Bush Showcases Plug-In Electric Cars

Yesterday, President George Bush peered under the hood of two electric cars parked on the White House lawn (see video here). The two cars were a modified Toyota Prius, and an electric pickup built by Phoenix Motorcars. Bush made a short speech to reiterate his State of the Union Address saying: "I firmly believe that the goal I laid out, that Americans will use 20 percent less gasoline over the next 10 years is going to be achieved, and here's living proof of how we're going to get there." The Prius on display had a high-power lithium-ion battery made by A123 Systems. It can power the car for about 40 miles and recharge in five hours. The white truck, made by Phoenix Motorcars, uses a different kind of high-powered battery made by Altair Nanotechnologies. The battery has a range of 130 miles and can be recharged in about 10 minutes with a rapid-charging unit or trickle-charged overnight with its onboard charger. :: New York Times