The Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment compared an advanced spark ignition vehicle with a hybrid electric vehicle, a biodiesel powered vehicle, a battery-powered, all-electric vehicle and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. They concluded that a PHEV does the least damage to the environment. They based their conclusion on the assumptions that 1) advancing technology trumps personal emissions and 2) greenhouse gases trump local pollutants.
Plug-in hybrids are an extremely valuable bridge technology, because they retain the convenience of unlimited range that consumers are used to, while simultaneously advancing the large automotive batteries that can be the foundation for all-electric cars.
The Institute favored battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) because “electricity is by far the best way to get renewable resources to cars.” Nevertheless, they chose a PHEV over a BEV since engineers have yet to solve the “range problem“.
PHEVs face the same problem, but this failed to stop the Institute from suggesting that plug-in hybrids may be a good, long-term choice for sustainable transportation, a suggestion worthy of CalCars or Plug-in Austin.
An advanced, plug-in hybrid with a 100 mile range would need to be fueled only a few times a year, in most cases. Such a low rate of liquid fuel consumption, if it pervades the car market, would enable us to fuel all of our vehicles with a renewable liquid fuel like ethanol or biodiesel, getting the best of both approaches.
The title comes from their suggestion to avoid cars altogether. The Institute suggests walking, bicycling, public transportation, car pooling and car sharing as some alternatives.
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Lucy Sanna has written an article for the EPRI Journal (Fall 2005), entitled “Driving the Solution: The Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle” (PDF). She quotes the manager of technology development for the Electric Transportation Program at the Electric Power Research Institute as stating that driving a DCX Sprinter PHEV for 20 miles on batteries five days a week for 50 weeks in a year equates to 2000-2500 kilowatt-hours. In the United States driving 5000 all-electric miles equates to a cost of $175-215.
The same DCX Sprinter, ICE-powered only, getting 18 miles per gallon at the current price of gasoline, would cost $750-825 to drive the same 5000 miles. (The drivers of the Sprinter vans alternate routes so that the various configurations: gas, diesel, gas-electric, diesel-electric and the hybrid vans with or without plug can be tested in very similar conditions.)
The article also makes the point, frequently made by Professor Andy Frank, that such PHEV commercial vans can be recharged at night, thus benefiting from off-peak rates. (In the U.S. approximately 40% of total generating capacity sits idle or operates at a reduced level at night.)
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[...] Provide incentives to auto manufacturers to produce and consumers to purchase, hybrid vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) across all vehicle models. [...]