Analysis of Global Security
Set America Free
Plug-In Partners Plug-In Austin
Plug-In Consortium
Plug-In America
eDrive Systems
UC Davis Hybrid Team
NREL

Forums Electric Hybrid Forum
Papers Benefits and Impacts of Hybrid Electric Vehicle Options [EPRI]
Benefits and Impacts of HEV Options for Compact Sedan and SUVs [EPRI]
Advanced Batteries for EVs [EPRI]
Biofuels: Growing Energy [NRDC]
Energy Future Coalition Letter
Carrying the Energy Future
Oil Security: Policy Paper by Committee for the Present Danger
Take This Car and Plug It 
Plug-In Partners Jan 24, 2006 Press Conference Transcript
Plug-In Hybrids: Electrifying Transportation 
MP3 Audios Felix Kramer / Science Friday 
James Woolsey / Diane Rehm Show 
 
MP3 Audio Plug-In Partner Press Conference Videos KTTV 
Plug-In For America 
Do I Have to Plug It In?
Of course not. That's the point. You get to choose which energy source is right for you. If there's not enough energy in the battery pack, no problem, you can drive on gasoline... but at about three times the cost, remember.

Like a battery electric car or your cellphone, when you get home at night, you'd plug the Electric Hybrid into a standard 110 or 220 outlet; the latter allowing you to recharge the car a bit faster, in case you care. Unlike most fully-electric cars, a night's charge from a 110V outlet is sufficient, and if not, it's not a problem.

So, while you sleep, the power company uses cheaper, off-peak electricity to recharge your car, saving you even more money and helping them get more efficient use out of their investment. You'd wake up each morning with a "full tank" of "fuel".

And depending on how much you use the gasoline engine for longer trips, you might have to refuel at a gasoline station maybe once a month, if that.

Need to drive further than 60 miles in a day? Again, no sweat. The car will operate just like any other hybrid using a mixture of both internal combustion engine and electric motor(s) to wring out the most efficient performance from the car.

Now Add Flexible Fuels
Okay, now you've got a car that will cost pennies to operate on a day-in-day-out basis using locally generated electricity, maybe even from your own solar panels.

There will be times, of course, when you'll need to switch on the internal combustion engine, but even here there's a neat, environmentally sustainable way to do this by switching from gasoline to E85 ethanol, a blend of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol made from plant matter, principly corn at the moment, but eventually from any plant waste. Using E85 instead of gasoline is also good for the environment because it generates 30% less carbon monoxide and 27% less CO2 than a comparable gallon of gasoline; and most of that CO2 is carbon-cycle neutral because it's derived from plants, which need CO2 to grow. (E85 generates 17.06 pounds of CO2 to create 15,500 BTUs compared to the 23.95 pounds for gasoline).

Carmakers have built and sold millions of vehicles in America that can use E85 without modification, but no hybrids, so far. A flexible fuel plug-in hybrid would use only 15% as much gasoline as a conventional vehicle when running on its IC engine; the remainder would be made of renewable, carbon-neutral biofuels grown and processed in America.

When Can I Buy One?
You can't... not yet, at least. The cost of the batteries is a stumbling block, though even at current prices the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has shown that the total lifetime cost of an Electric Hybrid is lower than that of a non-hybrid and not merely lower than that of a conventional hybrid. And as more hybrid cars are built, the cost of batteries should continue to come down. A bigger impediment may be the belief by many, especially auto industry leaders (who are now acknowledging they were wrong about hybrids) that there's no market for these vehicles.

The appearance of this new EV World section reflects a shift in perceptions about these cars. Institutions ranging from utilities to state governments to environmental, national security and other groups are starting to call for the production of these vehicles. Meanwhile, small groups like CalCars and Energy CS hope to offer installed "kits" until the car companies come around.

Eventually, EV World expects carmakers to offer an electric hybrid option that will let you choose which fuel you prefer to use: gasoline, biofuels or electric power.

That's when we'll have real choice.

Ron Gremban and Felix Kramer have modified a Toyota Prius so it can be plugged into a wall outlet.

This does not make Toyota happy. The company has spent millions of dollars persuading people that hybrid electric cars like the Prius never need to be plugged in and work just like normal cars. So has Honda, which even ran a commercial that showed a guy wandering around his Civic hybrid fruitlessly searching for a plug.

But the idea of making hybrid cars that have the option of being plugged in is supported by a diverse group of interests, from neoconservatives who support greater fuel efficiency to utilities salivating at the chance to supplant oil with electricity. If you were able to plug a hybrid in overnight, you could potentially use a lot less gas by cruising for long stretches on battery power only. But unlike purely electric cars, which take hours to charge and need frequent recharging, you would not have to plug in if you did not want to.

"I've gotten anywhere from 65 to over 100 miles per gallon," said Gremban, an engineer at CalCars, a small nonprofit group based in Palo Alto, Calif. He gets 40 to 45 miles per gallon driving his normal Prius. And EnergyCS, a small company that has collaborated with CalCars, has modified another Prius with more sophisticated batteries; they claim their Prius gets up to 180 m.p.g. and can travel more than 30 miles on battery power.

"If you cover people's daily commute, maybe they'll go to the gas station once a month," said Kramer, the founder of CalCars. "That's the whole idea."

Conventional hybrid electric cars already save gas. But if one looks at growth projections for oil consumption, hybrids will slow the growth rate of oil imports only marginally, at best, with the amount depending on how many hybrids are sold. To actually stop the growth of oil imports and potentially even reduce consumption, automakers have focused on developing cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

But fuel cells would require a complete reinvention of the automobile, not to mention the nation's gas stations, and the technology to put them on the road is still a long way from fruition. Advocates of plug-in hybrids say the technology for these vehicles is available now to the point that people are building them in garages.

"All of the relevant technology is at hand," said Frank Gaffney, founder of the Center for Security Policy and an assistant defense secretary in the Reagan administration. His group was among a coalition of right-leaning organizations that released an energy plan this year promoting plug-ins as one way to increase fuel efficiency in light of the instability of the Middle East.

"If you're thinking about this as an environmental issue first and foremost, you're missing the point," Gaffney said. Curbing dependence on foreign oil, he added, "is a national security emergency."

Toyota, however, says the plug-in is not ready for prime time.

"They say this is the next great thing, but it just isn't," said David Hermance, an executive engineer at Toyota. "The electric utilities really want to sell electricity and they want to sell it to the transportation sector because that expands their market. They have an agenda."

But the plug-in hybrid is not just coming out of the garages of enthusiasts in California. DaimlerChrysler has developed several dozen plug-in hybrid vans in cooperation with the Electric Power Research Institute, a group financed by more than 300 utilities, including the New York Power Authority and Southern California Edison. Testing of the vans will start this year, and one will be used by The New York Times on a newspaper delivery route in Manhattan. Several small companies are also developing or have developed plug-in hybrid prototypes.

"We think it's the only way to rekindle interest in electric transportation," said Robert Graham, who manages research into electric vehicles for the Research Institute. "There are no technology hurdles at all. It's simply a matter of getting the vehicle built out on the street and getting people to recognize its value."

For power companies, the notion of people plugging in cars overnight represents not only a new way to make money, but the vehicles would also draw power mostly during off-hours, which would improve efficiency, because power plants cannot simply shut down at night as demand diminishes.

As it stands, though, modifying a hybrid like the Prius to enable it to plug in would add perhaps $2,000 to $3,000 to the cost of a car that is already roughly $3,000 more expensive than conventional gas cars. Advocates say the costs would be much lower if such cars were mass-produced by a major automaker.

But Nick Cappa, a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler, was cautious, calling the technology one of many the company is exploring. Among its current drawbacks is that the added batteries take up space and make the company's Sprinter van several hundred pounds heavier.

"This is part of a small program investigating these technologies," Cappa said.

And Hermance of Toyota said that batteries today were not durable enough to handle the wide range of charging up and charging down that a plug-in hybrid would need, calling that the most damaging thing you can do to a battery.

Edward Furia, the chief executive of AFS Trinity Power, a privately held company in Bellevue, Wash., that develops mechanical batteries called flywheels, agreed with Hermance but said that a secondary energy storage technology like a flywheel could solve the problem.

"If you've got a flywheel with your chemical battery, you can draw down the chemical battery, but when it's time to do a heavy lift, to accelerate or absorb energy, the flywheel is doing the acceleration or the absorption, not the chemical battery," said Furia, whose company is developing its own plug-in hybrid that it says will get several hundred miles per gallon.

While many environmentalists support the technology, some say that in terms of emissions, electric cars would only be as good as the power plants that produce electricity.

"The concern on plug-in hybrids is that we not substitute addiction to one polluting fuel for addiction to a more polluting fuel," said Dan Becker, the head of the Sierra Club's global warming and energy program. "Coal is more polluting than gasoline, and nearly 60 percent of U.S. electricity is generated by burning coal."

Roger Duncan, a deputy general manager of Austin Energy, a utility owned by the City of Austin, Texas, said that "it's hard to say what impact it will have on the nation as a whole," but that in regions that use cleaner-than-average power sources, like Austin or California, it would provide a clear emissions benefit. Duncan even imagines a day when drivers could be paid to return energy to the grid during times of excessive demand.

Plug-in hybrid prototypes have been around for several years, but the idea of modifying a Prius stemmed from the curiosity of some Prius owners in the United States, Kramer said. They were aroused by a mysterious unmarked button on their Prius and discovered that in Priuses sold in Europe and Japan, the button allows the car to drive for a mile in electric-only mode. Hermance said the feature was disabled in Priuses sold in the United States because of complications it would have created in emissions-testing rules.

Kramer said "a bunch of engineers reverse-engineered it in the United States and figured out how to hack it."

But they soon wanted to travel on batteries for more than a mile and began to collaborate through CalCars on adding batteries to the Prius that would allow for longer pure electric travel. With the help of dozens of volunteer engineers collaborating online, the group retrofitted a Prius in Gremban's garage to travel about 10 miles on nothing but battery power.

Duncan said the plug-in hybrid was "very realistic, because it's not that big a leap in technology."

"Look what Felix has done with Prius off the street," he added. "This isn't rocket science."

Imagine a hybrid car that achieves more than 100 mpg. Well, you don't have to, it already exists.

Imagine coming home from work in your Toyota Prius or Ford Escape hybrid and plugging it into one of your home's standard electric outlets and producing enough clean energy to enable the average commuter to travel to work and back tomorrow for less than a $1.00 per gallon.

Sounds impossible? Well, it's not and plug-in hybrid vehicles make such fuel economy possible.

Plug-In Power

Gasoline electric hybrids are not just a good powertrain to help clean the environment and to help end foreign oil dependency, but they are also an excellent way to advance fuel cells, solar power and wind power as well.

Already, hybrid cars are pushing the development of lithium-ion technology - the battery technology that will not only make hybrids much more fuel efficient, but cheaper. In addition, lithium technology opens the door to plug-in hybrid vehicles and even purely electric vehicles.

While there are still some issues being resolved with lithium batteries, some are already converting current hybrid vehicles into plug-in hybrids.

Several organizations, such as CalCars.org, are converting 2004 Toyota Prius hybrids into Prius hybrid plug-ins. This enables the Prius to run on pure electricity at speeds up to 35 mph, for up to 40 miles between charges. At higher speeds, the Prius plug-in functions just as a standard Prius.

Other experimental plug-in hybrids have achieved even greater fuel efficiency. More important, as lithium-ion batteries become more advanced, the potential of hybrid fuel efficiency will only increase, and it will increase significantly? Early reports indicate that plug-in hybrid vehicles could reduce oil consumption by as much as 75 percent, while reducing emissions up to 50 percent.

Even better, many fuel cell developers like hybrid electric powertrains because they enable smaller fuel cell stacks to be integrated into an automobile. Using a smaller stack isn't as powerful as a larger stack needed to create a full fuel cell vehicle, but a small fuel cell stack would make a plug-in hybrid even significantly more fuel efficient at a far cheaper cost than a full fuel cell hybrids. Additionally, a small stack fuel cell plug-in hybrid vehicle could still be fueled by gasoline and/or electricity.

Don't plug-in hybrids use coal-powered electricity?

Of course, just plugging your car battery into one of your home's sockets isn't much of a benefit to the environment if coal is the ultimate source of most electricity, right?

Wrong. From well-to-wheel, electric power is still far cleaner than using gasoline according to several studies. Part of the reason is because hybrid vehicles generate their own electric power. Plugging your hybrid into your home is intended to top off the batteries.

Of course, plugging your vehicle into a solar powered socket, on the other hand, would produce completely clean energy.

Still, it's not that you have to plug it in, rather it's that you can plug it in.

Nonetheless, several studies have determined that the nation's electric grid can handle plug-in hybrids if the majority of drivers started plugging into the grid.

Even better some companies are developing V2G technology that would enable plug-in hybrid drivers to plug into the grid at work - pumping electricity into the grid during peak hours and making money for the plug-in hybrid owner.

The Potential of Plug-In Hybrids

University of California at Davis Professor Andrew Frank has spent the last decade turning production vehicles into plug-in hybrids using off-the-shelf parts. "We just built a high-performance plug-in hybrid Ford Explorer," he says. "It's 325 horsepower - 200 of that horsepower is electric and 125 is gasoline. This car goes like a rocket, but still gets double the fuel economy of a regular hybrid. And for the first 50 miles it is all electric - zero emissions. (Read More on this)

According to Frank, who flew his Explorer to Toyota's research facilities in Japan so engineers could pore over the vehicle, "There's no question in my mind that Toyota has plans for a plug-in hybrid right now, but they aren't talking about it," he says.

Perhaps in the future, automobile manufacturers could even incorporate solar panels into the roofs of hybrids to provide constant battery charging, which some concept hybrids have already done. Until then, home-owners, solar-roofed parking structures, and portable solar panels could still offer consumers new possibilities and very futuristic accessories.

Fuel Choices

So, why not give consumers of hybrids as many fuel choices as possible?

The innovativeness of hybrids is what inspires so many consumers. Moreover, professor Frank's research demonstrates that the potential of hybrid car technology is only just emerging.

Why not give the consumers of such revolutionary technology the help to explore the potential of hybrids? Not only would this increase hybrid car value, but it would inspire millions of environmentalists, no-blood-for-oil-activists, and back yard scientists.

That would truly be an automotive revolution.

Seventy-eight percent of commuters drive 40 miles or less to and from work.(1) If we could change the technology behind these daily drives, imagine how much gasoline and money we could save while helping reduce emissions. It might be possible with a vehicle capable of running on electricity, E85, biodiesel and gasoline fuels.

The New Electric Vehicle

Introducing a new kind of electric vehicle — Concept Chevy Volt. It’s unlike any previous EV (electric vehicle), thanks to its innovative rechargeable electric drive system and range-extending power source. It can be configured to run on electricity, gasoline, E85 or biodiesel. So you have at least a couple of options for the most efficient drive — all made possible by GM’s innovative E-Flex Propulsion System.

Features You Can Use

Off-the-line torque is instantaneous, giving you responsive acceleration. Plus, this four- to five-passenger sport sedan still maintains the passenger and cargo capacities of a production car.(2) You'll also enjoy the benefits of features you've grown to expect — driver and front passenger air bags(3) and the StabiliTrak Stability Control System, for instance — as well as new convenience features allowing you to charge certain small electronic devices without plugging them in.

Concept Chevy Volt is just another way Chevy is working to bring you drivable and practical vehicles that help decrease our dependence on petroleum and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This major advancement in existing technology will make it possible for those short, up to 40-mile or less commutes to be gasoline-free.

