June 17th, 2006
Plug-In Hybrids Bill Signed into Law in Minnesota
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
We’ve written many times on RTN about hybrid cars, but something we haven’t written about is the plug-in hybrid. A plug-in hybrid is one in which extra batteries are added to the car, to extend the time at which it can run in fully electric mode. The drawback is that it has to be plugged in at night to recharge, as the normal recharging measures can’t keep up. Such a car, however, can get twice the MPG that a hybrid can.
The last two week sthere have been a couple of stories that show more interest in plug-in hybrids. First, Toyota said it was looking into the technology which it had previously derided. There are, by the way, already aftermarket kits for that are made for Priuses (Priii?) to convert them to plug-in hybrids, but these are about $10,000 (and that’s if you order > 100). Also, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has signed into law H.F. 3718, the nation’s first law promoting plug-in hybrid, flexible-fueled vehicles.
The law instructs the state to buy plug-in hybrids on a preferred basis when they become available. It also encourages Minnesota State University-Mankato to develop flex-fuel plug-in hybrid vehicles, and creates a task force consisting of business, government and utility representatives to develop a strategy for using, and producing such vehicles in Minnesota. Source: EV World
We Say: I have a lot of questions about this. I mean, it sounds good, but the Prius is already hard to justify economically, though not greenhouse gas-wise. I already paid a premium for my Prius; how much more for one of these? And, how much does it save in terms of money and greenhouse emissions? Meaning, sure, you don’t buy gas, but how does that relate to the extra electricity you pay for? And how do the greenhouse gases emitted by the power plant balance against the savings from the tailpipe?
John says:
Does Minnesota have Nuclear or Coal based Power Plants?
June 17th, 2006 at 7:41 am
Michael Dinger says:
“And how do the greenhouse gases emitted by the power plant balance against the savings from the tailpipe?”
Finally! Someone that realizes that that energy has to come from somewhere. On a visit to San Francisco a couple years ago they were touting that their public transit system was “green” because it was all electric. But unless that electricity came from hydro, wind, or solar, and the last two are not practical on a large scale, they are just shifting the emissions elswhere.
I would be interested to see if such a study has ever been done.
June 17th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Felix Kramer says:
Glad you’re covering plug-in hybrids. You can get answers to many of the questions you raise at CalCars.org — between our vehicles page and our FAQ, you can see that compared to gasoline, electricity is cleaner, cheaper and not imported. You can see that you’re both buying the “Environmental Feature” (you get satisfaction from getting what you want, just as you do if you want leather seats or a sunroof) and you get some economic payback as well — you’d certaintly get it if the premium was $3,000 in mass production from an automaker rather than from a small after-market converter. And it’s a big win on greenhouse gases.
–Felix Kramer, CalCars.org Founder
June 17th, 2006 at 7:57 am
A Minnesotan says:
I live in Minnesota…there’s a mix of Nuclear and Coal…Nukes where i live but there’s a coal rig that gets some of the twin cities.
June 17th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Lloyd Dupont says:
Are you one of those scaremonger?
Many of your affirmation are false!
For example:
“The drawback is that it has to be plugged in at night”
False!
It should be: It COULD be plugged at night!
That is, if you don’t plug it, it just behave like a non-plug-in hybrid. BUT if you plug it it could run in all ellectric mode for a longer while.
“And how do the greenhouse gases emitted by the power plant balance against the savings from the tailpipe”
Here is a simple reflection.
I cannot claim I have an absolute answer but a good analogy.
On some article I was able to compare price per kilometre in electricity dollar and gaz dollar.
Turn out the price in electricity dollar is much lower.
That means that if energy station would use gaz too, they would use much less of it!
However they use coal so it’s not really an appropriate comparison.
BUT I would also argue it’s much easier to add filtering technology to a poewer plant than to a car which is limited in weight and volume.
June 17th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
John says:
I wounder about the power loss in heating the wires that the electricity travels on to reach your vehicle’s plug. It seems a clear way to heat the atmosphere alongside CO2 emissions. I’ve never seen any figures on this and would be interested if any readers have a comment or a web page that addresses the numbers. Thanks for any input.
John
June 17th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Joe says:
I for one, am very excited about Plug-In Hybrids. All the talk about flex fuel and hybrids will filter out to true solutions in the very near future. One small step forward, is better than no step at all. I am prepared to pay a premium if this will help things move forward and would even consider it an honor to help this country kick the habit of middle east oil. Look at it this way, you either pay for technology or pay (taxes) for the soldiers to go and protect our interest and security. I rather pay for the tech. and keep our soldiers here at home.
June 17th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
MarcosV says:
Has anyone look at the effect of draining the batteries deeper with plug-in vs. non-plugin? I wonder about the extra cycles on the batteries and how much sooner you’d have to replace them. How much will it cost to replace the batteries? How much does it cost to recycle the old batteries?
At least you can recharge the batteries at night which is less stress on the power grid.
Couple nuclear power to battery powered vehicles and we’re really helping the enviroment.
June 18th, 2006 at 5:08 am
Stephen says:
How much trunk space do you have to give up with the Prius plug in conversion? Seems like a question no one wants to ask or think about.
Also, how much of California’s electicity is generated outside the state versus inside? When the people of CA start to build power plants inside the state to take care of their own needs is when I start taking them seriously about using electricity to power my cars. Whether it was water or electricity, this was always a state that prefered to export their probelms for other to deal with.
June 19th, 2006 at 11:29 am
MarcosV says:
Was does how much electricity California produces within itself have to do with plug-in electric cars? The smart thing about plug in cars is that you plug in over night when overall demand for power is down.
June 19th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
Karl says:
This critique of pluggable hybrids neglects discussion of the scarcity of petroleum, and the hundreds of thousands of lives being lost in our obsession to place dibs on more. Your choice of transportation is not strictly economic or environmental.
December 18th, 2006 at 5:12 am
Plug-In Hybrids Bill Signed Into Law In Minnesota ~ Tech News Watch says:
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March 28th, 2007 at 1:49 pm