Prius Plug-In Begins Testing in NorCal

[mgescuro]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...3FBN.DTL&tsp=1

Plug-ins going for a spin

100 Northern California households to put modified Priuses through their paces


One hundred Northern California households will be given the use of experimental, plug-in hybrid cars next year in the first widespread consumer testing of the super-high-mileage vehicles in the nation, under a program announced Tuesday by UC Davis transit planners and an auto club.

The households, to be chosen from the ranks of more than 4 million members of AAA of Northern California, will each have an eight-week loan of a Toyota Prius converted to run on batteries that are twice as powerful as those originally installed by the automaker.

The cars can easily get 100 miles per gallon on their combined power from electric motors and gasoline engines. They also spew out far fewer environment-harming emissions than even conventional hybrid cars.

"This is the first large consumer study of plug-in hybrids," said Tom Turrentine, director of the Plug-In Hybrid Center at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. "We're the advance guard of putting a lot of these (cars) in households." The program is scheduled to start in the spring of 2008.

Plug-in hybrids are in their infancy - perhaps 50 of them are in fleets maintained by utility companies, universities and other organizations - and so far there has been no large testing of how they work in everyday use.

Normal hybrids use a combination of electric and gasoline power to eke out better mileage than gasoline-only cars, largely by having the electric motor take over in situations where the car does not require much power, such as crawling down a city street or in a freeway traffic jam. The electric power is created by on-board generators and regenerative braking, freeing the car from the leash of a power cord and hours of recharging that purely electric cars required.

Plug-in advocates say the converted hybrids constitute the best of all worlds: By equipping the car with more powerful batteries and then letting them recharge overnight, the next day's journey can be done mostly on electric power, saving the car's gasoline engine for more stressful situations such as zooming onto a freeway or for long-distance travel.

The downside of plug-in hybrids, critics say, is that the converted cars, by using household electricity for daily recharging, are simply sucking more energy from the already polluting coal-fired power grid, and that in the long run this is just as bad for the environment as having a gasoline-only car.

More Info at Link

[dlr]

"The downside of plug-in hybrids, critics say, is that the converted cars, by using household electricity for daily recharging, are simply sucking more
energy from the already polluting coal-fired power grid, and that in the long run this is just as bad for the environment as having a gasoline-only car.
"

I don't think this will be much of an issue. People have a greater concern for how much is it going to cost me to fuel my vehicle compared to is it good for the environment.

[Saturn69]

Interestingly enough, UC Davis is doing the testing whilst Toyota shuffles it's feet and mumbles something about it not working, Honda just says no.

[PhishPhood]

Originally Posted by Saturn69

Interestingly enough, UC Davis is doing the testing whilst Toyota shuffles it's feet and mumbles something about it not working, Honda just says no.

I'd be shocked if this wasn't a front that's being 'supported' by their SoCal neighbors.

[awalbert88]

Originally Posted by Saturn69

Interestingly enough, UC Davis is doing the testing whilst Toyota shuffles it's feet and mumbles something about it not working, Honda just says no.

Of course, Toyota still gets positive PR from this, simply because it's a Prius. Most folks won't read or hear about the details and will simply here "Toyota Prius" and "plug-in hybrid", then when the Volt comes into production in two years will suddenly say, "Oh, Toyota did that first."

Sounds stupid, but you can bet that more than few misguided folks will believe it.

[Russell]

VOLT is far superior to Prius.

[MrMax]

Originally Posted by awalbert88

Of course, Toyota still gets positive PR from this, simply because it's a Prius. Most folks won't read or hear about the details and will simply here "Toyota Prius" and "plug-in hybrid", then when the Volt comes into production in two years will suddenly say, "Oh, Toyota did that first."

Sounds stupid, but you can bet that more than few misguided folks will believe it.

Call it the Toyota Free Pass.

But don't you worry. They'll get their comeuppance.

[crooner214]

How interesting would it be to put one of these up against one of the Hydrogen `Nox testers in a car-rag style comparo?

[minnfang]

Too bad UC Davis couldn't work with an American company on a project like this. I guess that's how our tax dollars get put to work these days. (The Escape hybrid would probably work.)

[mbukukanyau]

Originally Posted by minnfang

Too bad UC Davis couldn't work with an American company on a project like this. I guess that's how our tax dollars get put to work these days. (The Escape hybrid would probably work.)

Escape is not holy enough for this faith. Its got the dreaded SUV moniker attached to it (please mod , do not delete/edit my post )

[rsbaker]

Originally Posted by dlr

"The downside of plug-in hybrids, critics say, is that the converted cars, by using household electricity for daily recharging, are simply sucking more
energy from the already polluting coal-fired power grid, and that in the long run this is just as bad for the environment as having a gasoline-only car.
"

I don't think this will be much of an issue. People have a greater concern for how much is it going to cost me to fuel my vehicle compared to is it good for the environment.

This is absolutely true. But I'd rather pay money to some US power plant than any Arab sheik or South American Dictator wannabe who hold us hostage to their foreign oil. Yes sir We need plug in hybrids as fas as we can get them.

[tgagneguam]

Originally Posted by awalbert88

Of course, Toyota still gets positive PR from this, simply because it's a Prius. Most folks won't read or hear about the details and will simply here "Toyota Prius" and "plug-in hybrid", then when the Volt comes into production in two years will suddenly say, "Oh, Toyota did that first."

Sounds stupid, but you can bet that more than few misguided folks will believe it.

Simply reading the comments to the article section lets you know that anti-GM sentiment is alive and well; "californio" and "wayupnorth" sound like they really feel the pulse of the auto industry.

[tama z71]

Originally Posted by dlr

"The downside of plug-in hybrids, critics say, is that the converted cars, by using household electricity for daily recharging, are simply sucking more
energy from the already polluting coal-fired power grid, and that in the long run this is just as bad for the environment as having a gasoline-only car.
"

I don't think this will be much of an issue. People have a greater concern for how much is it going to cost me to fuel my vehicle compared to is it good for the environment.

good. we have coal. iran doesnt

[rhvfd10]

Originally Posted by minnfang

Too bad UC Davis couldn't work with an American company on a project like this. I guess that's how our tax dollars get put to work these days. (The Escape hybrid would probably work.)

For the record, UC Davis is also working on a Chevrolet Equinox plug in as part off GM's Challenge X competition.

Team-Fate began back in 1971 when Dr. Andrew Frank was working at the University of Wisconsin. He was driven to focus his research towards advance powertrain systems, having seen the need for increasing fuel efficiency in the coming years. Team Fate was formed along with several of his students to take these technologies to student competitions. The first car built was for the Urban Car challenge where team fate featured a power split hybrid built from the ground up. In the time Team Fate was at Wisconsin they participated and won several competitions, continually pushing the limit of vehicle efficiency and fuel economy.

In 1985 Dr. Frank moved on to the University of California, Davis and continued team-fate on the west coast. His achievements are numerous, including more than 22 patents, 2 world records in fuel efficiency and has the largest (and oldest) collection of modern electric plug in hybrid vehicles.

http://www.team-fate.net/

http://www.challengex.org/

[PhishPhood]

Originally Posted by rsbaker

This is absolutely true. But I'd rather pay money to some US power plant than any Arab sheik or South American Dictator wannabe who hold us hostage to their foreign oil. Yes sir We need plug in hybrids as fas as we can get them.

Thank you for expressing my sentiments exactly.