The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid concept car created by General Motors. However, the company has avoided the use of the term "hybrid," preferring to call it an electric vehicle with a "range extender" due to its design.[2] The vehicle is designed to run purely on electricity from on-board batteries for up to 40 miles (64 km)—which is a large enough distance to cover the daily commutes of most Americans (which is around 25 miles -40 km- ). With use of a small internal combustion engine hooked to a generator to resupply the batteries, the vehicle's range is potentially increased to 640 miles (1030 km) on the highway. The Volt concept vehicle was officially unveiled at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on January 7, 2007 in Detroit, Michigan. An updated version was unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2007 in Shanghai, China. [1]

At the time of unveiling, the Volt project had been in existence for less than a year. It was started in 2006 after Robert Lutz, Vice Chairman of Product Development and Chairman of GM North America, learned of plans for the Tesla Roadster, a high-performance electric sportscar.  While the Roadster has a target price at or near US$100,000, the Volt project aims to produce a much less expensive vehicle.

General Motors has unveiled the Chevrolet Volt concept, the company's first plug-in hybrid vehicle, at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The Chevrolet Volt concept is the first vehicle to use GM's new E-flex family of propulsion systems. GM claims the Volt delivers triple-digit fuel economy and can travel up to 640 miles without a fuel fill-up or a battery recharge.

How the Volt works
By its own admission, GM is late to the party on hybrid vehicles. Yet the Volt still manages to turn conventional hybrid thinking on its ear. While current hybrids employ a battery-powered electric motor to supplement or complement a gasoline-powered engine, the Volt runs only on electric power until the battery runs down. Then and only then does the internal combustion engine kick in but not to propel the car but to feed the onboard generator that produces electricity while the car is operating. The electricity is then stored in the battery. Energy normally lost in braking also is recaptured and sent to the battery. The batteries can also be recharged by plugging into an electrical outlet.

The specs for triple-digit fuel economy
The Volt features a front-mounted electric motor that generates 120 kilowatts of power (160 horsepower) and 236 pound-feet of torque. Lithium-ion batteries are housed beneath the Volt's floor. Also onboard is a 53-kilowatt electric generator. The turbocharged, 1.0-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine also fits up front, while the 12-gallon fuel tank is in the rear.

The Volt will drive about 40 miles on pure electric power. Vehicle Line Director Tony Posawatz (whose name rhymes with "kilowatts"), says GM arbitrarily picked this distance because Department of Transportation studies show that half of U.S. households travel less than 30 miles per day, while 78 percent of commuters travel no more than 40 miles per day to work.

"Most Volt drivers would use little or no gasoline," Posawatz notes.

By the numbers
By GM's calculations, the Volt would save the typical driver 500 gallons of fuel a year, amounting to a net cost savings of $900 (assuming gas costs $2.40 a gallon). The addition to a home electric bill would be about $300.

In the bigger scheme of things, the Volt saves the environment some 4.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide that might otherwise be emitted into the air in a year, GM claims.

Flex for flexibility
The "flex" in the E-flex name stands for "flexibility." GM promises more concepts using the E-flex system will be unveiled at future auto shows. The automaker hints those could incorporate diesel generators, biodiesel and pure ethanol or E-100.

Further into the future, the E-flex system could accommodate hydrogen-powered fuel cells. GM confirmed it is working on a fuel-cell variant like that in the Sequel concept. Instead of a large battery and small engine like in the Volt, it would have a fuel-cell propulsion system with a small battery to capture energy from a regenerative braking system, and would need only half of the hydrogen storage of the original Sequel concept to achieve 300 miles of range.

GM engineers have designed the E-flex system so it can be tailored to meet the specific needs and fuel infrastructure of a given market. For instance, the E-flex system might use 100-percent ethanol in Brazil. In Sweden, it might use biodiesel made from wood.

The E-flex system uses common drive components so it can be adapted to a variety of chassis and vehicles.

Well, it's no EV1
The recent documentary film, Who Killed the Electric Car?, accused automakers (GM, in particular), of sabotaging the electric car, specifically GM's EV1.

GM engineers say the Volt and GM's E-flex wouldn't have been possible without the invaluable lessons learned from the EV1. In fact, many of the same engineers who worked on the EV1 are working on the Volt and E-flex.

"EV1 was a good idea, but the Volt is a better one," insists Posawatz.

The EV1 carried only two passengers; the Volt accommodates four. The Volt will take a quick charge and requires less than 6.5 hours to fully recharge; the EV1 took eight hours to recharge. The EV1 had no backup system when the batteries died, and its driving range was between 60 and 90 miles. The Volt has a small gasoline engine that kicks in when the battery runs down, delivering a total driving range of 640 miles.

"There would never be a situation in which you didn't get home," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz assures us.

The Volt accelerates from a dead stop to 60 mph in less than 8.5 seconds (the EV1 took about a second longer), and has a top speed of 120 mph. (The EV1 would barely reach 80 mph.)

Challenge to battery developers
While GM's Jon Lauckner, vice president of global program management, insists E-flex and the Volt "are not science fair projects," nor publicity stunts, GM readily admits E-flex and the Chevrolet Volt are not ready for prime time. While GM says it intends to produce the E-flex systems, significant advancements must first be made in battery technology. Batteries for future cars must be able to last the full useful life of a vehicle and endure extreme hot and cold temperatures. In the Volt, GM has used a series of lithium-ion battery cells. The string of battery cells must continue working even if one cell fails.

GM won't provide details, but says it is working with major battery manufacturers.

In the meantime, GM has moved forward with the E-flex propulsion system and the Volt concept even though the batteries are not yet ready. The automaker didn't want to find itself in a situation where the batteries were ready but the car was not. After all, the plug-in future is almost here.

For several months now rumors have been rampant about an electric vehicle that General Motors would unveil at the Detroit Auto Show. That vehicle is now real, in the form of the Chevrolet Volt. The Volt is the first vehicle application of the GM's new E-Flex platform. Volt is a C-Class sized four door sedan roughly the size of a Cobalt.

In spite of the presence of an internal combustion engine, GM does not call this vehicle a hybrid. In fact, they consider it an EV with range extending capability. The engine is a turbocharged, 1.0L three cylinder engine with 71 hp that has no mechanical connection to the wheels. The ICE runs at about 1800 rpm and drives a 53 kW generator that charges the lithium ion battery pack. The engine starts and stops automatically as needed to charge the battery.

 

The battery pack provides power to a 161 hp (120 kW) electric motor that's connected to the front wheels to provide the motive force. It's the same motor that's used in the fuel cell Equinox. The LiIon battery has a peak output of 136 kW and a total capacity of 16 kWh. The battery can be charged by plugging it in to any standard 110 V outlet and is fully charged in about 6-6.5 hours. There are two plugs, one on each side of the car, to facilitate home charging.

The Volt has a range of about 40 miles on the battery alone which might not seem like much. But, considering that most people drive fewer miles than that per day, it should mean that a lot of drivers will never use a drop of gas on their daily commute. However, when the fuel tank is filled to it's capacity of 12 US gallons of gas, the Volt has a range of 640 miles. In addition, the Volt ICE is fully flex fuel capable and can run on any combination of gasoline or ethanol up to E85. The power-train is sized to achieve 0-60 mph acceleration of about 8.5 seconds.

The styling of the Volt is intended to give aesthetically pleasing proportions, with short overhangs and a sporty look. With the small motor sitting low between the front wheels and ICE sitting above and behind that, there is virtually nothing mechanical extending ahead the wheels. That leaves just the front bumper and radiator sitting there and the body almost shrink wrapped around the cooling system and wheels. The short overhang and front mid-engine layout give the impression of a classical sporty long hood appearance even on a relatively short car.

The roofline of the car is cut low, giving a tiny slit of a windshield, but the innovative door glass treatment helps avoid the sitting in a bathtub feeling of cars like the Chrysler Crossfire or Audi TT. The sides of the Volt have a definite shoulder, flowing out from the base of the windows and the down the sides. The windows themselves are relatively short, but the top part of the outer door skin including the shoulder is glass, allowing for and airy feel and much better visibility. Whether this look is practical for production is debatable, but it sure looks unique. The wheel wells bulge out over the tires which combined with the almost non-existent overhangs gives a powerful, aggressive stance.


