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PHEV - Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) operate much like the hybrids of today in that they can operate on power from either an electric battery or a gasoline engine. The big difference is that you can plug in the car at night to a normal electric outlet to charge it up, and then drive it exclusively on battery power until you've used up your charge - typically a 30 to 50 mile range. This means if you don't commute more than 30 miles roundtrip in a day you can virtually eliminate use of the gas engine, turning the gas engine into more of a backup power source and achieving fuel efficiency in the range of 100-150 miles per gallon. The major manufacturers have not yet made PHEVs commercially available, but Daimler Chrysler has research vehicles on the road and Toyota this summer announced it was working on a commercial PHEV. Major benefits of PHEVs include far greater fuel efficiency, lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduced fuel costs (less than $1 per gallon equivalent), and reduced maintenance costs (as electric vehicles require less maintenance than their gas counterparts). |
Links 1-9 of 9 in this trail
- A Simple Introduction to PHEV or Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle
This is a very simple one-page introduction to what a PHEV is.
- A Deeper Introduction to PHEV or Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle
This is a more in-depth introduction to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles - the best single-page introduction to PHEVs I've found. This page and site has a lot of really useful information and links on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
- PHEV News - Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle News
This is a great news source for the latest articles on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. You can check the web page and/or subscribe to an email newsletter.
- Can You Get a PHEV Today?
Theoretically there are after-market conversions available today from companies like EnergyCS, Edrive Systems, and Hybrids Plus. These will turn your standard hybrid into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. However the reality is that such installations/conversions are very limited both in number and in geographic availability - and extremely expensive. It's still very early days and PHEVs are still essentially unavailable to the consumer mass market.
- Prius Plus Yahoo Forum
This forum about converting the Prius into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is not accepting new members, so you can't post messages. But you can still read the discussions taking place about PHEVs, and they are interesting and informative.
- EV World
This is a website dedicated to electric vehicles - both hybrids and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The site is broader in scope than just PHEVs, but it's got a great collection of articles, blogs, and other informative resources.
- PHEV on Wikipedia
This is a very dense information page on PHEVs. It's chock full of information, but frankly has too much information for my taste, and is not focused enough. Including it for deeper reference for those who might find it more useful than me.
- Plug-in Partners
Plug-in Partners is a group headed by the city of Austin and Austin Energy. This group is trying to prime the pump of the consumer market by getting governments and businesses to buy PHEV vehicles and put these plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to use in their fleets. This can help create the early demand that is needed to start driving down prices, improving battery technology (they need to get safer, cheaper and more powerful), and working the kinks out of these products. You can also sign a petition on this site to add your voice to those who want to bring this pragmatic techology to market sooner rather than later.
- Professor Andrew Frank PhD of UC Davis
This gentleman is generally considered to be the "father of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle".
