Posted on 08/14/2005 2:26:28 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
CORTE MADERA, Calif. - Politicians and automakers say a car that can both reduce greenhouse gases and free America from its reliance on foreign oil is years or even decades away. Ron Gremban says such a car is parked in his garage.
It looks like a typical Toyota Prius hybrid, but in the trunk sits an 80 miles-per-gallon secret a stack of 18 brick-size batteries that boosts the car's high mileage with an extra electrical charge so it can burn even less fuel.
Gremban, an electrical engineer and committed environmentalist, spent several months and $3,000 tinkering with his car.
Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting. The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb all for about a quarter.
He's part of a small but growing movement. "Plug-in" hybrids aren't yet cost-efficient, but some of the dozen known experimental models have gotten up to 250 mpg.
They have support not only from environmentalists but also from conservative foreign-policy hawks who insist Americans fuel terrorism through their gas guzzling.
And while the technology has existed for three decades, automakers are beginning to take notice, too.
So far, DaimlerChrysler AG is the only company that has committed to building its own plug-in hybrids, quietly pledging to make up to 40 vans for U.S. companies. But Toyota Motor Corp. officials who initially frowned on people altering their cars now say they may be able to learn from them.
"They're like the hot rodders of yesterday who did everything to soup up their cars. It was all about horsepower and bling-bling, lots of chrome and accessories," said Cindy Knight, a Toyota spokeswoman. "Maybe the hot rodders of tomorrow are the people who want to get in there and see what they can do about increasing fuel economy."
The extra batteries let Gremban drive for 20 miles with a 50-50 mix of gas and electricity. Even after the car runs out of power from the batteries and switches to the standard hybrid mode, it gets the typical Prius fuel efficiency of around 45 mpg. As long as Gremban doesn't drive too far in a day, he says, he gets 80 mpg.
"The value of plug-in hybrids is they can dramatically reduce gasoline usage for the first few miles every day," Gremban said. "The average for people's usage of a car is somewhere around 30 to 40 miles per day. During that kind of driving, the plug-in hybrid can make a dramatic difference."
Backers of plug-in hybrids acknowledge that the electricity to boost their cars generally comes from fossil fuels that create greenhouse gases, but they say that process still produces far less pollution than oil. They also note that electricity could be generated cleanly from solar power.
Gremban rigged his car to promote the nonprofit CalCars Initiative, a San Francisco Bay area-based volunteer effort that argues automakers could mass produce plug-in hybrids at a reasonable price.
But Toyota and other car companies say they are worried about the cost, convenience and safety of plug-in hybrids and note that consumers haven't embraced all-electric cars because of the inconvenience of recharging them like giant cell phones.
Automakers have spent millions of dollars telling motorists that hybrids don't need to be plugged in, and don't want to confuse the message.
Nonetheless, plug-in hybrids are starting to get the backing of prominent hawks like former CIA Director James Woolsey and Frank Gaffney, President Reagan's undersecretary of defense. They have joined Set America Free, a group that wants the government to spend $12 billion over four years on plug-in hybrids, alternative fuels and other measures to reduce foreign oil dependence.
Gaffney, who heads the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security Policy, said Americans would embrace plug-ins if they understood arguments from him and others who say gasoline contributes to oil-rich Middle Eastern governments that support terrorism.
"The more we are consuming oil that either comes from places that are bent on our destruction or helping those who are ... the more we are enabling those who are trying to kill us," Gaffney said.
DaimlerChrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said plug-in hybrids are ideal for companies with fleets of vehicles that can be recharged at a central location at night. He declined to name the companies buying the vehicles and said he did not know the vehicles' mileage or cost, or when they would be available.
Man, you must have been out the last two days. We drove this one all over the block. Some posters even got a bit testy.
I think I'm supposed to say somethign sarcastic here, but hey, if a car get get better gas mileage, I'm all for it.
With oil prices over $65 per barrel, every increase in mpg can result in big savings.
