Should we expect to see “plug-in” hybrid
cars anytime soon?
Gasoline-electric hybrids now, like Toyota’s
popular Prius, don’t need to be plugged in — you just fill
their tanks with gasoline and the battery is charged by the internal
combustion engine and by energy generated from the wheels when braking (a
feature known as regenerative braking). The battery then powers the
electric motor when it is called into service during idling, backing up,
crawling in gridlock, and maintaining speed while cruising and for extra
uphill power when needed. The electric motor is essentially a backup
engine, whereas the hybrid relies mainly on the gasoline engine.
Plug-in hybrids take the concept further by plugging
into a regular electric outlet to enable the vehicle to operate solely on
its electric motor for ranges of 40 to 50 miles or more on a single charge.
This has profound implications for commuters who need only drive short
distances to and from work every day and who may be able to do so solely on
electric power. The gasoline engine then becomes the supplemental one for
when the car needs to travel farther than the electric engine can take it.
According to researchers at the University of
California, Davis, the electricity cost for powering a plug-in hybrid is
only about a quarter of the cost of powering a like-sized gasoline vehicle.
Other benefits include far fewer fill-ups at gas stations and the
convenience of recharging at home.
Toyota, currently the world’s largest producer
of hybrid vehicles by far, thanks to the success of its Prius, announced
that it expects to have a commercially viable plug-in hybrid available to
consumers as early as 2010 and that it is now testing prototype versions of
plug-in hybrids at two California universities.
Felix Kramer of the California Cars Initiative, a
nonprofit dedicated to promoting plug-ins, calls Toyota’s
announcement “stunning and very welcome,” and says that these
vehicles will be the cleanest practical cars on the road in a world where
gas stations dot just about every intersection. The promise of such cars,
says CCI on its Web site, is that drivers will have a “cleaner,
cheaper, quieter car for local travel, and the gas tank is always there
should you need to drive longer distances.”
U.S. automakers are also jumping onto the plug-in
bandwagon. General Motors says that it will have mass-market plug-in
hybrids on the road by 2010. Ford has also developed a small fleet of
plug-ins but is not yet ready to offer them to the public. Fisker, a U.S.
start-up focusing on the creation of high-performance energy-efficient
vehicles, plans to sell an $80,000 plug-in hybrid sports car by late 2009.
Chrysler’s Sprinter van was the first plug-in from a major U.S.
manufacturer, but it is only presently available to a limited number of
institutions as a fleet vehicle.
Plug-ins have also caught on elsewhere. Chinese
carmaker BYD plans to sell a plug-in hybrid sedan in the U.S. within five
years, and Volkswagen hopes to have a plug-in hybrid Golf ready to roll by
2010.
For more information:
California Cars Initiative, www.calcars.org; BYD, www.byd.com; General
Motors,
www.gm.com/experience/fuel_economy/news/2008/hybrids/plug_in_vue_011008.jsp;
Fisker,
jalopnik.com/344419/detroit-auto-show-fisker-karma-luxury-hybrid-only-80000.
Send questions to Earth Talk, care of E/The Environmental Magazine,
P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881 or e-mail earthtalk@emagazine.com.
This article appears in Aug 14-20, 2008.