The Volt has a lot of nice looking details like the shiny trim panels on the trailing edge of each of the front fenders which open to expose the standard 110V plugs, leaving behind the inductive charging padels of the EV1. The door handles are hidden in the chrome trim strips along the lower edge of the shoulder glass on the doors. Based on the CG images available at the time of writing it looks like there is also glass in the back panel below the tail-lights. Actual evaluation of visibility will have to wait until GM shows us the actual car at the show.
For a customer driving about 40 miles a day or about 15,000 miles a year, compared to a 30 mpg car, the Volt would save about 500 gallons of gasoline per year. If the car is charged every night, the driver should be able to achieve that mileage using virtually no gasoline. That same example would also save 4.4 metric tonnes of CO2 every year from each car. Another example of a driver commuting 60 miles a day would achieve an equivalent mileage of 150 mpg based on the engine running for the last 20 miles in a charge sustaining mode. As the driver's mileage drops down toward that 40 mile threshold, the equivalent mileage rises toward infinity. The ICE/generator combo has enough power to keep the car going when cruising at 70 mph and after the 30 minutes of running, the battery will be completely topped up.

GM's goal was to create an electric car that would not force users to plan their travel around the next charging session, while still providing all the capabilities of a standard four door, standard compact car and produce it in quantities of 100,000+ per year. They seem to have succeeded at the first part of this. Now the big question is when can we buy one? Here things get decidedly murky.

In GM's development process, a program isn't considered a real production intent vehicle until a vehicle line executive is assigned. The Volt has a VLE in the person of Tony Posawatz, so it is intended for showrooms, not just the show circuit. The only thing that isn't quite real at this point is the timing. The hold-up is that darned battery. At this point no car-maker in the world has yet publicly committed to building a car powered by Li-ion batteries in any significant quantities (Tesla has announced plans, but until they actual start delivering soem production roadsters, I'll withhold judgement). Regardless of the claims of battery makers, the technology to build an affordable battery that will last 100,000 miles, with minimal degradation of performance has yet to be demonstrated. GM is looking at a number of potential suppliers, but so far hasn't committed to any. No pricing is available at this point, but the base price is almost certain to be more than a comparable Cobalt or Focus. However, they want to price it so that total operating cost of the vehicle and fuel costs are comparable or less than current cars. Given, the efficiency of such a vehicle that should allow quite a bit of latitude, as long as customers buy into that concept.

The car on show here in Detroit is a runner, and hopefully GM will let AutoblogGreen behind the wheel before too long. GM made sure to emphasize that the Volt and E-Flex are not science fair projects or PR stunts. For the sake of GM and the domestic industry as a whole, they better bring something like this to market sooner rather than later.
Read all about the E-Flex system here and see a comparison of the Volt to the EV1 here.

 All of the Volt's specifications 
 

The following is GM's press release on the Volt:

Chevrolet Volt - GM's Concept Electric Vehicle - Could Nearly Eliminate Trips to the Gas Station

DETROIT

The Chevrolet Volt concept sedan, powered by the E-flex System - GM's next-generation electric propulsion system - and sporting an aggressive, athletic design, could nearly eliminate trips to the gas station.

The Chevrolet Volt is a battery-powered, four-passenger electric vehicle that uses a gas engine to create additional electricity to extend its range. The Volt draws from GM's previous experience in starting the modern electric vehicle market when it launched the EV1 in 1996, according to GM Vice Chairman Robert A. Lutz.

"The EV1 was the benchmark in battery technology and was a tremendous achievement," Lutz said. "Even so, electric vehicles, in general, had limitations. They had limited range, limited room for passengers or luggage, couldn't climb a hill or run the air conditioning without depleting the battery, and had no device to get you home when the battery's charge ran low.

"The Chevrolet Volt is a new type of electric vehicle. It addresses the range problem and has room for passengers and their stuff. You can climb a hill or turn on the air conditioning and not worry about it."

The Volt can be fully charged by plugging it into a 110-volt outlet for approximately six hours a day. When the lithium-ion battery is fully charged, the Volt can deliver more than 60 city kilometers of pure electric vehicle range. When the battery is depleted, a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder turbocharged engine spins at a constant speed, or revolutions per minute (rpm), to create electricity and replenish the battery. According to Lutz, this increases the fuel economy and range.

"If you lived within 50 km from work (100 km round trip) and charged your vehicle every night when you came home or during the day at work, you would get fuel consumption of 1.6 liters per 100 km," Lutz said. "More than half of all Americans live within around 30 km of where they work (60 km round trip). In that case, you might never burn a drop of gas during the life of the car."

In the event a driver forgets to charge the vehicle or goes on a vacation far away, the Volt would still get 4.7 l/100 km by using the engine to convert gasoline into electricity and extending its range up to 1030 km, more than double that of today's conventional vehicles. In addition, the Chevrolet Volt is designed to run on E85, a fuel blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

A technological breakthrough required to make this concept a reality is a large lithium-ion battery. This type of electric car, which the technical community calls an "EV range-extender," would require a battery pack that weighs nearly 400 pounds (181 kg). Some experts predict that such a battery - or a similar battery - could be production-ready by 2010 to 2012.

Jon Lauckner, GM vice president of Global Program Management, said the Volt

is uniquely built to accommodate a number of advanced technology propulsion solutions that can give GM a competitive advantage.

"Today's vehicles were designed around mechanical propulsion systems that use petroleum as their primary source of fuel." Lauckner said. Tomorrow's vehicles need to be developed around a new propulsion architecture with electricity in mind. The Volt is the first vehicle designed around GM's E-flex System.

"That's why we are also showing a variant of the Chevrolet Volt with a hydrogen-powered fuel cell, instead of a gasoline engine EV range-extender," said Lauckner. "Or, you might have a diesel engine driving the generator to create electricity, using bio-diesel. Finally, an engine using 100-percent ethanol might be factored into the mix. The point is, all of these alternatives are possible with the E-Flex System."

The Volt concept car is built on a modified future architecture, Lauckner said, similar to the one GM uses for current small cars, such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR.

According to Larry Burns, GM vice president for research and development and strategic planning, the world's growing demand for energy and its dependence on oil for transportation is the common theme behind today's headlines.

"Whether your concern is energy security, global climate change, natural disasters, the high price of gas, the volatile pricing of a barrel of oil and the effect that unpredictability has on Wall Street - all of these issues point to a need for energy diversity," said Burns. "Today, there are more than 800 million cars and trucks in the world. In 15 years, that will grow to 1.1 billion vehicles. We can't continue to be 98-percent dependent on oil to meet our transportation needs. Something has to give. We think the Chevrolet Volt helps bring about the diversity that is needed. If electricity met only 10 percent of the world's transportation needs, the impact would be huge."

GM's E-flex System moves automobile toward new electric age

GM's E-flex System enables multiple propulsion systems to fit into a common chassis, using electric drive to help the world diversify energy sources and establish electricity from the grid as one of those sources.

"The DNA of the automobile has not changed in more than 100 years," said Burns. "Vehicles still operate in pretty much the same fashion as when Karl Benz introduced the 'horseless carriage' in 1886.

"While mechanical propulsion will be with us for many decades to come, GM sees a market for various forms of electric vehicles, including fuel cells and electric vehicles using gas and diesel engines to extend the range. With our new E-flex concept, we can produce electricity from gasoline, ethanol, bio-diesel or hydrogen.

"We can tailor the propulsion to meet the specific needs and infrastructure of a given market. For example, somebody in Brazil might use 100-percent ethanol (E100)

to power an engine generator and battery. A customer in Shanghai might get hydrogen from the sun and create electricity in a fuel cell. Meanwhile, a customer in Sweden might use wood to create bio-diesel."

