This report appears in what's been described as the oldest daily
newspaper in Japan, selling 4million copies daily, nationally
distributed with a strong influence on political and business
leaders. It's helpful though it has a few significant mis-statements
we'll note after the story.

Toyota in the US: Plugging in to a cleaner environment
Mainichi Daily News - Japan
(By Tamotsu Takatsuka/Mainichi Shimbun)
December 6, 2006
<http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/features/news/20061206p2g00m0fe031000c.html>

Felix Kramer shows off his plug-in Prius hybrid. (Tamotsu
Takatsuka/Mainichi Shimbun)
A lithium ion battery in the trunk of a plug-in hybrid. (Tamotsu
Takatsuka/Mainichi Shimbun)

During his 2006 State of the Union address on Jan. 31, U.S. President
George W. Bush pledged to research hybrid, electronic and
hydrogen-powered cars with the aim of reducing American dependence on
Middle Eastern oil by 75 percent by 2025.

The development of plug-in hybrid cars -- vehicles powered by
electric batteries charged by plugging them into household power
points -- was one of the pillars of the president's speech.

Plug-in hybrids are garnering support from all spectrums, with
conservatives and Republican voters joining environmentalists in
backing their development. Support from the right comes from the
public security viewpoint of having an energy policy that reduces the
U.S.' dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Toyota has hardly been a positive force in the development of plug-in
hybrid cars. It only announced it planned to tackle plug-in research
in earnest five months after Bush's speech.

Others in the U.S. have already taken Toyota's Prius hybrid car and
turned it into a plug-in themselves.

California Cars Initiative, a non-profit organization in California,
was the first to use a Prius plug-in on public roads. Felix Kramer,
founder of CalCars, as the organization calls itself, says hybrid
plug-ins can lead to dramatic reductions in fuel consumption.

Kramer currently drives a plug-in Prius adapted by a company called
Energy CS. This is one of three companies in the U.S. and Canada that
adapts hybrid cars to make them plug-ins. It installs a lithium-ion
battery in the trunk of the car, bringing its fuel efficiency rate up
over 42 kilometers per liter.

The engine in the plug-in Prius doesn't even kick in when driving
under 40 kilometers per hour.

It can also travel for about 30 kilometers on the power of its
battery alone. The battery is charged overnight simply by plugging
the car into a household power point. It barely needs gasoline if
used for everyday tasks. Installing the battery also takes up very
little trunk space and the plug-ins are practical.

That doesn't mean everything about the plug-in hybrids is good.
Lithium ion batteries are still really only in their developmental
stages and there are problems with their safety and longevity. Sony
sold lithium ion batteries for laptop computers and they had problems
with overheating and fires breaking out, prompting a series of
recalls. Automakers believe lithium ion batteries need to establish
more reliability before they can be used in their products.

CalCars is currently developing do-it-yourself kits that would allow
hybrid car drivers to turn their cars into plug-ins. CalCars plans to
use Nickel-hydrogen batteries instead of lithium ion, which will
allow the plug-ins to travel even greater distances.

Kramer said that companies like Energy CS are struggling to find
people interested in turning their hybrid cars into plug-in hybrids.
He adds that it will be a long time before automakers are selling plug-ins.

But Kramer says there is still great demand for plug-ins and he wants
to get CalCars' kits on the market within two to three months at a
price under 5,000 dollars.

Automakers are slowly turning their attention toward the development
of plug-ins. Whether Toyota, which led the way with hybrid cars, can
play a similar role with plug-ins remains to be seen.

[OUR NOTE: the open-source do-it-yourself project
<http://www.eaa-phev> starts with lead-acid batteries, and EnergyCS
is not struggling to find customers -- the opposite is true! The
car's low-speed electric-only range is over 40 kilometers, and the
engine generally doesn't start under 54 kilometers.]

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