A grassroots coalition of U.S. cities including
Austin, Baltimore, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, joined by electric utilities kicked off Tuesday a
campaign to get automakers to speed development of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).Basically a gas-electric hybrid with bigger batteries, PHEVs target an electric-only operating range of 25 to 35 miles. Recharging from a 110V socket at today's electricity rates would mean consumers were buying "fuel" at about 75 cents per "electric gallon."
The campaign is called "Plug-In Partners," and already includes almost a dozen cities, spearheaded by Austin, Texas, which has pledged $1 million in city rebates for its citizens and businesses purchasing PHEVs.
The campaign will use petition drives, pledges (or "soft orders") to buy PHEVs when available, and community incentive programs to lobby automakers. More details at pluginpartners.org.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
G. Snyder @ Jan 24th 2006 5:08PM
This would not address the fact that the elecricity from the grid is likely developed by fossil fuel as well, albeit more efficiently. A great start though!
EricNH @ Jan 24th 2006 5:14PM
If the electric utilities are behind it I would question motivations and if it was really good for the consumer. They just feel the traditional gas hybrids are taking away a future customer base.
Ekow @ Jan 24th 2006 5:20PM
GEEZUS guys, can we stop talking about F'n plug in hybrids...do people on this site REALLY care about that?
rip @ Jan 24th 2006 6:31PM
25-35 miles... heh.
Interesting that California's electric grid is near capacity, yet they want to encourage more use?
Scott @ Jan 24th 2006 6:34PM
Good luck with the brown-outs!
Lee Gibson @ Jan 24th 2006 6:43PM
OK, whenever somebody starts talking about "electric gallons", proceed from the assumption that they're trying to cheat you.
How are you going to get a meaningful comparison of mileage on these things?
kap0w @ Jan 24th 2006 6:47PM
I agree that it's not that big of a deal either way - stopgap measures are just that - but in certain cities this makes a lot of sense. San Diego and LA are way too big and the grid is already taxed. Seattle is much more compact, however, and we've got enough hydropower to go around. My commute is only a few miles each way, so not only could I use this, but my gas car gets horrible mileage the way I drive it now.
Felix Kramer @ Jan 24th 2006 6:50PM
1.GSNyder: on a well-to-wheel basis (apples to apples comparison) electric vehicles are cleaner in emissions and greenhouse gases on the national (half-coal) grid than gasoline vehicles. See http://www.calcars.org/vehicles.html#cleaner
2.EricNH: You can't condemn the utilities for wanting to sell their product (though actually, in California, they don't benefit by selling more!) Are you saying we're better off using imported higher-carbon fuels when we have domestic cleaner alternatives?
3. EKow: people are waking up to an exciting, until-recently overlooked solution--now many can't stop talking about it. I'm happy about that!
4. rip: Most recharging is off-peak, at night, when utilities have way more power than they can use.
5.Scott: if we had millions of PHEVs, their batteries could be tapped during the 23 hours most cars are parked to provide peak power so we wouldn't have to build more power plants for hot day brown-outs.
I encourage all to learn more at http://www.calcars.org
Felix Kramer, Founder, The California Cars Initiative (a nonprofit)
kiloer @ Jan 24th 2006 7:00PM
Do people on this site REALLY care about that?
http://www.boli-medicina.com/medicina-naturista/index.php
kiloer @ Jan 24th 2006 7:00PM
Do people on this site REALLY care about that?
http://www.boli-medicina.com/medicina-naturista/index.php
sherwood baker @ Jan 24th 2006 7:39PM
Where were all the tree huggers when Saturn dealers were leasing EV-1s. what a bunch of morons!
Scott Eaton @ Jan 24th 2006 9:20PM
"Where were all the tree huggers when Saturn dealers were leasing EV1s. What a bunch of morons!"
Well, cut out of the loop, that's where. First, they were available for lease only, which sucked. Also, EV1s were comparatively expensive ($33,995 or $400/month) (1997) by today's standards. They were limited to 80 MPH and low range per-tank. And then, as expected, GM wanted them all back. It was an experiment and not a serious attempt to sell viable cars.
laserwizard @ Jan 24th 2006 11:19PM
Plug in Partners
National Campaign
1969 Brokeback Mountain Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 02690
****PRESS RELEASE****
For immediate fabulous distribution
We at Plugin Partners are all in favor of a national campaign to facilitate plugin facilities across the nation. Far too many times our hybrid sexual orientation requires us to visit rest stops and bathrooms at a Walmart to find Plugin Partners and we appeal to our President, to Our Congress, and to our fellow Americans to standardize plugins, to make plugins so accessible that it is nearly painless, and to teach our youth that plugging in is as simple as 1-2-3 in a "z" formation.