The Chevrolet Volt is just the first variant of the E-flex System. The Volt uses a large battery and a small, 1.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine to produce enough electricity to go up to 1030 km and provide triple-digit fuel economy. GM will show other variations of the propulsion systems at future auto shows.

"GM is building a fuel cell variant that mirrors the propulsion system in the Chevrolet Sequel (fuel cell concept)," Burns said. "Instead of a big battery and a small engine generator used in the Volt, we would use a fuel cell propulsion system with a small battery to capture energy when the vehicle brakes. Because the Volt is so small and lightweight, we would need only about half of the hydrogen storage as the Sequel to get around 480 km of range."

Future concepts might incorporate diesel generators, bio-diesel and E-100.

Environmentally conscious vehicles can be aesthetically appealing

With exterior proportions associated more with classic sports cars, the Chevrolet Volt conveys an immediate message of agility and sophistication. Twenty-one-inch wheels and sheer, taut surface relationships reiterate the statement. The Volt's athletic design challenges the notion that an environmentally conscious vehicle can't be beautiful and possess an aesthetic spirit that matches its driving characteristics.

"We leveraged our resources around the globe to develop the design aesthetic for the Volt," said Ed Welburn, vice president, GM Global Design. "It was important that the design capture the face of the Chevrolet as it's recognized around the world."

True to the heritage of its Chevrolet bowtie, the Volt's exterior design suggests spirited performance and is wrapped in a stylish package, with classic Chevrolet performance cues that hint at both Camaro and Corvette. On the inside, near-term technologies and innovative materials combine with ingenious use of ambient light for an interior environment that's light, airy and thoughtful.

"First and foremost, this is an advanced technology vehicle that uses little to no fuel at all. But we didn't see any reason why that should compromise its design," said Anne Asensio, executive director, GM Design. Asensio led the design team that created the Volt concept, with designs solicited from GM's studios around the world.

"We wanted a size that connected with everyone, so we designed a small car," said Asensio. "In the end, the interior design team from England inspired the final interior execution, and the exterior is the work of the Michigan advanced design team.

"Our job was to design a vehicle people could easily imagine," said Asensio. "It couldn't be a 'science project,' because that's not what this car is all about. It had to be realistic, executable and carry the essence of the Chevrolet brand."

 General Motors (GM Europe)

General Motors, a company notorious for allegedly conspiring with Big Oil and others to "kill the electric car," is about to roll out a unique, fuel-efficient sedan that could redefine electric vehicles.

The new Chevrolet Volt, which premieres Sunday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, is a new spin on hybrids. The Volt runs exclusively on battery power, but a gas-fueled engine onboard runs the motor and recharges the batteries when they run low.

The sedan uses liquid fuel in the form of gasoline, ethanol or diesel to power the 3-cylinder generator, extending the driving range. Its engine recharges the Volt's batteries in approximately 30 minutes, says GM.

It can go 600 miles or more before needing refueling or recharging, according to GM, and the batteries should last for about 40 miles without recharging. To reduce fuel consumption, drivers can plug the Volt into a standard 110-volt electrical outlet to recharge the batteries in approximately six hours.

The electric vehicles GM has already developed   such as the prototype Impact and the beloved EV1, which became the focus of the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?   received power only from batteries.

Combining electric batteries and plain old gasoline could be a winner because it would enable the Volt to overcome a key problem of previous battery-powered automobiles: going the distance.

"You don't have to plan ahead," said Dan Edmunds, director of vehicle testing at automotive publisher Edmunds. "That's the reason why hybrids have been so popular."

At 170 inches long, the Volt is slightly smaller than a Toyota Prius and goes from 0 to 60 in less than 8.5 seconds. The vehicle on display at the auto show is a concept car, but GM is intent on developing a production version, said Tony Posawatz, GM's vehicle line director. He declined to give a date the car would be available.

The electricity-generation system can be modified to run on gasoline, ethanol, diesel, biodiesel or even a fuel cell in the future, he said.

The Volt has the same operating characteristics as plug-in hybrid vehicles currently being developed (primary battery power supplemented by burning fuel), but hybrids differ because they can simultaneously generate power from a combustion engine and electricity.

Substituting an electric generator for plug-in hybrids' internal-combustion engine simplifies the engineering process because it doesn't require managing multiple power sources, according to Posawatz, and it cuts costs by eliminating a mechanical transmission.

While a hybrid drive train is more energy efficient than the Volt's, the new car will get about 50 mpg when the generator is on.

GM is also developing a plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue Green Line that will likely share battery technology with the Volt, but according to Posawatz, the two platforms serve different purposes: The Volt's technology works for people who frequently drive shorter trips, while plug-in hybrids are better suited for those who often drive a hundred miles or more during a trip or need additional power for hauling.

Though the new car uses a different technology, the batteries in the Volt perform nearly identically to those in the EV1, which GM developed in the 1990s. Posawatz said the Volt's lithium-ion batteries can store about the same amount of power (16 kilowatt-hours) and provide nearly the same vehicle range (40 miles or more) as the EV1's lead-acid batteries. However, the lithium-ion batteries, located under the Volt's chassis and are about a third the size of the EV1's, should last the vehicle's lifetime.

GM has not stated a target price for the Volt, but the lithium-ion batteries alone would cost upward of $10,000 today, Posawatz said.

Ford's New Five-Passenger Hybrid Sport Utility Vehicle
Ford set the stage for its introduction of the 2005 Escape Hybrid Sport Utility Vehicle by taking it on a 37-hour trek through Manhattan immediately before the New York Auto Show using only one tank of gas. The hybrid SUV exeeded Ford's expectations, taking on 576 miles of city driving and averaging more than 38 miles per gallon.

Anticipated Fuel Rating

Ford expects the 2005 Escape Hybrid to be rated at between 35-40 mpg on the EPA city cycle, about 75 percent better than the conventional V-6-powered Ford Escape. The new system doesn't sacrifice performance, delivering acceleration that's similar to that of the V-6.

Conserving Gas, Lowering Emissions

A conventionally powered vehicle burns fuel and creates emissions when it's idling at a red light or stopped in traffic.
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The Escape's hybrid engine shuts down at rest to conserve fuel. When driving resumes, the SUV's 70-kilowatt traction motor generator can launch the vehicle on electric power. When it's needed, the generator starts the gas engine without the increased emissions produced when a conventional engine is started.

Self Recharging

The Escape Hybrid's battery is continually recharged by a system that reclaims energy when the brakes are applied.

Tailpipe Emissions Reduced to Near Zero

Escape Hybrid produces 97 percent less hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen emissions than vehicles meeting today’s required emission standards. That qualifies it for the Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV) standards designation.

The Escape Hybrid also produces as little as half the amount of carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) as a conventional gas engine.

Ford Motor Company is among the leaders in the development of low emission vehicles, working on projects that will someday result in practical hydrogen-powered vehicles that will not produce any greenhouse gas emissions.

