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Austin Kicks Off Plug-In Hybrid Campaign

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by rebbi, Oct 10, 2005.

  1. rebbi

    rebbi New Member

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    Our local electric utility, Austin Energy, sends out a newsletter with your monthly bill. This month's newsletter included the following, accompanied by a computer graphic of a Prius with a trailing electric plug:

    AUSTIN KICKS OFF PLUG-IN HYBRID CAMPAIGN

    The City of Austin became the first city in America to officially launch a community-wide campaign to promote the mass production of plug-in Hybrids. Plug-ins would use today's new gas-electric hybrid technology but would have a larger battery that could be recharged by plugging it into a standard wall socket. The battery wold be sufficient to meet daily commuting needs that would reduce annual gasoline consumption for many Americans by as much as 70%. This would also greatly improve air quality by reducing pollution from automobiles. The Austin plan, viewed as a template for communities nationwide, includes:

    • City Council resolution supporting the mass production of plug-in hybrid vehicles
    • Local seed money (Austin energy will provide $1 million) to help local governments, businesses and citizens purchase an initial round of plug-ins.
    • Commitments for fleet orders by the City,County, and other local governmental agencies and businesses
    • A grass roots petition drive to collect signatures from citizens expressing an interest in buying a plug-in

    The appeal of plug-in vehicles is underscored by the fact that 78% of Americans live within 20 miles of their jobs. A battery pack sufficient to power a vehicle 35 miles on a charge would mean a majority of Americans would likely need to fill up with gasoline only once or twice a month. In addition, an "electric" gallon of gas would cost 70 to 80 cents at prevailing electric rates. A plug-in hybrid that gets 30 miles to a gallon of $2.55-national-average gasoline could travel more than 100 miles on $2.55 worth of "electric" gallons of energy.
    Plug-in hybrids also represent a new potential revenue source for electric utilities and match up well with wind-generated power [which Austin Energy offers under its "Green Choice" program] which is produced most abundantly overnight, when most plug-ins would be recharged.
     
    #1 rebbi, Oct 10, 2005
  2. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    that is awesome. there are a few companies in So. Cal that are providing charging stations so one with an EV would be able to recharge while at work thus increasing their range. if that were done. then commute distances could be nearly doubled.

    sure its a lot of blood, sweat and tears away... but gotta start somewhere and it does fill the need of a huge amount of people
     
    #2 DaveinOlyWA, Oct 10, 2005
  3. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    The question is, is their *grid* prepared to handle it? Grid-
    charging nearly doubles the electrical intake of your average
    household.
    .
    _H*
     
    #3 hobbit, Oct 10, 2005
  4. geologyrox

    geologyrox New Member

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    hmmm... now, i'm not average, i'm sure. but we pay ~200 a month in electric during the summer. and i use (in my not-so-efficient Camry) about 10 gallons a week. if their numbers are right, thats about $9 in electric, or about $40 a month. Even if their numbers are off by quite a lot (which they probably are - most electrical companies have NOT yet changed their prices with this latest round of fuel increases) you aren't looking at a doubling. did i miss the point of what you were saying?
     
    #4 geologyrox, Oct 10, 2005
  5. rebbi

    rebbi New Member

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    Can't tell you much about that, although I have friends who work for Austin Energy who might know. What's inspiring is that Austin Energy is involved in a lot of other "outside the box" projects: wind power from West Texas turbines (which you can buy into via their Green Choice program) rebates and free hauling and recycling for old refrigerators when you buy a new, Energy Star model, major rebates on the purchase of front-loading, HE washing machines, and even a program to pay for (I think I've got this right) up to 80% of some residential solar energy conversions. You can look here on their website.
     
    #5 rebbi, Oct 10, 2005
  6. tideland_raj

    tideland_raj New Member

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    I think it should be less of a problem than it appears, even if the "double your average" statistic is accurate, since you'll most likely be charging your car during off-peak hours, given a standard commute schedule.

    All in all, this sounds awesome, and I envy them their potential grid-overload problem... after all, that means that the PHEV acceptance and usage problems have been tackled and overcome :)
     
    #6 tideland_raj, Oct 10, 2005
  7. aridon99

    aridon99 New Member

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    I recently attended a talk by the founder of calcars.org here in Palo Alto at the Xerox lab. He pointed out the Austin endorsement was coming. He mentioned that Austin has such an abundant amount of electricity on their grid from wind that it would be the equivalent of paying $.10-20 cents per gallon if plug-in hybrids were available to the public. Austin is spending about $1 million on the plug-in endorsement.
     
    #7 aridon99, Oct 10, 2005
  8. rebbi

    rebbi New Member

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    Yes, and that's the marvelous thing about "Green Choice." You can opt to subscribe, and then a certain portion of your electricity comes from wind turbine power. My employer, for example, gets 25% of its power from Green Choice. My understanding (which may not be totally accurate) is that you pay a somewhat higher rate up front, but lock that rate in for something like 10 years.

    Take care,

    Steve :rolleyes:
     
    #8 rebbi, Oct 10, 2005
  9. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    I didn't understand how the "green choice" and related campaigns
    work, so I went and googled for it and found that the power companies
    do say right up front that they can't specifically send the "green
    electrons" to specific customers. Of course not, there's only one
    set of distribution wires to the neighborhood. What it amounts to
    is a higher rate per kwh, the idea being that the excess goes to fund
    support and development of more green sources, but now my concern is
    how much of that excess is simply going into the pockets of
    bureaucrats rather than where those well-intentioned customers think.
    .
    _H*
     
    #9 hobbit, Oct 15, 2005
  10. Charles Suitt

    Charles Suitt Senior Member

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    :mellow: I'm with hobbit, in a way... as for "green power."

    If any of you are fans of "Keeping Up Appearances" - the British TV comedy series - you may recall how Hyacinth (the lady "star"), in an interchange with her milkman, insisted she wanted milk from specific cows and the same milk bottles she had returned. Hyacinth had a similar interchange with the water utilities company. "Green power" is the same, once power is in the grid, it is intermingled and comes from a blend of all power sources. Would you, for example, try to insist on gasolene made from "only Texas crude" or "only California crude" or "absolutely no Saudi crude?"
     
    #10 Charles Suitt, Oct 15, 2005
  11. geologyrox

    geologyrox New Member

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    i'm not certain why it matters - i don't know about green choice, but i've looked into the green certificates from 3phase and others. i am under the impression that people who produce energy above and beyond their needs can 'sell it' to their electric company. that amount of energy is marked as 'renewable' and a certificate is issued - and someone in Florida (like me) can buy that certificate, and noone else can. I get to say that someone contributed energy to the common grid, and that i paid him (via a middleman or three) for my right to say that the amount of power i consumed locally was OFFSET by an equal amount of renewable energy that noone else can claim.

    I think it's actually a pretty cool idea - i'm sure some portion (don't know how much) goes to the electrical company for 'handling' or to the sellers like 3phase, but the fact remains that what it does is make renewable power a commodoty you can buy and sell over distances. i think paying an extra 15% is worth giving an edge to pwople who produce renewable power. no, you aren't getting their electrons. why does it matter?
     
    #11 geologyrox, Oct 15, 2005
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