Take This Car And PLUG IT!
The smartest hybrid owners can't wait to connect
their cars to the power grid. If you have a Prius, 2004 or newer, you’ll
soon be able to do just that. Or buy a Plug In Hybrid, ready to
roll.
IMAGE: BRYAN CHRISTIE DESIGN
George Bush says we’ll deal just fine with skyrocketing fuel prices by developing hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars -- by 2020. Thanks, George. Meanwhile, we get to pay $3 -- $5 -- $10 a gallon. Make tons of profits for your Oil Patch buddies. Maybe even keep General Motors from going out of business altogether.
Now, a derivative of hybrids that will improve fuel economy even more by maximizing the use of the electric motor is poised to make what is already an undeniably attractive concept downright irresistible. Some of the most eager owners of the Prius, the world's most popular hybrid, have been hacking the cars, swapping their 1.3-kilowatthour battery packs for bigger ones with capacities as large as 9 kWh.
The modifications also include the addition of plugs so the new, bigger battery packs can be recharged from wall outlets. The resulting machines, referred to as plug-in hybrids, can be propelled exclusively by their electric motors for, in some cases, more than 30 kilometers without their gasoline engines ever turning on. The factory-built Prius can run on electricity only, but for just a kilometer or two.
The best all-round article I’ve seen, so far, recently appeared at SFGate.com. It starts out with a segment about Ron Gremban, an electrical engineer who spent $3,000 stuffing off-the-shelf components into his Prius hybrid -- and, now, gets up to 80 mpg. Extra batteries, parts letting him plug-in to his house current overnight, allow him to add to the mix of fuel efficiency for an additional reduction in daily operating costs and overall emissions.
Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting. The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb — all for about a quarter.
He's part of a small but growing movement. "Plug-in" hybrids aren't yet cost-efficient, but some of the dozen known experimental models have gotten up to 250 mpg.
Gremban rigged his car to promote the nonprofit CalCars Initiative, a San Francisco Bay area-based volunteer effort that argues automakers could mass produce plug-in hybrids at a reasonable price.
Meanwhile, the “Set America Free” report “pits a group that includes influential Republicans against a Republican president on the question of whether the country should continue to spend several hundred million dollars a year to promote far-off hydrogen vehicles when it could do more today to accelerate adoption of hybrid-electric and alternative-fuel vehicles.”
Posted: Sun - August 14, 2005 at 07:38 AM