6/14/04 - Ford announced prices today for the 2005 Escape hybrid:

* Base price will be $26,380, excluding destination and delivery charges of $590.
* The 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid equipped with four-wheel-drive will start at $28,005

Performance of the Escape Hybrid is almost indistinguishable from the conventional Ford Escape with the 200hp V-6. The main difference is the Hybrid is capable of an honest 40mpg in stop and go driving and 500 miles between fill ups. Cost differential between the conventional Ford Escape XLT and the Escape Hybrid is about $3,500. MSRP: $26,970 (FWD) and $28,595 (4WD Warranty: 3yrs/36,000 miles overall and 8 years/100,000 miles on Hybrid components. _z_trucks_z_);
First Glance
This is the first of the new breed of fuel-efficient hybrid SUVs to appear in the US. What is significant is Ford chose its popular Escape as the vehicle. The “full” hybrid drive system used in the Escape is based on the technology developed for the Toyota Prius, which means it is essentially an electric car with gasoline engine back up. In low load situations such as stop and go, city-type driving, the vehicle runs exclusively on electric power. The battery pack is re-charged or re-generated both when the vehicle is decelerating and when it is braking. It is also recharged when the gasoline engine is operating. The battery pack is located under the rear storage area and doesn’t occupy any of the available storage space. Apart from the very unconventional hybrid drive, the rest of the car is a conventional Ford Escape XLT with either FWD or 4WD. The Escape Hybrid will be assembled in Kansas City (Mo) on the same line as the regular Escape (and the Mazda Tribute). Ford maintains it has “no idea” what the demand will be but according to the affable Saud Abbasi, SUV Brand Manager for Ford of Canada, they are prepared to produce however many or however few are needed to meet it.
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In the Driver’s Seat
2005 Ford Escape Hybrid Photos coming soon
 
 
The Escape Hybrid is basically an electric car with a gasoline engine back up. The main components of the system are a conventional Ford Duratec 2.3L 4-cylinder gasoline engine matched up with a 70KW (equivalent to 94hp) permanent magnet traction motor. The electric motor can propel the car on its own or in concert with gasoline engine to provide performance equivalent to a conventional V-6. The gasoline engine fires up seamlessly (within 400 milliseconds) when additional power is needed such as under hard acceleration or during high speed highway driving. It will also start when the battery charge falls below optimal levels. A planetary gear set connects the drive wheels to the gasoline engine and the electric traction motor so that the vehicle can move on any combination of electric and gasoline power depending on which is more efficient at that instant. The electric motor is most efficient at low vehicle speeds where the gasoline engine is least efficient and vice versa. The Escape Hybrid can be driven up to 25 miles on electric power alone, thus using no gasoline and causing no emissions. Electric assist steering ensures power steering even when the gasoline engine is off.
On the Road
While the basic system used in the Escape Hybrid is licensed from Toyota, Ford’s engineers claim they have considerably modified the Toyota system and, in many instances, improved on it. I don’t know about that but I can say the Escape driving experience is quite different from the Prius. In fact, if you did not know the Escape was a hybrid, you’d be hard pressed to realize you weren’t driving a conventional 200 hp V-6. It is smooth, quiet and amazingly quick. The 0 – 60mph time has to be below 9 seconds, which again puts it well into V-6 territory. In order to optimize the efficiency of the mostly conventional 2.3L Duratec 4-cylinder engine under the hood, some interesting modifications have been made to it. One of the most interesting is the Atkinson-Cycle variant of the conventional 4-stroke cycle. It is tailored to the hybrid’s specific driving characteristics and reduces fuel consumption by an additional 4%. The Atkinson-Cycle variant reduces low-end torque, which is not needed on a Hybrid drive since the electric motors provide instant maximum torque. Power gets to the wheels via a fuel efficient, electronically controlled continuous variable transmission (eCVT). Towing capacity is 1000 lbs.
Journey’s End
 
Ford really has to be commended for this initiative. It almost (but not quite) makes up for a portion of the Expedition and Excursion SUVs it has inflicted on thousands of unsuspecting suburbanites over the past few years. Alain Bratty, who is president of Ford of Canada, said the Escape Hybrid is a perfect example of Bill Ford’s idea of “flexible manufacturing”. You build however many vehicles the market wants rather than however many you have capacity to manufacture. Let’s hope that the market – the critically important US market in particular - wants this one and wants it now. It is a harbinger of the future propulsion systems Americans will have in their automobiles in coming years. And not a moment too soon. After all, who doesn’t want to be able to drive twice as far on a tank of gas while getting great performance? Apart from the “living roof” on the refurbished Ford Rouge manufacturing complex, this is the first tangible sign I’ve seen that Bill Ford is serious about doing the right thing for the environment and about eliminating North Americans’ completely unnecessary waste of costly imported fuel. Bravo, Bill.

DEARBORN, Mich  Dec. 9, 2004   When an exciting, ground-breaking new car or truck goes on sale, chatter normally erupts about the new vehicle at the coffee shop, at the office water cooler, or any place you find fellow car nuts.

But when the world's first full hybrid SUV, the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid, arrived in showrooms earlier this year, people began sharing hybrid ideas and thoughts someplace else. They gathered in a place appropriate for such a technically-advanced automobile, Internet message boards.

New to Internet message boards? These are Web sites that allow users to share praise, criticism, concerns or suggestions with anyone who happens to be logged on. Type comments into a text field, press a button, and the words just typed appear within a string of related comments from other users. Message boards with recent discussion about the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid include escape-central.com, hybridcars.com, fordforums.com, Edmunds.com and Yahoo!Autos.com.

Judging by the postings on these boards, early Escape Hybrid owners are posting enthusiastic notices on a broad range of topics. They are closely watching the mileage they get, and they like the numbers. The SUV's general performance is drawing praise, too. Escape Hybrid owners are pleased with their purchase and they're spreading the word.


After a 180-mile drive in a new Titanium Green Escape Hybrid, one new owner had this to say on Escape-Central.com: "The Escape handled steep hills with no complaints whatsoever and provided all the power I asked of it. The battery never dipped below full…I was hoping that the Escape Hybrid would (combine the best) of the (Toyota) Prius and Explorer. For my money, Ford has nailed that ideal. I am a happy camper."

Gas mileage is another topic popular among message board users. Some Escape Hybrid owners measured their gas mileage in the first days of driving and posted thoughts such as this one on hybridcars.com: "After a full day of driving, basically (I drive about 175 miles per day) I get around 30.5 mpg driving 70 mph   without a lead foot and around 34.3 at 60-65 mph. Around town for short trips, it's around 44 mph."

Another user on hybridcars.com is a stickler for numbers.

"Assuming you pay $3,000 more for an Escape Hybrid over a comparable V6 small SUV, you should get 33 MPG on average versus about 20 MPG. The $1,500 tax incentive for 2004 will be worth about $500 for many buyers. That leaves $2,500 to be offset with fuel savings. Fuel cost for 12,000 miles (at $2.00 per gallon) equals $1,164 non-hybrid and $727 for Escape Hybrid for an annual savings of $437. By 5.7 years, the Hybrid cost has been offset. Add to that the additional perks like being able to drive in the HOV lanes (assuming Federal approvals), 100,000-mile warranty on the battery pack, transmission and motor, and huge bragging rights."

One user on Escape-Central.com said the Escape Hybrid drives as well as the 200 horsepower 3.0-liter V-6 model: "It is freaking awesome. It feels like a regular SUV. You can tell when the engine shuts down and starts up, but it is so smooth you can barely notice. After awhile I am sure it will be unnoticeable. Gas and brake pedals feel natural. When I get on it, it accelerates like a V-6."

An optional 4-inch color display on the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid shows fuel consumption and the operating state of the system in real-time.
By 2000 miles, this participant on Escape-Central.com had experienced so much with his Escape Hybrid that he started calling his SUV, "she."

"I am very pleased with this rig. She has performed wonderfully in all types of driving conditions. From flat out highway to stop and go traffic jams to general city stoplight to stoplight driving. Overall my average MPG is starting to slowly creep up as she gets broken in. I started at about 29 and now I am close to 33....Last week we got one hell of a rain storm and she again was amazing. Handled well in the down pours, great stopping ability in the rain, and good traction."

Another environmental website takes a different approach in enabling web surfers to share ideas. The website for the Union of Concerned Scientists, suvsolutions.com, lets users send a prewritten e-mail to Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford.

The e-mail begins: "I am writing to applaud your company’s introduction of the first hybrid SUV   the Escape Hybrid. By bringing this fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicle to the market, you have shown that every class of automobile can benefit from the advances of hybrid technology. You have also started an extremely valuable market identity for your company as the leader in providing a better SUV that combines on-road and environmental performance in one package."

The 2006 Escape hybrid was the first commercially available Hybrid SUV, as well as the Truck of the Year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2005.

Not long ago, the hybrid Escape was also named the 11th Greenest Vehicle - a first for an SUV.

Recently, Ford announced that the Escape hybrid will be completely redesigned for the 2008 model. The 2008 Escape hybrid will offer a tougher look, more airbags and Ford's new Ice Blue dashboard lighting scheme, in addition to seats made of recycled materials. Additionally, the 2008 Escape hybrid will cost almost $1000 less than last year's model!

