Super Hybrids

Earlier this summer, three dollars a gallon stood like a benchmark for unacceptable gasoline prices. Now, with record-breaking storms coming in record-breaking numbers and continued instability in the Middle East, the sky appears to be the limit for gas prices. If there ever was a time for innovative approaches to creating more fuel-efficient transportation, this is it.

230 MPG?!
Interestingly enough, tinkerers have become the primary inspiration for a new type of vehicle, the plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Like the hot rodders' obsession with high performance, these new-age tinkerers are pushing the limits of fuel efficiency. A California company, Energy CS, produced two Toyota Prius hybrids with lithium ion batteries, achieving an astounding 230mpg. As far back as 1972, Andy Frank, a University of California, Davis engineering professor, built a 250mpg plug-in hybrid from scratch and has since added seven more to his stable, including a converted, non-hybrid Ford Taurus and a Chevy Suburban.


More recently, Ron Gremban added 18 batteries to a Toyota Prius hybrid and now regularly gets 80mpg. Gremban's effort was to prove that the job could be done at a reasonable cost—a position maintained by CalCars Initiative, a San Francisco Bay area volunteer group. While most of the major auto manufacturers are just beginning to put aside old arguments against the safety and viability of plug-in hybrids, DaimlerChrysler is building 40 PHEV vans for commercial use. Toyota, meanwhile, has admitted that it could learn from the current crop of conversions.

Alliances
An unlikely partner with the environmental groups urging new automotive technologies is the Set America Free organization. Political conservatives such as former CIA director James Woolsey and President Reagan's undersecretary of defense, Frank Gaffney, argue that the American love affair with gas-guzzlers is a source of funding for terrorism, or at least those Middle Eastern governments that are believed to support terrorist organizations. Set America Free is just one of a number of alliances concerned with the country's energy security; all are looking closely at the PHEV.

Driving Technology
The technology driving these plug-in hybrids is nearly self-explanatory. The conventional hybrid Prius uses a gas engine with an electrical motor that runs off of nickel-metal hydride batteries. The gas engine shuts off at idle while the batteries, which are charged with electricity generated during braking as well as from other sources of wasted potential energy, maintain the vehicle's electrical accessories. Conventional hybrids are capable of getting up to 80mpg without the need or even the ability to be plugged in to a wall outlet.