[UNGN]

How the hell do you figure that? You're just guessing, aren't you?

Here's a site that shows gasoline versus electric. The yearly cost in electricity for 8000 miles of travel is estimated to be just $265.75 at $0.08/kWH.

Number 1 we pay .14/KWH and number 2, your calculations are for a vehicle with 27 HP.

That is 27 HP MAX

Try Multiply that 300 watt/mile number by 5 for a car we think of as an actual honest to goodness car (though it would still be a 100 hp Sh!tbox Dog)

Crunch away.

You'll find a 30 mpg Gasoline powered crapbox is still cheaper to operate.

[SC Swamp Fox]

In the United States, South Carolina has the highest percentage of it's electrical needs generated by nuclear power. I live in a small town about 40 miles from a Progress Energy nuclear plant. I pay a flat, residential rate of $0.086/Kwh.

I commute 10 miles, round-trip every day. If Progress Energy were to offer a discounted rate on the off-peak charging and paid me a premium when they used energy stored on my battery during peaks I would consider a plug-in hybrid.

I don't think I would want to be "the first on my block" to try this. Like in all things I do, I would insist they show me real numbers before I made a decision. They would have to answer a lot of questions about the cost, life, storage and disposal of the batteries.

One thing I like about this idea is that it's really a "flex fuel" vehicle, if the grid power doesn't make sense financially I just don't plug it in and run it off gas. (I am assuming that the design would allow for the batteries to be removed for "normal" hybrid operation.)

[mc6809e]

Number 1 we pay .14/KWH and number 2, your calculations are for a vehicle with 27 HP.

That is 27 HP MAX

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

27 HP is the average needed to overcome drag at about 65 mph. And that has nothing to do with whether the car is electric or a simple gasoline powered car. Both require about the same hp. Interestingly, a Corvette, because of its sleek design, only needs about 11.8 hp to overcome drag at 65 mph.

Now of course you're wondering why it is many cars have such powerful engines. Well, it's not to overcome drag. It's to improve acceleration. And there's nothing that says a plugin can't have a 150 hp engine.

You'll find a 30 mpg Gasoline powered crapbox is still cheaper to operate.

It isn't cheaper. The cost of electrical energy produced by coal fired turbine is cheaper than the cost of mechanical energy delivered by an gasoline IC engine.