[Uncledave]

Plug-ins are a great path for us. It would significantly improve the economics for wind energy as well, as there would be a larger market for overnight power (which is also when the winds are stronger).

[Poser]

Plug-ins are great as long as you aren't burning fossil fuels to make the electricity.

To make that much electricity, the US will have to go on a MAJOR nuclear power plant building spree along with wind and solar. Wind and solar alone won't even begin to address the needs.

I wonder how the Democrats will react to proposals to build a hundred or more nuke plants.

[SuziQ]

I love the idea of a plug-in hybrid, and the Saturn Vue looks great. I've driven one before, as a rental, and I liked the way it handled. We'd love to put in a solar power collection grid that would keep ours running like a top.

Nationally, though, the Democrats are going to have to get over their squeamishness about nuclear power, to make this work. I hope the next batch of Republican presidential candidates make that a priority, using the National Security argument. If we don't need foreign oil to run power plants, that reduces our dependence on regimes that support terrorism, and reduces the dollars going to them.

[WildBill2275]

The article as written states 20 miles on battery only. After that operation is hybrid.
Much talk about off peak rates...
If everyone is charging at night will it be "off peak" anymore?
I don't know the drive train layout, but can I drive it through 2 feet of water in a low water crossing without shorting something out?
The advantages sound good for urban areas, but problematical for suburban areas and worthless for rural areas.

[Sunnyflorida]

Nonsense.

Drill.

[meyer]

How does 500 miles a gallon sound to you?

500 mpg sounds great, but what I really want is 500 horsepower! :)

[jonrick46]

Plug-ins to what? If you are plugging into low cost rechargeable batteries, it is good. However, find me a battery that is under $10,000. EnergyCS plans to start converting Priuses to plug-in operation next year for $12,000 per car. For $12,000 that's lots of gasoline one can buy. Hymotion, a Canadian company that offers kits to retrofit Toyota and Ford hybrid vehicles for plug-in use, currently charges about $12,000 for a kit. The company hopes to lower that price to half that much by next year, said president Ricardo Bazzarelle. Even at $6,000, that is lots of gasoline. For instance, let's say you drive 12,000 miles a year in your 2002 Toyota RAV4. At 25 mpg, you will travel 12K miles on 480 gallons of gasoline. At $2.50/gallon, this is $1200 to drive 12K miles for one year. If the battery cost $12,000 it would take 10 years of driving on gasoline to recover the cost of the battery. If the battery was only $6,000 you would drive for 5 years.

Let's say a typical EV battery has a life expectancy of 500 charge cycles with a range of 250 miles for each charge. That's a 125,000 miles battery lifespan. If a person drives 12,000 miles per year, they could get 10 years of driving before you would need to replace the battery. Now the economics of these batteries really comes to light. The battery would only replace the equivalent cost of the gasoline.

Most people will not think of the battery cost economics. They will only think of the mile per gallon cost. For instance, a 2002 Toyota RAV4 will travel 100 miles on 4 gallons of gasoline. At $2.50/gallon, this is $10.00. A 2002 Toyota RAV4 EV will travel 100 miles on 30 kWh of electricity. At 10 cents per kWh, this is $3.00 or $360 per year (12,000 miles) of driving. At 10 years, this totals to $3600 added to the $12,000 price tag ($15,600). For a 125,000 mile battery lifespan that's 12.5 cents/mile. Now, with the battery cost factored in, it costs $12.50 for the plug-in to go 100 miles.

Then there is the installation of the home charging circuit. Factor in the cost of a certified electrician to run a 70 amp 120v outlet for each car (home chargers runs at 70 amps/120 volts). Has anyone priced such a electrical installation? How much do the charging units cost? Also, if one were to pull into a charging station, how much more would they charge one to charge up? I am sure it will be more than the 10 cents per kWh. That could really add up.

For the plug-in method to make sense, you would need to reduce to cost of the battery to about $6,000. As far as the lifespan of the battery, one can do the math. A used car, for instance, would cost based upon usable battery life. Because of the battery economics, used car prices would be set by the battery replacement costs and battery life expectancy. That math can be left up to the free market system. It's anyones guess.

[Capt. Tom]

Yet House Democrats have announced a push for "energy independence in 10 years," and in November General Motors joined Toyota and perhaps other auto makers in a race to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles, hugely reducing the demand for oil.

The Democrats are late to this issue . The Republicans solved this years ago when Nixon was President.

Nixon- "As we move toward the celebration 2 years from now of the 200th anniversary of this Nation's independence, let us press vigorously on toward the goal I announced last November for Project Independence. Let this be our national goal: At the end of this decade, in the year 1980, the United States will not be dependent on any other country for the energy we need to provide our jobs, to heat our homes, and to keep our transportation moving." - tom

[ChildOfThe60s]

If this is truly viable it will happen.

But when will someone publicly address reality? The US sits on huge reserves of oil which can be tapped sooner and more economically than all of these other schemes combined.

Why does working on future alternatives mean that we do absolutely nothing in the short term? We can't drill more oil at the same time? To reduce out indenturement to OPEC we must produce more energy. There multiple ways to do that that can be done concurrently. The most immediately effective is drilling and pumping. Which US oil companies would love to do if permitted by the socialists in DC.

[sauropod]

review

[Sybeck1]

Can I run my A/C on a battery powered car during a 95+ degree Mississippi August afternoon? While pulling my bass boat up a hill passing a semi?

[RobRoy]

>.rapidly developing oil-replacing technologies<<

Does oil shale count?