Plugged-In Hybrid Tantalizes Car Buffs

The Orange County Prius Club was fortunate enough to have Greg Hansen join us today with the car. Quite impressive. He's been able to get as much as 200 miles to the gallon over the last week.

 

I'll do the honors.

I'll be the one to ask the stupid question.

What happens if you have a flat? Where's the spare?

Can the cargo mat be put over that so you can still haul groceries in the cargo area?

 

Stop at a gas station, pump a gallon of gas and then drive 200 miles and I'll believe it, if you have to plug it in it's not 200 of 100 MPG.

I know electricity is a lot cheaper than gas, but still it does not make it a 100 mpg.

Let's just hope they get to do it some day.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how creative and positive hybrid owners and companies can be regarding improving mileage. However, that being said, $12,000/conversion is flat out robbery. Break even would be about 35 years at $2.25/gallon over 15K miles/yr.

 

I wonder about tax credits

Would this plugin car be eligible for HOV access nationwide ?
Federal and State tax credits for EV cars ?

My battery pack is obviously still quite new, but at 150K miles or so, an upgrade that costs $5K or so after incentives would be a wonderful option.

 

A plug-in hybrid seems to defeat the "big picture" purpose of a hybrid, which is to use less fossil fuels. Since most of the electricity in the US is produced by burning fossil fuels, this would actually increase the US reliance on foreign oil.

Just my two cents.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mitch528\";p=\"102403)</div>

Not if enough electricity was being produced through photovoltaic panels and being fed back into the grid. In areas such as the Southwest this is what should be happening. Every suitable roof space should have photovoltaic panels installed generating electricity. I can't say what fossil fuels are being used to produce the panels, boxes, wires, etc. But it can't be more than what would be used to generate a comperable amount of electicity through the life of the panels. (I've read 25 years for some.)

Areas where photovoltaic isn't so efficient? How about....wind turbines? Windmill farms generating electricity.

BTW Kyocera has just inaugurated their "solar grove" parking lot structure. Panels generate electricity and they shade the cars underneath. Ultimately, the cars underneath could also be charged up by the panels that are providing them with shade.

 

Seems like a very good idea (especially if electricity is generated from clean resources (water/wind/solar etc).
Was wondering if the Battery Pack life would suffer though. THe Battery Pack is supposed to be kept charged up to lengthen it's life. Constant cycles of draining/charging batteries reduce their life. The extra cost of replacement batteries would have to be allowed for.

 

But technology isn't going to stay status quo.

Every year there are going to be advances. And the more demand there is for improvements, the more improvements there will be.

Now that hybrids are taking off, we are going to see advances in the battery technology.

And as the demand for solar grids rises, the improvements in that technology will be developed as well.

Look 5 years and 10 years down the road.

And in the end there will not be one single solution to the fossil fuel problem. There will be many smaller solutions working together. An Energy Synergy Solution if you will.

 

Little electricity in the US is produced by burning oil so plug-in hybrids would help the import picture. But you're right in that most electricity in the US comes from burning coal or natural gas. Factoring in transmission losses a plug-in hybrid does little to reduce overall CO2 emissions unless the operator has access to a non-fossil source. (Utilities with all-renewables options include Green Mountain. My house pays about a 10% premium for it.)

 

I'm open to any ideas, but it seems like we should get people comfortable with this generation of hybrids before adding any more to the "weirdness factor."

People reacted very badly to the electric cars of the 90's because they had to be plugged in. I'm not sure why everyone is suddenly so excited about the idea of a plug-in hybrid.