Jul 21 2008

Plug-In Hybrid Cars Head For San Jose

Expect a jolt of news about new plug-in hybrid cars this week from the Plug-In 2008 conference in San Jose. Some news broke early on Friday when Reuters, citing unnamed sources, reported that General Motors and the utilities group Electric Power Research Institute will announce at the conference a partnership to promote the sale of electric vehicles. Ford Motor announced a partnership with Palo Alto-based EPRI in March.

GM's batter-powered concept car, the Volt.GM is developing the rechargeable Chevrolet Volt expected to enter production in 2010 with a range of 40 miles from a lithium-ion battery pack that could be charged from a standard power outlet. The Volt also will have a gasoline engine to recharge the batteries for longer distances, according to the report. Toyota and other automakers are expected to introduce plug-in hybrids in the next few years.

The automakers, electric utilities (including PG&E), battery-makers, business and environmental groups, engineers, scientists,market analysts, and more will be at Plug-In this week for a series of market and technical panels, including vehicle-to-grid technology. My colleague Jennifer Zerwer will be blogging here from the conference.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson | Comments (0) digg delicioussend to a friendprint entry

 

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Climate Change , Energy , Environment , Partners , Transportation

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  • This is being rather generous to Lutz. 1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science? 2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself. 3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways. -A Siegel
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  • This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures. -Emily
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  • Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :) -Rune (Norway)
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