Even better, Ford is currently offering some nice incentives on the Escape hybrid. For example, Ford offers either $2000 cash back in some areas on Escape purchases. Or, you can finance the Escape hybrid for 36 months at 0 percent, plus $1000.00 cash back.

As for 2007, it will be interesting to see what happens to Ford Escape hybrid sales when Toyota hybrids run out of tax credits, especially if gas prices continue to rise.
-> My Escape hybrid test drive

And things look good for the Escape hybrid. According to a recent Edmunds study, the Escape hybrid can now recover its hybrid costs in just 3 years.

How the Escape hybrid does it.

Combining two electric motors - one to drive the wheels and one to turn over the gasoline engine - with the standard Escape 2.3-liter four-cylinder gas engine, the Escape Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is achieves almost 35 mpg and performs as well as the 200-hp V-6 version.

The hybrid Escape's gasoline engine has been modified to run on the Atkinson cycle, unlike the standard Escape, which like all conventional automobiles, runs on the Otto cycle.

This cycle runs more efficiently, using less air and fuel, but also reduces engine horsepower, and that's when the electric motors kick in.

One motor drives the wheels on the Escape hybrid, the other starts the engine and manages the transmission's ratio.

Electric motors improve fuel economy in city driving, allowing the vehicle to be powered by electric power only, and also by capturing energy more efficiently.

And, yes, you still have to keep gas in the hybrid Escape.

Ford created a number of new technologies developing the Escape hybrid, and the automaker hopes to receive more than 100 new patents from Escape hybrid production.

Similar to other hybrids, the Ford Escape utilizes a variable transmission system, called an Electronically Controlled Continuously Variable Transmission or eCVT. This allows the distribution of power between the gasoline engine and the electric motor to be determined by driving conditions, allowing the gas engine to shut off when the electric engine can provide enough power to run the hybrid SUV.

This feature allows the Ford Escape hybrid to significantly increase fuel-efficiency.

The Escape also uses regenerative braking, allowing the vehicle to recapture some of the vehicle's kinetic energy to recharge the hybrid's battery pack.

How Does the Hybrid Escape perform?

Most important, the Ford Escape Hybrid can perform at any level, on-road or off-road, as well as, if not better, than the standard Escape.

O.K., that's not totally true. The Ford Escape hybrid, like the Prius, can have problems with mountain driving, or very steep hills. Combined with the wind resistance caused by the square design of SUVs, and sluggish performance can occur, but such conditions are rare in a daily commute.

For those that have to have an SUV, but feel guilty about purchasing a gas-guzzling SUV, the Escape Hybrid is the perfect solution.

The biggest downside of the Escape hybrid is cost. The hybrid components of the Escape add about $3000.00 to the cost of the hybrid versus the conventional Escape. Additionally, Ford is often packaging the Escape hybrid with lots of extras.
Escape Hybrid Stories

  2008 Ford Escape hybrid debuts

  Buying a New or Used Ford Escape hybrid

> Ford delivers flex-fuel Escape hybrids

> Kelly picks Escape hybrid for fuel efficiency

> Some very interesting Ford Escape hybrid taxi facts

> Hybrid Escape an Intellichoice Best Deal

> Ford's Mulally wants to fight global warming

> Escape hybrid is Best SUV under $28,000 according to Intellichoice

> Ford's E85 Escape hybrids - Just sell 'em

> What will second generation Ford hybrid powertrain offer?

> Escape hybrid sales surge in October

> 2007 Most Fuel Efficient SUV is hybrid Escape

> Escape hybrid recall

> Escape hybrid breaks even in 3 years

> NY Times gives props to Escape hybrid

> Ford's hybrid vehicle plans still very alive, 70 mpg Focus

> Surprise, Surprise? Ford Breaks Hybrid Promises

> Ford Expedition hybrid, with leased GM hybrid technology?

> Army Converting Escape hybrid into hydrogen hybrid

> Ford Committed to Hybrid Vehicles

> The next Ford Escape hybrid will be different than a conventional Escape

> Ford's Slow Hybrid Sales Surge 50% in April

> Army Converting Escape hybrid into hydrogen hybrid

> Hybrid Escape one of the hottest Cars In America

> Interest-free financing for Escape hybrid, for some

> Slow hybrid sales push Ford incentives

> Why I like the Flex-fuel Ford Escape hybrid

> Hymotion offering plug-in kit for the Escape hybrid soon

> 2008 Escape hybrid will have bolder design

> Ford shows of ethanol Escape hybrid at Chicago Auto Show

> What happens when the Toyota runs out of tax deductions? An Escape hybrid explosion

> 2006 Tax deduction for the Escape hybrid

> Escape hybrid is an Intellichoice Best Buy of 2006

> Ford Escape hybrid gas mileage according to owners

> The future of Ford's hybrid vehicles

> Ford pushes increased tax incentives for hybrid cars

> A real hybrid statement from Ford, try hybrid trucks

> Ford hybrid taxis; GM's Chinese hybrids: Hype or the winds of change?

> Ford answers hybrid concerns

> Ford Escape hybrid will not qualify for the California carpool lane exemption

> Escape hybrid will qualify for new clean vehicle tax credits

> Ford Escape hybrid inventories

> Ford Escape hybrid the 11th Greenest Vehicle

> Ford Escape Hybrid Truck of the Year at the North American International Auto Show

> Hybrid vehicles: Full versus Mild?

> Hybrid vehicle production slowed due to battery shortage

> Test driving the Escape Hybrid

> Ford Escape Hybrid SUV leads Detroit

> Economist Magazine calls Ford Escape Hybrid SUV groundbreaking

>> More Hybrid Car Information

Some people have been bothered by the hybrid Escape's drive-by-wire brake and accelerator controls, as well as the electric power steering, claiming less responsiveness, but I didn't notice this much on my test drive.

> Test driving the Escape Hybrid

Essentially, Ford isn't offering the Escape hybrid as an alternative to a base 4 cylinder Escape, but rather to a fully loaded 6-cylinder Escape.

Unfortunately, the hybrid Escape is not quite as fast as the conventional 6-cylinder Escape.

Nonetheless, the move also makes Ford the leader in U.S. hybrid technology, providing the first full hybrid by one of the American Big 3, in addition to the first hybrid SUV

Ford plans to sell about 20,000 of the hybrids in 2005. As of January, about 3000 Escape hybrids had been sold. Ford was prepared to produce as many as 45,000 of the SUVs this year, but such plans have been hampered by limited hybrid battery components.

The East of England’s ability to reach new heights of innovation in the automotive sector and produce technologies capable of transforming the motoring industry’s approach to environmentally important topics was demonstrated again this week when the Peterborough-based Lightning Car Company revealed its high-performance entirely battery-run super car.

Joining innovators such as Lotus, racing technology norfolk, Lola and Axon, Lightning has announced its development of a range of 700 bhp Lightning electric cars, for the first time genuinely harnessing electric motive power and uniting it with class-leading sports car design, engineering and production.

Continental Automotive Systems announced on Thursday 21 June that General Motors has awarded it a co-development contract to design and build prototype battery systems for the Chevrolet Volt “E-Flex” electric vehicle propulsion system. In an effort to speed time-to-market the companies will jointly explore various aspects of lithium ion battery technology.

Continental has more than 10 years experience developing automotive-grade batteries and is scheduled to deploy the lithium technology in a production vehicle next year. In 2003 it pioneered with GM the first production hybrid drivetrain for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Hybrids. The company has a hybrid development centre in Berlin.

You're choking down these $3 gallons of gas, waiting for one of the low-emissions, high-mileage cars just over the horizon. Then you'll ditch the 18-mpg sport-utility vehicle and get into a 75-mpg plug-in, gas-electric hybrid SUV.

