[edit] PHEV | Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle
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[edit] Toyota Prius Advanced
Technology Vehicle
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Toyota Prius Advanced Technology Vehicle
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A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid vehicle that has batteries which can be recharged by ‘plugging in’ to a power source, such as a typical household electrical outlet.
This type of vehicle is a combination of the traditional hybrid electric vehicles and the battery electric vehicles. The PHEVs have an internal combustion engine and batteries for power.
The PHEVs on the road today come in a variety of styles. There are passenger cars for the wider market as well as commercial passenger vans, trucks, military vehicles and even school buses. Another common sight is the PHEV version of the motorcycle and the scooter.
There are other names for this kind of vehicle, such as GO-HEVs, gas-optional hybrids and sometimes grid-connected hybrids.
[edit] Advantages of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
The PHEV can be filled up any gas station and you can plug it in to any 120-volt outlet. This offers two fuel sources to use. The one at home however, has an equivalent electrical cost of less than $1 per gallon. It’s not mandatory to plug the vehicle in. But when you do, your car is really an electric vehicle with a gasoline backup system. The back up system would kick in if you have to drive for longer distances than the battery charge can handle.
Why would you want this?
For a start you can get fuel mileage of 100 mpg. Then there is also:
- You almost never need to fill up the gas tank – particularly if you only drive around town.
- The service costs are lower over the lifetime of an electric vehicle than for a conventional gas vehicle.
- The power from the PHEV can be used to power the house in case of a power outage.
[edit] Environmental Impact of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
There are two sides to the PHEVs environmental impact coin. There are some people that say because the fuel requirements will be next to none, the impact will be extremely positive. However, for the other side of the coin, there are many who think this type of vehicle only shifts the pollution problem from the cars to the power plants. Both of these are somewhat correct with reality being somewhere in between.
The reduced dependency on gasoline will reduce the emissions that are polluting our air and will also reduce our dependency on foreign oil supplies. As the vehicle will require more electricity than gasoline the emphasis does shift to the power plants. Someone somewhere has to produce the power required to recharge these vehicles.
However the amount of pollution, by going this direction, is an incredibly small percentage when compared to gasoline vehicle emissions and greenhouse gas emissions.
The electrical costs to power hybrids has been estimated at one quarter of the cost of gasoline, according to the article ‘What are Plug-In Hybrids?” by A. Frank, from the University of California.
However, the power plants do use fossil fuel and that is still going to be a cause for concern.
[edit] The future of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
As of today, there are no plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles in production. That will change very soon. Automobile makers that are all planning to produce PHEV cars staring in 2009 include:
As well, there are several different conversion kits and services to convert ‘regular’ hybrids to plug-ins, with more coming over the next year. Most of the PHEVs currently being driven are converted Toyota Prius models.
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