Plug-ins Increase Mileage
Here is a story from the local TV Station.
Plug-In Hybrid Kits To Increase Mileage to 100 MPG Source:
KVUE TV Austin[Nov 25, 2005]
SYNOPSIS: But every time fuel prices rise, the idea of having to fill your gas tank just 10 times a year, may prove to be a real charge.
How many miles per gallon does your car get? Somewhere around 25 or 30? What would you do to
get 100 -- or as much as 200 -- miles per gallon?
Some are working to making cars more fuel-efficient.
Some drivers already are, and you could too.
To find the godfather of high mileage, you have to come to the University of California-Davis where
Professor Andy Frank and his students have been one-upping Detroit for 15 years.
Retrofitting assembly line cars -- even a SUV -- with a smaller gasoline engine, next to an electric motor and rechargeable batteries, creating a
plug-in hybrid.
Capable of going
60 miles on a charge, since most people drive less than 40 miles a day, the gas engine is rarely used, near Los Angeles.
"It
costs less than a dollar to fill it up overnight with electricity," Frank said.
Pete Nortman's small company has turned a 40 mile per gallon Toyota Prius-Hybrid into a 125 mile per gallon car, by replacing Toyota's less powerful batteries with 18 high-energy ones and a plug for overnight recharging.
"It feels great to be able to drive by the gas stations to
refuel once a month instead of once a week," he said.
Nortman will soon begin selling Prius conversion kits - for around $10,000. It's pricey, but possibly the beginning of a movement, by people committed to driving with less expensive, lower-polluting energy from the power grid rather than with oil from the Middle East.
"But people pay extra all the time for features in their vehicles and we're selling the environmental feature," said Felix Kramer,
Calcars.org.
The auto makers have so far shown no interest in cars they consider unsellable.
"This is something they could do today, but they don't want to do anything that would change their business model today."
But every time fuel prices rise, the idea of having to fill your gas tank
just 10 times a year, may prove to be a real charge.
Plug-in hybrids weigh a bit more than regular cars. Their batteries should last for at least 10 years.
Seatle Plugs Plug-ins
City plugs plug-in carsDaily Journal of CommerceNovember 15, 2005
By
JOURNAL STAFFSeattle
Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis and Rich Feldman of the King County Labor Council helped demonstrate a prototype
plug-in hybrid electric vehicle at City Hall yesterday.
The customized Toyota Prius includes extra batteries and a charger that enables the car to draw power from a standard electrical outlet. With the enhancement, the Prius can travel as much as
100 miles on a gallon of gas - about double its normal fuel efficiency.
The prototype was delivered to the city by the
California Cars Initiative, a nonprofit group of entrepreneurs, engineers and environmentalists trying to drum up demand for such vehicles.
While the city has no immediate plans to purchase any plug-ins, Mayor Greg Nickels wants city departments to evaluate the technology and assess its cost-effectiveness.
The city's motor pool includes about 150 gas-electric hybrids. A conversion kit costs more than $3,000, but the
operating costs of the plug-in cars are estimated to be about one-third the cost of an all-gasoline-powered vehicle.
Hybrids currently on the market, including the Toyota Prius and Mercury Mariner, are gasoline-fueled and use a small battery for power assistance and regenerative braking.
Plug-ins replace the small battery with a more powerful battery, one big enough to provide the power to drive the first 20 to 60 miles each day.
The cost of electricity equivalent to a gallon of gas is about
80 cents, based on average national electricity rates.
The mayor will send
a resolution to the City Council asking it to evaluate the technology.
"It's an intriguing concept," said City Light Superintendent
Jorge Carrasco. "What if we had a big shift toward electrifying private vehicles? How would that affect our utility and the environment?
Those are some of the questions we'll be trying to answer."
