Agree with this article. The public will need much education regarding Plugged-in EV's (PEV's).

At current mix of power generation of 35% coal, 35% NG and 30% non-fossil fuel, a PEV will emit half as much CO2 as a comparable ICEV. If NG will replace the coal's 35% of the mix, a PEV will emit 1/4 to 1/5th the CO2 of a comparable ICEV. This is a tremendous reduction in GHG emission!!!

Over the life of the vehicle at 200,000 miles, the owner of a PEV will save about ~$10,000 in overall expenses of owning, maintaining and fueling of the vehicle. This is a best-kept secret that must be released for the benefit of humanity. Day-time charging will greatly benefit the installation of solar PV panels in soaking the excess solar output, allowing faster return of investment for those solar PV panels. Smart grid and smart chargers in the PEV's will stop the charging process momentarily in response in dip in output from the solar panels and can help smooth out the grid upon higher penetration of solar PV tied to the grid.

Future V2G with output from the PEV's back into the grid will allow 100% penetration of solar and wind energy because the massive and immediate output from these PEV's will allow the backup NG plants sufficient time to rev-up and come online, preventing brown-outs that may happen upon a sudden drop in wind speeds or solar output. PEV's will be vital for the future adoption of 100% renewable energy penetration of the grid. When PHEV's are equipped with V2G and plugged into the grid for most of the time, power black-outs will be thing of the past!!!

There is no reason to educate the public for making poor choices. Roger is incorrect when he states that BEV will reduce ghg. There is no reason to think a BEV will last 200k miles or save money.

“soaking the excess solar output”

There is no excess solar output. On a summer day, solar goes from zero to about 500 MWe on the California ISO. During the same time period demand increases a about 1000 MWe/hour.

“preventing brown-outs that may happen upon a sudden drop in wind speeds or solar output.”

Another problem that does not exists. Brown out are no longer a problem in California. Grid operators have demonstrated the ability to predict and manage variations in windout put.

Those barriers in the article?
They relate to our freedom to think what we want and buy what we want.

In their own words:

1. Lack of consumer awareness and information. Many consumers are unfamiliar with electric vehicles and their performance, while at the same time they may harbor common misperceptions about vehicle types, safety, range, impact on their electricity bills, and other facets of electric vehicle ownership.
- REPLY: Unaware of good point or bad points? See their own words in #2 and #3.

2. Lack of appeal to a broader market. The higher initial costs and limited battery range of some electric vehicles may make them less attractive to a broader market segment beyond early adopters.
- REPLY: Like, maybe they need to FORCE people to buy them, eh?

3. Lack of access to charging infrastructure outside of the home. Potential electric vehicle customers may be deterred by a non-home charging infrastructure that seems inadequate, difficult to navigate, and unpredictable in its pricing.
- REPLY: See #2, and the REPLY.

Right now most people wont touch a bev or plug in because they arnt there yet and no amount of blather and tripe will get that any better. They just have to wait till they are good enough to garner more buyers.

@ToppaTom,
Thanks for bringing up some thought-provoking points. You're a great thought provoker! I've just thought of a way to make PEV's purchasing cost on par with a comparable ICEV.
This can be done by the mfg's quoting and selling the vehicle without including the price of the battery. The battery will be on a lease basis that the purchaser can pay out each month, perhaps by automatic checking account deduction for x number of months. Because the cost of electricity will be so low in comparison to the cost of petroleum, the net monthly cost that a typical PEV owner will pay for both the battery lease and electricity combined will still be significantly lower than the cost of fueling up a comparable ICEV car, when driven a comparable number of miles monthly. By this method, a car mfg can offer a PHEV for the same price as a comparable HEV. HEV's are selling well, and many buyers will choose a PHEV over a HEV because of energy security factor and higher max hp available with a bigger battery pack. Have a "need for speed" but can't afford the high petrol prices? Get a PHEV! Equip a PHEV with a V2G plug-out, and a PHEV will be a must-have! Energy security for your whole house. People who drive so few miles per day like Kit P probably will stick to their existing ICEV, but that's OK, since they are not releasing much GHG when driving so few miles per day.

