Plug One

Hybrid Theory

A couple days back, Mrs. F and I were discussing cars, as we're thinking about changing our current whip (a 1991 Honda Civic named Gunter Grass, cos it's like a tin drum) to something a tad newer (and which has power steering). The big question--hybrid or biodiesel? We're definitely very interested/curious in going with a diesel VW so that we can take advantage of the local, growing biodiesel availability. But I'm also still very enamored by the sleek Toyota Prius hybrid, which enables you to get a tax break from the federal government to ease the sticker shock (see previous post). Mrs. F, however, wants to go as green as possible, and she strongly suggested going to a plug-in electrified car, and tasked me with doing some research on it.

Luckily, I didn't have to go far to start my research--NPR's All Things Considered had a story by Martin Kaste on Thursday about tinkering with the Prius to make it a plug-in, and thus almost doubling its gas mileage. You can listen to the story here, but I've pulled out my creaky transcription skills for the key parts of it (for those, such as Mrs. F, who don't like to follow multimedia links):

Kaste: [Ron] Gremban has been trying to find ways to bring electric cars to the American consumer, but he could never figure out how to raise enough money to do the job right. But now, as he drives his 2004 Toyota Prius around San Francisco, it would seem Toyota has done the job for him.

Gremban: Oh, this is a dramatically nicer car.

Kaste: Actually, Toyota has done most of the job.

Gremban: Basically, we've got a really good mass-produced car that we've made minor changes to, to make it much more electric-centric.

Kaste: Gremban has added a plug. Hybrids aren't supposed to have plugs--they charge their batteries internally from the engine and the brakes. But Gremban says, why not charge it even more? By replacing a computer and installing bigger batteries, he's made a Prius that doesn't bother to turn on its gasoline engine until you hit 34 miles an hour. The result is a dashboard display with some pretty impressive numbers.

[...]

Kaste: Gremban helps run a non-profit called CalCars, which is trying to convince car companies to build plug-ins. The group says such cars could cut oil use dramatically, shifting much of our transportation energy needs to the electrical grid. They say plug-ins are a lot cheaper to drive than regular hybrids, especially because most of the charging would happen at night, when power is sold at off-peak rates. Toyota's response to the hacked hybrids has been ambivalent at best.

Cindy Knight (Toyota spokeswoman): You can certainly make a vehicle that can run, but you can't necessarily make a vehicle that people will buy.

Kaste: Toyota spokes woman Cindy Knight says she does not think the concept is ready for prime time. At least not until there's a technological breakthrough in batteries that are lighter, more durable, and cheaper.

She also notes that Toyota felt their hybrids were more marketable because they weren't plug-ins, which can certainly be seen as a hassle to potential buyers.

Felix Kramer: We're turning that whole "we don't have to plug it in" around, and we're saying you get to plug it in.

Kaste: Felix Kramer, a co-founder of CalCars, says the fact that plug-in hybrids have gas tanks makes them more flexible than previous all-electric cars. Even if you forget to plug it in, he says, you can still drive to the mountains for the weekend.

[...]

Kaste: The catch? Price. A company called E-Drive systems in Los Angeles will offer Prius plug-in packages starting this spring for as much as $12,000.

Nicholas Kristof also covered straight-up/non-hybrid plug-ins and CalCars just this last Sunday (see previous Hidden Columnist post):

The cars I'm talking about are known as "plug-in hybrids." They are similar to hybrids like the Toyota Prius, but they have bigger batteries and at night would be plugged into a standard 120-volt outlet to charge the batteries.

They can be built to have a 30- to 50-mile range before the gasoline engine needs to be used at all. So for someone who commutes 15 miles each way to work and rarely takes long drives, a plug-in hybrid usually functions as an electric vehicle and relies on gas only on rare occasions.

Speaking of hybrids, I wish Peugeot had a presence in this country. Blogger Jerome a Paris (one of my faves, and a contributor to both Daily Kos and the European Tribune) last Saturday noted two new diesel-hybrid prototypes from Peugeot/Citroen that get up to 80 miles per gallon:

Peugeot, the French car manufacturer and one of the leaders in the manufacture of diesel-powered cars, has unveiled two diesel-hybrid prototypes that go 80 mpg (3.4l/100 km). Based on existing midsize Peugeot and Citroen (pictured above) models, they combine the two most efficient technologies available today to improve fuel efficiency and show a promising way forward.

Note that the existing diesel versions of the 2 cars already have an excellent mileage of 60 mpg, as do many other diesel cars manufactured in Europe, with low particule emissions thanks to stringent European fuel standards and particule filters.

[...]

The boss of Peugeot made the comment that these vehicles would make economic sense when the price difference between a diesel-hybrid and a diesel is similar to that between a gasoline and a diesel (for the same car model), which means that the hybrid systems (essentially the battery) needs to be cut in half, thus the lag of a few years before commercialisation.