Toyota Mulls Dramatic Reversal
Tokyo Auto ShowToyota Mulls Dramatic Reversal, May Be Developing Plug-In HybridsNew Fuels and Vehicles Friday, Nov. 4, 2005
After years of emphasizing its hybrid vehicles do not have to be plugged in,
Toyota appears to be on the verge of a dramatic reversal and may be developing
plug-in hybrids, auto industry sources tell Inside Fuels and Vehicles. But they also say the auto giant is still leery of the limitations battery technology places on the endeavor.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are enjoying new life as the poster child of security conscious neo-conservatives, because of their ability to substantially reduce oil demand.
Plug-in hybrids have also been embraced by environmental activists, because of the technology’s ability to drastically reduce harmful tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions, particularly if the vehicle is recharged with electric power from renewable sources. Currently, only German automaker DaimlerChrysler is actively developing the technology.
A recent Toyota presentation at the
Tokyo auto show on hybrid vehicles extolling the environmental and practical virtues of plug-in hybrids seems to provide the intellectual underpinnings of the decision. The presentation, obtained by Inside Fuels and Vehicles, concludes that based on five criteria:
1. well-to-wheels carbon dioxide emissions;
2. emissions of criteria pollutants;
3. refueling infrastructure;
4. driving range; and
5. fuel diversity.
Under these criteria, plug-in hybrids would perform as well as or better than other motor vehicle technology -- including regular battery-electric hybrids, all-electric vehicles and even fuel cell vehicles (if the hydrogen is obtained from natural gas).
Ever since Toyota released its first hybrid vehicle, the Prius, it has sought to distance itself from its trying experience with electric vehicles (EVs). They had to be plugged in to recharge the batteries, which could take hours, and outside-of-the-home charging stations were often hard to find. The hybrid uses the internal combustion engine and regenerative braking to recharge the battery pack. In its ads for the Prius and its other hybrids, Toyota emphasizes that they do not need to be plugged in.
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Technology challenges notwithstanding, observers, and even industry competitors, see the plug-in hybrid reversal in strategy as a brilliant move on several levels. On the societal level, it appeases environmental activists on one side and neo-conservatives on the other. From a business point of view, it puts domestic automakers and others without hybrids on the road further behind.
By developing
plug-in hybrid technology Toyota, already challenging General Motors to be the world’s largest automaker and the acknowledged leader in hybrid vehicle technology, challenges others in the industry on a whole new level.
GM and DaimlerChrysler, who are jointly developing hybrids along with BMW, are at least two generations of hybrid technology behind, though both companies have adopted it in transit buses.
However, as one competitor said almost with relief,
Toyota’s plug-in hybrid initiative would likely deflect government away from another technological mandate, avoiding what they see as the California zero emissions mandate fiasco.
Plug-in hybrids are a modified version of a traditional hybrid and battery-electric vehicle. Larger battery packs allow for the motorist to plug the vehicle in to recharge it. The vehicle presumably would also have the ability to drive in all-electric mode at the will of the driver, unlike today’s hybrids sold in the U.S. -- in Japan a button allows Prius drivers to operate in all-electric mode for short distances, less than a mile.
Plug-ins have several advantages, which are why they are touted by neocons and environmental activists alike. They can significantly reduce oil consumption since much of the power would be from battery packs recharged from the electrical grid, which is almost entirely independent of oil. Running on electric power means no harmful tailpipe emissions and no greenhouse gas emissions.
Ancillary benefits include the ability of the vehicles to serve as
backup power for the grid. The power from one vehicle could run several homes. Owners could actually sell the power back to their utility during peak demand to help pay for off peak electricity used to charge the car’s batteries.
Auto industry sources say Toyota will follow a unique strategy in developing plug-ins. Informed sources say responsibility for the battery component would be born by
California utility Pacific Gas and Electric. The sources also see this as a brilliant strategy. As one pointed out, automakers don’t produce gasoline, so a utility taking responsibility for the batteries isn’t too far a stretch.
Significant issues, including
environmental ones, and barriers to success still remain. If the power used to recharge the batteries comes from coal or first generation natural gas-fired plants there is some question if the greenhouse gas and criteria emissions profile would still be better than for other vehicle technologies. The biggest technical barrier experts say is
battery life. Another concern is the proclivity of what is currently the most promising battery technology, lithium ion, to overheat.
