Toyota announced plans to launch a lithium-ion battery powered, plug-in hybrid car in the US by 2010. The plug-in hybrid batteries can be charged using a standard electrical outlet. The first set of cars will be available to large fleet customers. The announcement was made at the Detroit Auto show and the timing of the launch goes head to head with GM’s launch of the Volt.

Toyota Prius is the most popular hybrid car and runs on nickel metal hydride batteries which do not offer the range and power of the lithium-ion batteries.

Dr. Andrew Frank of University of California, Davis has achieved a major breakthrough in the field of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology through his research of over 30 years. Dr. Frank, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering created his first “plug-in” hybrid in the 90’s and is considered the father of this technology.

UC Davis received a grant from the California Energy Commission to study and further develop the plug-in hybrid technology. The technological advances made during the past 30 years have now been licensed by Efficient Drivetrains Inc., a company that hopes to commercialize these technologies and bring them to market in a quick turnaround.

continue reading "UC Davis Professor helps leapfrog Plug-in Hybrids"

Plug-in Hybrids could become truly affordable by 2010 thanks to a company called EnerDel. The company is hoping to manufacture and sell lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrids at a price point of $1,500 which is considerably cheaper than the cost of Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries used in Plug-in hybrids today.
Since automobile makers are not mass producing Plug-in hybrids, consumers can purchase after-market kits to convert existing hybrid cars such as the popular Prius into Plug-ins. The costs, however, can run as high as $15,000. When the cost of the batteries comes down, the after market conversion costs should go down significantly as well.

continue reading "Plug-in Hybrid Batteries to cost less"

Richard Bremner drives Ford’s new Edge hyrdogen hybrid car. Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, this car is in daily use by it’s creator, and is set to be the future of motoring.

Wall Street Journal reporter Joseph White, wrote an article titled “Plugging In to the Future - Getting 100 Miles Per Gallon While Driving to Work In a Modified Toyota Prius”. He starts the article with “I drove to work one day last week in a prototype car that is either a harbinger of a far more fuel-efficient future, or another in a long line of technological insurgencies that will fail in the end to crack the auto industry’s century-old status quo.”. He is referring to a Toyota Prius that was modified to house a Litium-ion battery pack and plug-in capability to recharge this battery pack through an electrical outlet. As I reported in one of my previous posts, there are numerous experiments being conducted by scientists as well as by automobile manufacturers on plug-in hybrids.

Watch this video of WSJ’s Joe White test driving a Toyota Prius modified by a lithium-ion battery pack, to see if it can operate for 40 miles almost entirely on electric power.

continue reading "Getting 100 miles per gallon in your Prius"