Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technology

GM's previewing of the Chevrolet Volt at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit has people talking about plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology.

The underlying idea of plug-in hybrid electric technology combines the best technology from both the electric car and the hybrid car. The plug-in portion of the technology means that consumers can plug-in the vehicle to a standard electric outlet overnight and recharge the car battery. In the morning the car is ready for a 40 mile driving range without requiring gasoline. The hybrid portion of the technology refers to the engine. The three cylinder engine is a hybrid design offering consumers the ability to switch over to gasoline power for extended trips.

If you drive less than forty miles per day, you basically never have to purchase gasoline again. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the cost difference between driving a gasoline car and an electric car is .$09/fuel mile. That's a savings of over $1,000/year on gasoline for the average 12,000 miles/year driver who might never use gasoline.

Plug-in hybrid electric technology also smoothly transitions from the consumer friendly realm to the national security realm. Groups such as The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security support it because of its potential to help the United States take a giant step away from its dependence on foreign oil.

While plug-in hybrid technology promises to decrease U.S. dependence (and many other states' dependence) on foreign sources of oil, the large-scale commercial application of the technology is still at least three years away. In late November 2006, The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Argonne National Laboratory reached an agreement with the United States Department of Energy to conduct a comprehensive three year study of the feasibility of a large scale adoption of the technology.

As with the first generation electric cars, battery size, capability and cost still dominate discussions about the commercial viability of the plug-in electric. However, battery technology has improved sufficiently to attract the attention of many major automobile manufacturers around the world.

Total Research Laboratories, Inc., a company based in North Carolina, recently announced a battery technology that would double the range of the batteries currently in use, from 40 miles/charge to 75 or more miles/charge. If their technology or competing technologies reaches the level of technological advantage automobile makers are waiting for before making their final production decisions, we could see variations of plug-in hybrid vehicles on the mass market shortly after the completion of the feasibility study.

© 2007. Patricia A. Michaels.