One way to entice more people to buy a BEV would be for the mfg and the dealer to offer free ICEV car rental for so many hours to days per month that will accumulate if not used. A BEV owner will simply drive their BEV to the dealer or to a designated car rental company, park their BEV in the lot, show the driver license, and pick up an ICEV for long-distance trips. Since this process is already enrolled, checking out a rental ICEV will be very quick, and the parked BEV will be a collateral should anything will happen to the rented ICEV. Heck, if enough people will drive BEV's, most gas stations or convenient store can be a place to park your BEV, plug it in to charge it, and pick up a rental ICEV in less than 1 minutes. ICEV rental can be by the hours, so it will be very convenient for everyone to park their energy-drained BEV at a convenient store to pick up an ICEV to complete their extended-distance errand, and later return their rented ICEV to pick up their charged BEV for the drive home. There! Problem solved for the range anxiety of BEV's.

@WM2000,
I hope the above will make a bev or plug in "there" a lot sooner. Of course, you know that Ford has just released an excellent PHEV, the C-Max Energi, that is very competitively priced and offers high performance and seating for 5 with decent luggage space. Now, if Ford can just quote the price of the C-Max Energi on par with that of the C-Max hybrid HEV and lease out the battery pack on a monthly basis, that would be a steal!

@KitP,
Following the same logic above, Toyota and Ford can sell their HEV's for the same price as their comparable ICEV. For example, a 2012 Prius can be sold at the same price as a 2012 Corolla LE automatic, with MSRP of $19,000. Then, the HEV feature of the Prius can be put on lease, payable on a monthly basis by direct checking account deduction or any other convenient payment method. Those who drive more than 30 miles a day will find that their combined fuel cost + lease payment monthly for their HEV's will be substantially less than the fuel bill of a comparable ICEV.

Of course, since you drive so little, you won't choose to buy an HEV...
...but, being a mechanical engineer by education and working for electric utility by profession, have you ever dream of what it feels to own a full HEV like the Prius? Or the C-Max Energi? Just the pleasure of ownership of the latest in automotive technology? Just looking at all the shiny parts and beautiful wiring under the hood of a latest Prius? The absolute quietness and free of vibration when stopped at a traffic light, knowing that you don't have to wear out your engine premature or overheating your engine from excessive idling, or making the oil dirty prematurely... Oh, these are just pure pleasures.

TT and friends....did you know that ICEVs are getting over $1T/year in hand outs just for the fuels (fossil + bio) and probably another $1T/years in 1001 other hand outs for manufacturing, retooling, retraining etc. If governments switch 80% of those hand outs to electrified vehicles, we would all have one for almost free within 15 years or so.

Two recent studies determine that wind energy can supply 10 to 100 times the energy that the world needs without fossil fuels. It is there to be harvested-stored-distributed. It would create 50 to 100 times more good paying jobs than coal and oil. Higher efficiency (2.4X) bladeless wind energy converters could be used to reduce noise, vibration and protect birds.

The increase in longevity and durability of HEV and PHEV's alone is more than worth the price premium. Just amortize the cost per mile for respective vehicles and you will see plainly. Why do people pay higher prices for good brand of cars, or for any other durable goods, for that matter?

“People who drive so few miles per day like Kit P probably will stick to their existing ICEV, but that's OK, since they are not releasing much GHG when driving so few miles per day.

One way to entice more people to buy a BEV would be for the mfg and the dealer to offer free ICEV car rental for so many hours to days per month that will accumulate if not used.”

Why not just buy something like a Corolla in the first place?

When you apply Roger’s logic to real life situation it does not make sense. Since short trips do not use much fuel, therefore BEV will not save much fuel. Long trips to visit family are not a practical use for BEV and PHEV do not get better highway mileage.

