Coalition charged up to promote plug-in hybrid cars

Wednesday, 24 October 2007

Page 2 of 2 Right now, converting a $23,000 Toyota Prius hybrid to a plug-in hybrid costs between $15,000 and $24,000, according to Poch. For many consumers, the total price tag of between $38,000 and $47,000 would be difficult to justify when the net savings are estimated at about $80 a month or less than $1,000 a year. Poch says he expects to save $100 a month in gasoline, but figures his electric bill will increase by about $20. Still, by the time the cars are available for purchase, the price should be much lower. “We don’t expect people to buy at this price, but we wanted to get the cars on the road,” Poch said. “By the time we market these in mass quantity, we aim to have the premium around $1,000 to $3,000.” State Rep. Ben Hagood, R-Charleston, said he thinks state legislators might consider incentives for plug-in hybrids once the cars are on the market. The state already offers some incentives for purchasing hybrid vehicles in the form of sales and income tax credits. One area of concern among environmentalists is that plug-in hybrids are simply a matter of changing from one source of pollution to another. However, according to Dana Beach, executive director of the Coastal Conservation League, with utility companies moving toward using green energy sources, this shouldn’t be a problem. In addition, when considering the cost of processing and transporting petroleum, the energy conversion is much higher with electricity.  “It’s much more efficient when you consider the energy input vs. the energy output. You’re eliminating the greenhouse gas that comes from petroleum and it becomes an essentially benign impact on the environment,” Beach said. “The most amazing thing would be to combine these cars that run on highly-efficient bio-diesels with the plug-in hybrid model.” A study released late last year by the U.S. Department of Energy found that off-peak electricity production and transmission capacity could fuel 84% of the nation’s 198 million vehicles if they were plug-in hybrid electricity. “Since the cars would be charging primarily during off-peak power times, they would be using energy not already being used,” said Patricia Freshwater, public affairs coordinator for SCE&G. “It wouldn’t increase the need for more electricity or increase the demand for generation.” In addition, Freshwater said that within the two or three years it would likely take to make plug-in hybrids available to the general public, SCE&G will have greatly increased the availability of green power.   “We are evaluating green energy opportunities, and we will be presenting more information to customers after New Year,” Freshwater said. “We will absolutely have green power down the road.” << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>