If this strategy sounds familiar, you are probably seeing too many media features about coming auto technology. Many fail to mention realistic time lines for the efficient new cars. Readers have even sent e-mails asking why I don't review plug-in hybrids. The answer? They don't yet exist on the consumer market and won't anytime soon.

Driving from Kearny Mesa to Carlsbad City Hall on Monday, Joel Pointon, manager of the clean transportation program for San Diego Gas & Electric, kept a close eye on his gas mileage.

He averaged 80 miles per gallon, he said. On the way home, he was hoping to do even better.

Pointon was test driving one of two hybrid-electric vehicles that SDG&E recently converted into rechargeable plug-in hybrids to evaluate and give the public an advance look at an emerging technology.

Like a standard hybrid vehicle, plug-ins use both electricity and gasoline, but they rely more heavily on electricity. A standard wall outlet becomes, in effect, a convenient fuel pump that can recharge the battery during off-peak hours, when electricity rates are lower.

SDG&E road tested the cars for half a year before making the conversions. The next six months will be spent evaluating changes in gas milage, electricity use, driver experiences, safety and maintenance, said Jennifer Briscoe a spokeswoman for the utility. That performance comparison, which is slated for completion next year, will help fleet operators and regular consumers evaluate the plug-in technology to see if it's right for them, Briscoe said.

On Monday, Pointon showed off his car   a Toyota Prius with a cloud-themed paint job   to a small crowd of Carlsbad residents and city officials during an informational meeting at City Hall.

City Councilwoman Julie Nygaard said Carlsbad may one day consider the technology for city vehicles.

"We're looking into it," she said. "We tend to be sort of futurists in Carlsbad."

In California, transportation accounts for 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, Briscoe said in a telephone interview. SDG&E estimates that if all cars converted into plug-in hybrids, that number would drop to 20 percent, she said.

Don Christiansen, a Carlsbad resident who has been active in environmental issues and helped organize Monday's presentation, said he sees many advantages to plug-in hybrids: They hold the potential to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and cut down on the "millions of little polluting vehicles on the road spitting out their noxious fumes," he said.

Plus, the basic infrastructure   wall sockets and gas pumps  - is already in place, he said.

But widespread use of plug-in hybrids isn't likely to happen for years. For now, plug-in technology is only available as an aftermarket conversion, and for most people, the cost would be prohibitively high. SDG&E paid $38,000 to convert its two hybrids, Briscoe said.

"We're not suggesting the public go out and do this," Pointon said. He called the conversion a "community education project," but added that the first plug-in hybrids would hit the commercial marketplace in 2010.

Ultimately, Christiansen said, automakers should treat it "like an upgrade in stereo or leather seats."

"We would like to see these coming off the factory line like just another option," he said.

Plug in a smarter U.S. energy policy

July 25, 2007

What if there were a new kind of car that saved drivers money on gas and at the same time reduced global-warming pollution and decreased reliance on foreign oil? Like, for instance, a plug-in hybrid electric.

A smart Congress would foster the car's development and find energy-efficiency alternatives until it was ready for market. It would seize this symbol to give America hope of a clean, secure energy future.

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The House has an opportunity to engage in more than symbolism when it takes up what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calls an "Energy Independence Day Initiative." So far, though, the package is like having only one glove on a cold winter day   useful, but not all that's needed.

It contains good provisions on appliance efficiency, biofuels development, electricity grid improvements, and consumer tax benefits. It rolls back outrageous giveaways to oil and gas companies.

What's missing are the big-ticket items that would really make a difference: a fuel-economy standard and a renewable electricity portfolio standard.

Maybe if Congress saw the whole picture needed to develop a plug-in hybrid   instead of just supporting a few incentives   it could map a better energy future for America.

But until plug-ins are ready for market, the fastest, cheapest way to save fuel and money is a 35 miles-per-gallon fuel-economy standard.

A prototype hybrid car that can be recharged using an ordinary home electric outlet could be on streets as early as this month, sources said Wednesday.

Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to get the green light from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to make test-runs of the vehicle on public roads, the sources said.

The company will be the first Japanese carmaker to win approval from the ministry for plug-in hybrid tests, giving it a jump-start on other manufacturers eager to get ahead in the burgeoning hybrid market.

Toyota will use the tests to collect practical data on the car's performance as a step toward putting the revolutionary vehicles on sale.

The plug-in hybrid vehicle will be more environmentally friendly than existing hybrid cars.

The new car has been designed to capitalize on technology already developed by Toyota in the manufacture of previous models of hybrids.

The plug-in has been developed based on the enormously successful Prius hybrid.

Current hybrid models are fitted with nickel-hydrogen batteries.

In order to make large-capacity charging necessary for the plug-in possible, Toyota switched to lithium-ion batteries.

Toyota is the only car manufacturer in Japan that has applied to the transport minister for approval of plug-in hybrid vehicles as experimental cars.

Once the car is ready to be sold commercially, Toyota intends to lease the vehicles to government agencies as a first stage in marketing.

Conventional hybrid vehicles run on a combination of gasoline engines and electric motors constantly recharged by an onboard engine.

Plug-in hybrids use less gasoline than conventional hybrids. They can be recharged at home and can run entirely on electricity for as long as the power lasts.

Electric vehicles that run only on electricity are said to be more environmentally friendly than hybrid vehicles because they have no emissions and do not use gasoline.

However, the cars can run only short distances before they run out of juice.

Toyota says plug-in hybrids offer the best of both kinds of vehicles

Want to be the first on your block with a $50,000 Toyota Prius?

Head to Hybrids Plus in Boulder, Colo., and leave your Prius with their technicians. Go skiing or something, come back in three or four days with a check for $24,000 and you will have one of the nation's very few plug-in hybrids that should easily get 100 miles per gallon.

A plug-in is an ordinary hybrid with an electric motor and gasoline engine that has been modified   usually by upgrading its battery pack or adding more batteries   so it can go a lot farther on electric power than it normally does. On Thursday, a study funded by the Natural Resources Defense Council and a power-industry group lined up behind advocates in dubbing plug-ins the car of the future, albeit the distant future.

That study said greenhouse gas emissions and domestic oil consumption would drop sharply if plug-in hybrid technology became widespread by 2050. Mass production of the vehicles, however, is years away.

Still, Bay Area Prius lovers can have their very own supergreen car right now   for a price.

A normal Prius retails at a Toyota showroom for about $23,000, but frequently sells for more because the cars are in such demand.

Hybrids Plus is one of the few outfits in the country that, for another $24,000 or so, will remove the nickel metal hydride battery that comes with the Prius and replace it with a more powerful lithium ion battery.

"We're converting cars for private customers," said Hybrids Plus CEO Carl Lawrence. "We have a guy coming in Thursday. He's buying the extension pack that doubles the range. That's an additional $8,000"   making it a $60,000 Prius.

"We've been selling to whoever walks in the door and wants one," Lawrence said. Mostly, he noted, they're rich.

Most of the 50-odd plug-in hybrids that have been manufactured in the United States and Canada have been put into use as demonstrators for government fleets and for utilities that want to show how efficient a mostly electric-powered car can be.

Living with a plug-in hybrid, drivers say, can have its quirks.

"The first thing you notice is that it's quiet," said Sven Thesen, a supervisor in the Clean Transportation Program at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Thesen frequently uses a plug-in hybrid Prius that is in the PG&E fleet.

"If you're under 34 mph and not gassing it   that's a silly term for an electric vehicle   it's silent," Thesen said. "It's more quiet than your normal Prius."

At home, all one needs to recharge the car is an extension cord and an outlet in the garage. On the road, however, it's a different story.

"There's a plug mounted in the bumper," Thesen said. "When I'm on the road and I take the car to a hotel, I drive around the parking lot looking for a Coke machine. When I find one, I park close to it, so I can plug in where the Coke machine is. ... Then it takes six to eight hours to charge."

PG&E is using a plug-in hybrid made by Energy CS in Southern California. The car, which has been dubbed "Sparky," is driven around the Bay Area and taken to public demonstrations mainly as an education tool, Thesen said.

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