Electric Cars Charge Ahead
At Least Nine Major Car Companies Promise Plug-In Vehicles by 2013
Armin Kusig is living a new American dream – one that lightens his fuel costs and puts a smile on his face. Driving a plug-in hybrid car that gets much of its locomotion energy from a battery, he gets up to 100 miles per gallon and recharges overnight from a socket in his garage.
Average fuel costs to commute 55 miles daily? About $1.62 – 15 cents for electricity and the rest for gasoline – if gas is priced at $2 per gallon.
Yet Mr. Kusig's reality is still the future for the rest of the nation. Only a few dozen plug-in hybrids are on the road today. Most current plug-ins are conversions by do-it-yourselfers or by companies that charge $10,000 or more. Kusig, an engineer from Wayland, Mass., converted his hybrid Honda Insight into a plug-in by adding a built-in battery charger and a mechanism that lets him control the electric motor.
But the plug-in dearth seems set to change before long. A combination of unpredictable gasoline prices, prodding activists, unsold SUVs, and hefty government financial incentives for plug-ins have changed the game. After years of foot-dragging, major car companies are at last accelerating into a market for electric-powered vehicles of all kinds, analysts say.
"They're making pretty good progress," says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., of GM and other companies' development efforts. "They're doing this for real."
At least nine car companies worldwide say that by 2013 they will offer plug-in vehicles that use electric motors as their primary means of propulsion, according to Plug-in America, an activist group. Some will be all-electric drive vehicles (EV). Most will be plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) that use small gasoline engines as a backup.
GM and Chrysler both say they will sell a plug-in car in 2010. Ford will sell a battery-powered commercial van next year, a small battery-powered EV car the year after, and a PHEV competitor to GM's Volt by 2012. Toyota says it will sell a plug-in-hybrid Prius to companies late this year, but hasn't said when ordinary consumers will be able to buy one. So far, despite its financial woes, GM seems to hold the plug-in lead, Mr. Cole says.
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