Hybrids, Plug-In Hybrids Spawn Intiatives, Possibilities

June 4, 2006 – Vol.11 No.11

HYBRIDS, PLUG-IN HYBRIDS SPAWN INITIATIVES, POSSIBILITIES.

As part of a pilot program, more than 21,000 employees of the Bank of America living within 90 miles of Boston, Massachusetts, Charlotte, North Carolina and Los Angeles, California will be offered $3000 if they buy a hybrid vehicle. The program was created to help reduce the commuting costs of the company’s associates as well as support a corporate environmental commitment.

Bank of America, one of the world’s largest financial institutions, believes it is one the first major corporations in the US to offer an employee incentive to buy fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles. All full-time and part-time employees working at least 20 hours per week are eligible. Employees can also take available Federal hybrid vehicle tax credits, of course.

Visit Bank of America at http://www.bankofamerica.com/ .

DaimlerChrysler is the only major car manufacturer openly testing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). And soon EDrive Systems will have a retrofit kit available to convert second-generation Toyota Prius’s to part-time, all-electric drive. Conversions by trained technicians, they say, will be $10,000 -12,000.

Still, despite only the limited development of PHEVs the notion of 100 mile per gallon cars has made headline news: In speeches President Bush supported the technology. Now the first state government has signed off on a mandate to begin acquiring fleets of PHEVs - when they’re available.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has signed into law H.F. 3718, the nation’s first legal directive that supports and promotes PHEVs. The law tells the state to buy plug-in hybrids on a preferred basis when they become available.

The law also encourages Minnesota State University-Mankoto to develop flex-fuel plug-in hybrids and creates a business-government task force to develop a strategy for using and manufacturing flex-fuel, plug-in hybrids in the state. Flex-fuel hybrids would run on gasoline or E-85 ethanol blend for greater fuel choice freedom.

According to Scott Dibble, the bill’s chief Senate author, a Ford plant slated for closure would be the ideal spot to build PHEVs. The renewable-powered (hydroelectric) plant could build the green vehicles.

H.F. 3718 was inspired by the legwork of the Institute for Local Self -Reliance (ILSR) and received unanimous votes in both Minnesota houses. Visit ILSR at http://www.ilsr.org/ , and EDrive at http://www.edrivesystems.com/

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles achieve their high overall average fuel economy by having the ability to drive the first few dozen miles or so each day on battery power alone.

The electric drive portion of a conventional hybrid is 80-90 percent efficient at using its available energy (electricity in the battery pack) while the internal combustion engine portion is only about 20 percent, or less, efficient. Thus the longer a hybrid is driven on all-electric power the greater the overall fuel economy. Plug-in hybrids have more powerful batteries than conventional hybrids and can be charged from the grid or distributed sources. The extra battery power adds cost however.

The current plan is for PHEVs to recharge overnight from the grid, but PHEVs could also be topped off with electricity in the daytime if a quick recharge (the time it takes to have lunch for example) were possible.

It is.

AccelRate Power Systems has announced that its high speed battery charging technology is able to recharge lithium-ion batteries in 30 minutes or less. The batteries AccelRate tested were designed for transportation applications and ordinarily need 2-5 hours for a full recharge. Lithium-ion batteries have been chosen by companies such as EDrive Systems as the best choice for PHEVs because of their high energy-to-weight ratio, lack of memory effect and slow loss of charge when not in use.

A quick charge with AccelRate technology could allow the PHEV driver to spend greater portion of his driving time in all-electric mode and less time with petrol flowing into the combustion engine. Visit AccelRate at http://www.accelrate.com/