“the C-Max Energi, that is very competitively priced”

Really? This is the problem I have with Roger. He has no common sense and does not check his facts. The Ford web site says $25k (as shown $35k). Want the list of good quality 5 passenger cars for ten grand less?

People you have to decide what you want. Do want transportation that is affordable and does not kill you at the gas pump or do you want to get ripped off by a car dealer.

@HarveyD,
No need for gasoline at $5/gal or higher. $3.5/gal like in the USA now is sufficient to make the overall cost of PEV's and HEV's much lower than ICEV's. Like I posted earlier, to encourage sales of HEV's and PHEV's and BEV's to people who can't calculate, the mfg's can charge the same purchasing price of HEV's and PEV's as ICEV's. Then, instead of paying a high gasoline cost per month, they can pay a much lower fuel bill + a small monthly payment for the price difference of the PEV < (still lower) than the gasoline cost of an ICEV. This means that PEV's and HEV's would not have any upfront cost penalty to discourage less savvy customers. This can be done NOW, or whenever mfg's have manage to produce enough HEV's and PEV's to do this. Now, they are still putting PEV's in semi-testing mode to fine-tune the whole concept, so they don't care to sell too much of PHEV's and BEV's.

However, increasing gasoline tax is important in the future to maintain the same gasoline prices as today's level, when gasoline prices will likely drop in response to lower demands due to increasing market penetration of HEV's and PEV's. It is important to keep gasoline prices at today's level in order to maintain healthy development of EV's overall

@Roger

You keep saying it so I will say it is not so. BEV do not have lower ghg emissions. Roger makes up ridiculous examples to justify to make his point. He is not alone. Maybe some day we will have some real world data but just maybe should wait for the data before we start advocating wide scale adoption of BEV.

Grid supplied energy does not work for long trips.

“A BEV like the Leaf can do 70-mile EPA range, ”

So what? My wife does not need a a $40K BEV to drive 5 miles to the mall. Church, school, doctor dentist, and the food store are less than 2 miles.

“Owners of a BEV can rent an ICEV for infrequent out-of-town trips. ”

Are you nuts? You keep saying that people are better off buying something expensive that does not meet their needs. Just because you can do something does not mean very many will do it.

Roger you might want to spend some time observing people. For those who are really interested in saving fuel it is not hard to do. Carpooling is an example. My wife went food shopping this week with a lady friend. They out went out to lunch combining trips.

“(plugged in at work) ”

It is my habit to work late because of traffic. As it turns out I was the first person at the stop light. When it turned green I accelerated but the speed limit is 35 mph. Two huge pick up trucks raced around me and beat me to the next light just to brake hard. They raced and braked hard for 6 stop lights. I actually passed them both before I turned off to go to my house. I can not explain the behavior of accelerating hard when the next light is red or slowing down when it is green.

My point here is that saving fuel is easy if you apply common sense. Roger is advocating a very expensive engineered solution with made up benefits that few consumers will accept.

Thanks, KP, for your continued interest in this subject. You did make a good point about some people are wasteful in their driving habit. But, this is a free country, and each to his habits and wishes. If a habit is harmful to the public, then some sort of dis-incentive measures can be done, like smoking in public, or public intoxication. Since petrol is an imported strategic resource, an increase in gasoline tax is what we have been advocating to reduce profligate use.

What's wrong with a person driving a $40,000-car? I see people driving Cadillacs and Lexus and Mercedes and BMW's all the time! The different with a the GM Volt is that you will save about $15-20,000's worth of gasoline over the life of the car, while the luxo brands are also somewhat gas-guzzling and waste even more money! My father drives a $65,000 Lexus sedan, while he has another $50,000-Lexus SUV parked at home. He has been retired for years and only drives for pleasure, perhaps a 10-15 miles/day. I could have been driving a $150,000 Mercedes SL 600 or whatever, but I choose to drive a Prius.

PEV's are what our country needs for energy and economic and military securities. You ought to acknowledge that if you're patriotic!!!