Plug-In Hybrid Campaign in Austin, Texas
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 08.23.05
To be frank, we never expected to write so many articles about positive eco-things happening in Texas (see this, this and this), but they keep coming. The latest installment is the launch of a campaign to promote plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV - we wrote about a prototype of plug-in Prius recently) in Austin. You can see the official campaign page at www.PlugInAustin.org (navigation on the right), and you can sign their petition here.
Here is part of the official press release:
The Austin plan, viewed as a model that will be used by communities across the country, includes:
* An Austin City Council resolution supporting the mass production of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
* Local seed money from electric utilities (Austin Energy will provide $1 million) to help local governments, businesses and the public purchase an initial round of plug-ins.
* Commitments for fleet orders by the City of Austin, Travis County, other local governmental agencies and businesses.
* A grassroots petition drive to collect signatures from citizens encouraging automakers to mass-produce plug-in hybrids
"Plug-in hybrids can help significantly address two very serious problems facing communities and our country," said Mayor Will Wynn. "The over-reliance of America on oil imports and the need to improve air quality in our cities by reducing pollution from automobiles."
The appeal of plug-in vehicles is underscored by the fact that 78 percent of Americans live within 20 miles of their jobs. A battery pack sufficient to power a vehicle a distance of 35 miles on a charge would mean a majority of Americans would likely need to fill up with gasoline only once or twice a month. In addition, an "electric" gallon of gas would cost 70 to 80 cents at prevailing electric rates. A plug-in hybrid that gets 25 miles on a gallon of $2.55-national-average gasoline could travel more than 100 miles on $2.55 worth of "electric" gallons of energy.
The full press release and more is available here (it is a message on the CalCars.org mailing list -- they work on plug-in hybrids, pay them a visit!).
Two interesting excerpts taken from the PlugInAustin.org FAQ:
How would PHEVs impact the national economy?
A 2002 EPRI study indicated that if 25% of Americans drove PHEVs by 2025, there would be an $88 billion net annual economic benefit. This would include a $26 billion decrease in the U.S. trade deficit, $7.5 billion saved due to "oil disruptions" that lead to increased gasoline costs, plus the projected creation of over 400,000 jobs.
Won't power plants create a great deal of additional pollution powering PHEVs?
Pollution is easier to manage at a central point such as the stacks of power plants rather than from millions of vehicle tail pipes. Many power plants today are being modified to lower emissions and a number of older plants are being retired. Wind-generated power, solar and other forms of renewable energy are pollution free and are becoming more available. The overnight charging of PHEVs matches well with wind-generated electricity (the most abundant green power), the majority of which is produced overnight due to wind patterns.
To which we would add, charging off peak hours (ie. during the night) has other benefits. As far as we know, coal power plants are not shut down during the night (unlikes some natural gas plants) and so not using the electricity they produce is almost polluting for nothing. We're not sure about nuclear power plants, but chances are the situation is similar. The main goal would be to clean up the grid over time, of course.
We're sure solar parkings (we wrote about them here) would become quite popular!
::PlugInAustin.org, ::Press Release, Media Coverage, via ::Green Car Congress
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wow. inspiring! it's understandable to think nothing good comes from texas, but truth is Texas Renewables has been amazingly active for almost 10 years now.... even Enron had a windfarm division as well as an ESCO. Heck even the Viridian POPE lives just outside of Austin (not to mention that wholepaycheque-- i mean wholefoods comes form there) just like one can reclaim and empower a word (like, say, treehugger) i think its time we reclaim texas as our own green leader!
Thanks from Texas, littleCatalyst!
Unfortunately, most of Texas is not like Austin. But we are trying!
So if 78% of people live within 20 miles of their job and an "'electric' gallon of gas would cost 70 to 80 cents at prevailing electric rates, then why not go fully electric? If your answer is "because there are no commercially available electric vehicles from the major automobile manufacturers" then the same thing could be said about "plug-in hybrids". I don't understand why the people of Austin are promoting taking only a half step toward electric.
While I think the GO-HEV is an interesting approach, they do themselves a disservice by distorting the economics.
