Taking 80 Million Gasoline Cars Off The Road

A study completed by two environmental groups concludes that greenhouse emmisions would be greatly reduced if a large number of automobile owners switch to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). If the PHEV technology is widely adopted, the study claims that by year 2050, the effect would be equivalent to removing 82 million passenger cars off the road. The two environmental groups, EPRI (Electric Power Research Institure) and NRDC (Natural Resources Defence Council) conducted the study jointly. Large scale adoption of PHEV technology will also significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the study concludes. Israel took a big step in reducing dependence on middle east oil by requiring all it’s embassy vehicles to be Hybrid by end of 2008.

PHEV automobiles are still not available directly from manufacturers. There are conversion kits available in the market to convert Hybrid Electric cars to Plug-in Hybrid Electric cars. The PHEVs use an extra battery that is charged by plugging the car into the electrical outlet at home. Charging the battery typically takes a few hours and the vehicle primarily uses the battery for short distances.

For more information on PHEV, watch this video:

It is expected that by year 2010, there will be several models of PHEV automobiles available on the market directly from manufacturers.

With several State’s already providing incentives to go green, it should make economic sense to go green with PHEV’s in the future.