Plugged-In

One of Mrs. F's dreams (which I share, though she's definitely more starry eyed about it than I am) is buying a biodiesel hybrid plug-in car. Currently, there's no such thing on the market. But there's movement afoot; via the St. Paul Pioneer Press (hat tip to Treehugger):

Minnesota lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that they hope will lead to a new plug-in hybrid car and give new life to St. Paul's Ford Motor Co. plant.

A bipartisan group of state legislators want to encourage the development of a hybrid car that can be plugged in overnight and have it manufactured at the Ford plant. The local plant now makes Ranger pickup trucks.

The broader vision of the bill is to put Minnesota on the map in hybrid vehicle technology, said Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis.

[...]

The [bill's] one significant state appropriation would be $100,000 for Minnesota State University at Mankato, where two flexible-fuel vehicles would be retrofitted to operate as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Flexible-fuel vehicles can run on either gasoline or ethanol, and many are already on the roads in Minnesota.

The bill also would set up a Ford Plant Enhancement Commission, which would develop financial incentives for Ford to produce the plug-in vehicles in St. Paul.

If you're not hip to what a plug-in hybrid is all about, check out this primer over at Treehugger.

And biodiesel isn't the only "flex-fuel" around. The Christian Science Monitor has this handy cheat-sheet:

Here's a distillation of what experts say about some of the main alt-fuel contenders:

'Clean' diesel. Still largely a European phenomenon, it's a combination of higher-grade fuel and car-design changes, such as DaimlerChrysler's BlueTec exhaust technology. Diesels inherently get about 30 percent more miles per gallon than gas vehicles. Some alt-fuel watchers predict a lightweight, 150 m.p.g. clean-diesel car by 2009.

Ethanol. Primarily corn-based, it runs the gamut from a 10 percent gasoline additive (gasohol) that works without engine modification to E85, just 15 percent gasoline, which works in flexible-fuel vehicles. An ethanol variation, cellulosic ethanol, uses corn husks and other crop waste. Experts caution that a production shortfall will raise pump prices this summer.

Biodiesel. Not yet widely produced commercially, this biofuel option (made, for example, from soy) is coming on strong. It's already mandated by some Midwestern states, blended with conventional diesel. Advances have reduced filter-clogging and cold-flow issues. (Like diesel, biodiesel tends to jell at low temperatures.)

Natural gas. This clean-burning option calls for frequent refills, which limits range. Home garages can be built with refilling stations, but retrofitting an existing garage can be costly. Compressed natural gas is seeing some use with fleets; larger vehicles can carry higher-capacity tanks.

Hydrogen. Widely seen as the eventual winner, probably in fuel-cell form, hydrogen carries inherent complexities: It's light and tends to leak out of containment areas, and it is highly combustible. Early uses include a bus fleet in the San Francisco Bay area.