Plug-in Hybrid FAQ

[RedEarth]

Climate Progress has blogged on Plug-in Hybrid Elective Vehicles (PHEVs) many times because they are an important part of the climate solution and because electricity is the only alternative fuel that can lead to energy independence. But certain questions keep coming up in comments, so here’s a short FAQ.

What is a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)?
A PHEV is like a regular hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) but with a larger battery pack and a plug so the batteries can be charged from standard household current. Thus the vehicle is dual-fuel: your driving can be powered by either electricity, gasoline, or both. For more, see CalCars’ All About Plug-In Hybrids and Wikipedia’s Plug-In Hybrids. A number after the PHEV acronym indicates the electric range of the vehicle, so a PHEV-20 can operate on electricity instead of gasoline for 20 miles.

Why would I want to plug in my car?
Fueling your car with electricity is about 5 times cheaper than fueling it with gasoline. That is like buying gasoline at less than $1 per gallon. It also reduces your greenhouse pollution and helps reduce crude oil imports.

.........

Won’t PHEVs require us to build even more power plants?
Not at first. PHEVs will be programmed to charge at night, when electricity demand is low. (You’ll plug it in when you get home, and the car will know when to charge.) One of the U.S. Department of Energy’s labs, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, looked at how many plug-in vehicles today’s grid support without modification, and concluded that 73% of cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans could be supported by the existing infrastructure. This is made clear by the picture above from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a utility-funded lab.

Why do PHEVs reduce greenhouse pollution?
A study by EPRI, the California Air Resources Board, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and others (5.3MB PDF) concluded that plug-in hybrids produced substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions than either conventional gasoline cars or unplugged hybrids. The reduction in emissions results from electric operation being much more efficient than gasoline operation.
Don’t PHEVs and BEVs just shift pollution from the tailpipe to power plants?

No. The proper comparison between vehicle types is the “wells-to-wheels” basis, where the pollution from extracting the raw materials, shipping, transformation (e.g. refining), and use are added. BEVs and PHEVs running on electricity have zero tailpipe emissions, but there are still mining and power plant emissions. Those emissions are however much lower than the corresponding crude oil extraction, refining, and tailpipe emissions. Pollution here includes greenhouse gases such as carbon-dioxide. The grid is getting cleaner each year, and will continue to do so as we replace fossil power plants with renewables, while a gasoline car gets dirtier as it ages.

Fueling a car on gasoline made from coal (Coal-To-Liquids or CTL) emits twice as much greenhouse gas as gasoline from crude oil. Why is fueling a PHEV from coal electricity better than gasoline?
Two reasons: (1) Electric motors are extremely efficient compared to internal combustion engines, and this efficiency more than compensates for the dirtiness of coal. (2) The U.S. grid is only 49% coal (natural gas is 20%, nuclear is 20%, hydro is 7%, and other renewables are 2.4%). Thus power to charge PHEVs is not all from coal, and some is from zero emission sources.

When and where can I buy one?
PHEVs are not yet available from major automakers, but will be in 2 years. There are kits and companies that will convert hybrids to PHEVs. Please see CalCars’ How Carmakers are Responding to the Plug-In Hybrid Opportunity for more information, and start telling car dealers “no-plug, no-deal”.

............more.........

http://climateprogress.org/2008/07/11/plug-in-hybrid-faq/

The city where I live gives consumers the option to choose 100% wind generated electricity and that's what powers my house. I would imagine many other cities do the same and more will in the future.

[roody]

1. At my house, it will be powered by my solar electric array.

Can you get one that is not programmed to charge at night?

[tinrobot]

2. Just get a timer.

Put the timer on the outlet feeding the car. You can buy cheap ones for about 10 bucks at a hardware store.

When it's night, the timer turns the power off and the car stops charging, only to turn back on in the morning.

[Indenturedebtor]

3. Dealership feedback doesn't make it back to the manufacturer

Other than that rock on :woohoo: Bout damn time.

Personally I'd rather have a train but this would do in the meantime.

[kestrel91316]

4. What if I get one of these and there's no plug access at my apartment

for nighttime charging, but there IS one at my office for daytime charging??