Plug-In Hybrids: The Infrastructure May Not Be Ready

I realize that my frequent posting on ClimateGate belies my interest in protecting our environment, but I do try to keep abreast of new technologies that might offer us a cleaner world.  I just try to weed out the crappola from bonafide solutions.

Electric cars peak my curiosity, but they continue to pose problems.  I have blogged before about my skepticism with regards to hybrid cars (go here, for example), and it sounds like the advent of plug-in electric cars, although promising, might force our nation's electrical companies to scramble in order to beef up the infrastructure.

In December, Reuters via FoxNews reported that Toyota would be selling plug-in hybrids, or PHVs, in two years.

Toyota Motor Corp will begin selling "affordable" plug-in hybrid cars in 2011, upping the ante on General Motors and Nissan Motor as they aim to take the lead in the field of rechargeable cars.

Toyota's first plug-in model, the Prius Plug-In Hybrid (PHV), adds an external charging function and more batteries to the popular Prius to enable longer-distance driving on electricity alone.

Because it can also run on gasoline, plug-in hybrids — such as GM's upcoming Volt due for sale next year — eliminate the "range anxiety" seen as one of the main shortcomings of battery-powered pure electric cars.

The Prius PHV can travel 14.5 miles using only the electric motor, making a short commute possible on zero emissions, Toyota said. On a full charge and full tank of gas, the car could theoretically travel 870 miles, it said.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker and by far the top seller of gasoline-electric hybrid cars, said it would aim to sell "several tens of thousands" of plug-in hybrid cars to the general public in an "affordable" price range.

The third-generation Prius starts at 2.05 million yen in Japan and $22,400 in the United States.  Uchiyamada said he expects the mass-produced plug-in cars — which may not take the shape of the Prius — to be sold globally.

The Chevrolet Volt, on track to become the first mass-market plug-in hybrid in the United States, could cost as much as $40,000 before a $7,500 consumer tax credit is applied, GM has said. The U.S. automaker expects to sell about 10,000 Volts in the first year of production and 60,000 in its second full year.

Nissan's pure electric Leaf car due for sale in 2010 has a range of 100 miles on a single charge.

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Click here to see the other plug-ins: The Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt.

Following this, the Detroit Free Press reported last month that the nation's infrastructure might not be capable of handling the increase load on its electrical system that these PHVs would pose (emphasis added): 

Surge of plug-in cars could strain electric companies

Preparing America's neighborhoods to handle the additional power load that electric vehicles are expected to require is among the challenges facing the utility and automotive industries as plug-in electric vehicles are introduced, DTE Energy Chairman Tony Early said today.


Almost every major automaker plans to introduce an electric car over the next three years even though many questions about the technology remain.

Early said nation's power plants and major power lines are capable of providing adequate electricity to meet the additional demand that plug-in electric vehicles for the foreseeable future. But in many cases, the power lines in neighborhoods will need to be upgraded.

With most plug-in electric vehicles expected to cost $40,000 or more, "We can pretty much guess what neighborhoods are going to buy these vehicles. It's going to be upper end neighborhoods," Early said during a panel discussion on electric vehicles in Detroit hosted by Inforum.

That means that the owners of plug-in electric vehicles will live in concentrated areas.

And so the local infrastructure will really be a challenge," Early said. "You will see breakers trip and you will see transformers burn out."

In addition to that challenge, panelists from GM, Chrysler and Ford acknowledged that many other challenges exist, including finding ways to reduce the cost of the lithium-ion batteries that will power electric vehicles and the need for common standards for the size of the plug.

Still, a consensus emerged among panelists that all of those problems can be solved. ...

"This is an idea whose time has come and the technology is emerging to match it," Early said.

I guess as with any new technology, such as the Internet and the demand to improve access and speed, plug-in cars will pose challenges.  But, "the powers that be" promise that the need will be met.  When there's a will, there's a way, as they say.