Write your Congressman and Senator to demand plugin partner availability.
Signed,
Brucie LaVerne Heatherpence
President and Queen of Plugin Partners
Dave Newman @ Jan 25th 2006 12:17AM
I'm as big a car nut as the rest of the folks on here. I mean why else do we visit but to look at exotic cars and machinery that's way too expensive for most of us - not to mention what the wife would say? The thing that interests me in any hybrid, alternate, electric(?) vehicle is the opportunity I might have to keep my 100% American dollars out of some slimy OPEC petroleum pusher's pockets. I would be happy to see something as simple as a gas station that sold only American and Canadian fuel, but we're not going to get it because the prices wouldn't be competitive. Also, you can't pick a station because they all pool their reserves. So no matter how much you may hate Venezuela's politics, you have to buy their gas. It's time we started fighting back. Use your Porsches and Hemis on the weekends and let the Chinese become the next slave to oil. We have to move on - there are smart car people everywhere and they can make anything fast as long as we show we'll pay for it.
rip @ Jan 25th 2006 12:32AM
Scott,
The ev was expensive to lease because it was incredibly expensive to make. Its actual cost was somewhere along the lines of 75-100k I think. So in fact, its cost was heavily subsidized by GM. Just like the Prius true cost is subsidized by Toyota.
And it was lease only partly because GM needed to take the batteries back to properly dispose of them. No way could you trust the average joe to properly handle expended batteries. Especially, considering, if I remember correctly, they were lead acid. And it was several hundred lbs. of battery.
The ev was made partly as a proof of concept and partly in response to the utterly idiotic California mandate of zero emission quotas.
Charles S @ Jan 25th 2006 5:22AM
Rip:
Not that there isn't truth in what you say, but it still boils down to GM's intentions for the project; short-term, and would scrap the entire project if it won't the lawsuit against California.
Yes, the cars were expensive, but the investment is nothing to GM, especially for its small scale, and compare to what GM is now paying for hydrogen and their own version of hybrid research. During the same era, Ford snatch up EV companies, but did nothing with them. All the companies wanted to do was to simply have assets to be ready if they fail to overturn the CA regulations. But once they've won, GM quickly lost interest in EV, and Ford pretty much killed the EV company and sold it off to be broken apart.
Why should people care about hybrids and EVs?
If war between Isreal and Iran does occur, and when gas at the pump goes beyond $5 a gallon, just watch your spending incoming shrink, and soon EVERYONE will be interested in EV cars again.
By the way, there was a little reported article about Kuwait have to restate its oil reserve estimate. It turns out that Kuwait have been overstating how much oil it has in reserve, and that it only has half of what was previously stated. Since there is no independent confirmation, Saudi Arabia reserves are also rumoured to be much lower that what the nation claims it has.
The overstating of reserves will mean little in the immediate prices of oil, but it will mean that the price will rise quickly as supplies will eventually shrink faster than predicted. Once gas get so expensive that it's not worthwhile to drive to work anymore, then people with 25-range commute would REALLY appreciate the choice in plug-in hybrids.
I've said it in the comments before, and I'll say it again. I'm GLAD there are plenty of people here who have such irrational hate of hybrids. If it was too hot, then it'd only hurt sales of hybrids in the long run, as prices would be too high, and automakers would only prefer to make hybrids as a luxury-market-ONLY vehicle. If only few can "afford" to use the hybrid technology, then we will never be able to ween ourselves from foreign oil.
So I say go for it! Keep on telling everyone you know that hybrids and EVs are stupid. Your efforts will only help hybrids and EV community in the long run.
John @ Jan 25th 2006 7:14AM
Laserwizard: Silly me, until now I was utterly ignorant of the sinister connection between Plug-In Hybrids and The Homosexual Agenda! Thanks for elucidating ....
M1EK @ Jan 25th 2006 9:23AM
"Just like the Prius true cost is subsidized by Toyota."
A lie. Toyota has indicated several times that the Prius is now profitable.