In that gas station sign visual, they are indicating that "today's car" costs 3 2/3 times more to fuel than a GO-HEV. For this to be "true", one needs to neglect the current cost premium of a GO-HEV ($4,000 for a hybrid relative to a non-hybrid, plus $14,000 for the conversion to being gas-optional). The battery pack alone costs $9,000 for 15 batteries - or about $1,000 per kWh of capacity.
Amortize that $18,000 over 200,000 miles (which is being generous), and that comes out to an additional 9 cents per mile.
If you compare the cost of a vehicle that gets 20.5 MPG (the national fuel efficiency average for all light vehicles) compared with the theoretical efficiency of a Prius in all-electric mode (which the Calcars people claim is 0.262 kWh/mile), then the gas for the 20.5 MPG vehicle will cost 12.7 cents per mile, while the electricity (based on a tax-included price of 12.3 cents per kWh) for the GO-HEV Prius will cost 3.2 cents per mile. Add back in the price premium for a GO-HEV, then the costs are essentially the same. So, it's a question of who you want to pay your money to - auto manufaturers and auto modders, or to oil producers. Also, the GO-HEV technology is still in a test phase, so it will be quite some time before we see Toyota-like quality, if ever, for that option.
But to step back, I think the more genuine comparison is between a normal Prius and a GO-Prius and seeing if the gas-optional upgrade is worth the money.
A normal Prius costs 4.7 cents per mile for gas, whereas it can run off electricity for 3.2 cents per mile. Again assuming a useful life of 200,000 miles, the conversion cost would need to be $3,000 for it to cost the same as running it on gas without a plug-in upgrade.
The fact is that if light vehicles in the US averaged 55 MPG instead of 20.5 MPG, we would reduce our demand for oil by about 12 million barrels per day, or basically the same amount as we import.
I hope this catches on in other cities. I can certainly see my hometowns of Eugene and Portland, Oregon getting on board the PHEV train. I'll see what I can do to encourage our city leaders. Thanks for the heads up on this one (again!).
Um..... Sounds like maybe GM should have saved those EV1s from the scrap heap. Hope we see some come back.
"So if 78% of people live within 20 miles of their job and an "'electric' gallon of gas would cost 70 to 80 cents at prevailing electric rates, then why not go fully electric?"
Good question. The answer probably has to do with range.
While it is true that most people's commute aren't that long, it's also true that most people will travel long distances once in a while.
But PHEV, or GO-PHEV (Gas-Optional Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle) give you the best of both worlds (except maybe the simplicity of having just an electric drivetrain). They can act as electric vehicles most of the time, but they are easy (easier) to sell to people because they aren't giving up gasoline-car range.
On most days they act like electric vehicles, and when needed, they can go farther than electric-only vehicles.
It will also be easier to phase in electric-only vehicles if we start with GO-PHEV (to later phase out the gasoline engine).
Todd,
Any step forward is a good step :) In my own observations of people I have found they simply can't accept large steps of anything. Had the recent gasoline prices only gone up a penny every five days instead of a penny a day (or more) people would not have noticed or would have simply accepted it as normal. So, all steps forward are good, no matter how minute they may seem.
By the way, I am a native Texan and don't agree with most of my "fellow" Texans on many things, yet I work (as a draftsman) for petro-chemical companies because that's pretty much where most drafting jobs are. I just use my paycheck in eco-friendly ways :)
The people out in front, the "scouts" if you will, get the fun of seeing new things first, but also suffer the arrows in their backs shot by those who feel threatened by the new, by the unseen, and by the economic threats posed to dying industries from transformative technology. Imagine how angry and left out all the GM workers feel about Toyota this and Toyota that in the news every day. TreeHuggers need to find a way for it to be fun for them to come along for the ride. If GM can get a 40mpg sedan together that can lose the Jetsons dashboard look, I might even be tempted.
It is not surprising that you didn't expect many green things going on in Texas. However, after spending the past six years in architecture school in Austin I have come to realize this city is an amazing case-study for many sustainable explorations. I encourage all to look to Austin as inspiration for green possibilities.
This is going to be really exciting because I'm going to drive for free:
1. I'm already collecting waste vegetable fryer oil from restaurants and making biodiesel (www.greenfuelclub.com).
2. I'm going to run a portable diesel generator on it.
3. I'm going to charge my PHEV Prius and get the first 50-100 miles of my day for free!!