Yeah...but it only goes 5 MPH.
Give it a few posts and you'll find that some freepers have an irrational hatred of anything that improves fuel economy.
Oh, I see the headline has lost 170 mpg since last night.
I think we'll start seeing fleet vehicles using alternative fuels and engines. I read somewhere that UPS had ordered a bunch of hybid engine delivery trucks.
Hybrids are toys. I don't drive a toy.
"Give it a few posts and you'll find that some freepers have an irrational hatred of anything that improves fuel economy."
Indeed. I think it has to do with the fact that they work for the oil companies? Who would want a potential superior competitor, seriously?
By the logic of this article, my own car can get a million miles per gallon if I start at the top of a hill and coast down without turning over the engine and then only count the mileage while coasting. But what about the energy to get the car to the top of the hill in the first place? It's the same as the energy needed to precharge the batteries in these "high mileage" plug in hybrids.
TANSTAAFL
Yesterday the AP had it at 250.
Must be some tweak.
The big question would be things such as top speed on road trips, climbing hills and endurance. A former professor of mine spent time posted in New Zealand during the energy crisis of the 1970's. He said the local cars (all imports, about 50% of them American) all averaged 10 mpg or better than their counterparts in America simply because the motoring public demaded it and because the competition from the Japanese was keen.
This was at the same time the American car manufacturing industry claimed said mpg ratings were technically impossible to acheive.
What separates me from a lot of conservatives is that I think government does have a check and balance role to play in fostering competition and encouraging corporate responsibility. The trouble comes not because government has or should have no role, but because the role they play is often to do exactly the opposite.
Democrats are fond about speaking about corporate greed and irresponsibility-- but some of the greediest and most irresponsible activty took place under Clinton when national security was sacraficed on the altar of free trade (or to boost campaign contributions from the ChiComs).
I'd also rate Teddy Roosevelt as one of our ten best presidents because he was the first to use the power of government to curb the monopolistic predatory excesses of industries such as Standard Oil and meat processing.
Unlike morons like Pat Murray and Barbara Boxer who clog the hall of congress today, those in TR's time actually had some understanding of the way business worked and could play a role in minimalist regulation and guidance. Malcolm Baldridge, Commerce Secretary under Reagan, certainly provided some leadership in the right direction with the carrot approach. I beleive proper leadership could do the same in fostering a reduction of energy consumption through improvements in mpg technology.
If the car relies on more batteries how does the design fit with RoHS regulations? I'm all for getting as much out of a fuel as possible but there are always trade offs. Gasoline is by far the cheapest fuel that is generally available anywhere you go.
IMHO all the fuel problems we have are man made obstacles. We limit refineries, exploration, drilling and place ridiculous mixture formulas regulations on the entire industry. Then the futures market runs wild with it driving the price up even more.
On the other hand, any alternative fuel that expends more energy to produce than the fuel it provides is destined to fail. It's like selling a product at a loss and claiming you will make it up in volume.
It goes beyond just hybrids. You should read the threads where someone mentions the word "bicycle". It gets insane.
And can only do 45 mph and takes 2 minutes to get there. I have to pass the same one every day. Useless. Kids car.
The beauty of electricity is that we don't HAVE to burn fossil fuels to get it. The greenies just about ran nuclear out of business, but I think it's high time that we started building more nuclear reactors and freeing ourselves from consumable dependancy.
A stone stock Harley Sportster gets 60 mpg, will run rings around most cars, parks anywhere, turns around in a 1 lane road without touching the ground, turns the head of any red blooded American, and will still be lusted after when it's 10 years old....and they've been making the Sportster since 1957, and it's not even the best Harley.
It doesn't get better gas mileage. Think about it. He charges the batteries from his outlet. He's not get the extra miles from the gasoline, he's getting them from the natural gas, coal, protons, etc. that is energizing his house. Most certainly at less efficiency.
By this logic one could push their car to work, drive it home, and thus double their mileage.
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