Includes:
MEDIA: Real Video: CBC's Eve Savory on the new hybrids. [Runs 2:32]
http://www.cbc.ca/clips/rm-lo/savory_hybrid060329.rm
with interviews of Hymotion founders, Canadian
Toyota spokesperson saying "not ready"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/autos/hybrids.html

Betting on cars powered by batteries and gas
By Zerah Lurie, CBC News | March 29, 2006

When electric vehicles first came on the market
about 10 years ago, they were greeted with
enthusiasm. Here were vehicles that produced no
emissions – an important advancement considering
that transportation emissions account for roughly
40 per cent of our greenhouse gasses.

However, these cars have failed to live up to
their hype. The biggest problem is that electric
vehicles lack range. Most of them can't even go
100 kilometres on one charge. This might be OK
for weekdays when you can stay in the city, but
impractical for weekends when you want to go on a
longer trip. Electric vehicles are still around,
but they are for a niche market with a few
aficionados and backyard mechanics taking up the fight.

Hybrid cars that run on both gas and electricity
seem to be another story. In 2005, more than
200,000 hybrid vehicles were sold in the United States.

undefined
These vehicles typically work by taking electric
power from a battery whenever possible (such as
when idling or during short trips), but switching
to a gas engine when more power is needed. Using
this dual power system, a typical hybrid like the
Toyota Prius can get you a long way. But, because
it's a hybrid, it will get you there with a
combined fuel efficiency of only 4.3 litres per
100 kilometres, markedly better than the Toyota
Corolla, which uses 7.1 litres per 100 kilometres.

But, because the electric vehicle market flopped,
the big carmakers wanted to make sure hybrid cars
did not suffer the same mistake. Hybrids were
marketed by bombarding customers with the fact
that they were self-contained. You didn't have to
– in fact, you couldn’t – plug them in for the
car to work. This was to alleviate consumer fears
that they would run out of power, stuck without
an electrical socket somewhere on a highway with
all the other dead electric vehicles.

But in the end, was that the right thing to do?

Enter an American coalition of self-declared tree
huggers, politicians and foreign policy hawks
that have come together to launch the Plug-In
Partners, a national campaign to lobby both big
automakers and their president. Their goal: to
popularize plug-in hybrids – hybrids with a
battery that is charged through a simple electrical outlet.

The advantage of plug-in hybrids is that they
have more electrical power, enough to drive a car
the distance most of us go during the day to and
from work, about 50 kilometres, using only
electrical power. This means that you could go
weeks, maybe even months, without ever using a
drop of gasoline, and all you would have to do is
plug in your car at night for it to be fully
charged and ready to go the next morning. And
still, unlike simple electric cars, if you want
to go long distances, you can always rely on your hybrid's gas engine.

Comments made by U.S. President George W. Bush
suggest he supports the idea. In his state of the
union address Bush said, "America is addicted to
oil, which is often imported from unstable parts
of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology."

Bush even pushed plug-in hybrids while touring a
Milwaukee battery plant last February.

While big automakers have been slow to respond to
the plug-in concept, there are certainly a few
enterprising entrepreneurs who have decided to
take up the challenge. Enter two engineers from
southern Ontario, Akos Toth and Ricardo Bazzarella.

While they met working on fuel cells and think
that these will eventually be the solution to oil
dependency, they aren't holding their breath for
the technology and infrastructure to catch up.

They decided to branch out and started a company
called Hymotion, producing conversion kits to
change hybrids into plug-in hybrids. In a garage
just north of Toronto they have a plug-in Prius.
Fifteen minutes into a test drive the gas engine
still hadn't kicked in. This plug-in hybrid
performs well, so why aren't they in stores yet?

Toyota, for one, doesn't think the technology is
ready. Batteries are still quite expensive and
not completely reliable. Also, they point out
that the best part about hybrid vehicles is not
their fuel efficiency, but their reduced
emissions. According to Wesley Pratt, a spokesman
for Toyota Canada, "Canada is very fortunate, we
have an abundance of hydroelectricity. But that's
a unique model in the world. Most people are
still dependant on fossil fuels, coal, things
like that, to generate electricity."

Plugging in these cars at night also won't tax
the power grid, meaning millions of plug-in
hybrids can be driven before even a single
additional power plant needs to be built.

Both sides acknowledge that plug-in conversions
are expensive and still need to be tested for reliability.

Hymotion's conversion kit will run you about
$9,000, and even though it costs about a quarter
as much to travel on battery power as compared to
gas, it would take a lot of kilometres to make up that difference.

Still, supporters are determined to see the idea through.

"I think the plug-in hybrids are the way of the
future," says Toth of Hymotion. "I am pretty sure
10 to 15 years down the road, this is the car
that will be driving in the cities."

As for what the big automakers believe … at least they have never said never.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-index.html
http://www.hybridcars.com/blogs/power
http://www.eaa-phev.org
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --