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Plug-in Hybrids Show Potential For Even Greater Carbon Reductions

Advances are afoot on the hybrid front. With an average of 45 miles per gallon (mpg), these cars are only getting better. With plug-in technology, hybrids can average 100 mpg. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can be plugged into a standard 110 v wall outlet, allowing the car to use more electricity and less gas. Even better, plug-in hybrids can be powered by renewable energy from the electricity grid.

Current studies show, Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles average 40.9 mpg, where as Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles average 73.6 mpg. But General Motors is in the works to launch an all-electric plug-in vehicle which could eventually average more than 100 mpg.

At the moment, plug-in hybrids are only available as “after-market conversions”, though several auto makers are hoping to make plug-ins publicly available by 2010. Plug-ins have several big supporters, Senator Orrin Hatch, Former CIA Director James Woolsey, Robert Redford, and even President Bush. In his 2006 Energy Speech, Bush acknowledged the great potentials of the plug-in hybrids.

Posted by Sean on 07/24

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