Plug-In Hybrids for the General?

October 29, 2006 – Vol.11 No.32

PLUG-IN HYBRIDS FOR THE GENERAL?

How did it come to be that General Motors - reportedly - now says it will build a plug-in hybrid vehicle?

Simply: competition, ease of development and support from a new breed of special interests.

The popularity of hybrids has caught GM off guard. Particularly with Toyota (again reportedly) planning the third generation Prius to be a plug-in hybrid with near 100 mile per gallon fuel economy. GM might be getting a little nervous about not having a Prius beater.

Of all the high fuel efficiency vehicles, plug-in hybrids are the easiest to build and deploy. PHEVs are, after all, just a conventional hybrid with a larger battery pack and a grid connection. (An electrical outlet.)

Plug-in hybrids are getting support from all directions including the White House and utility companies who like the idea of selling excess overnight base load capacity to charge plug-in cars. (Many utility companies supported electric cars in the 1990’s for the same reason.)

According to Bloomberg news the GM PHEV, code name I-car for icon car, will be the centerpiece of a new, obviously green strategy from the world’s largest carmaker.

The prospect, by the way, of large fleets of plug-in hybrids must be causing some discussion among oil companies, nationalized and commercial. Masses of consumers might like the idea of 100 miles per gallon or so. Oil companies might step up efforts to keep prices at the pump low to keep people in the seats of conventional cars, and buying their fuels.