The Speculist

The October issue of Popular Mechanics has an article (not available online) entitled, "Fueling the Future." The article highlights five emerging energy technologies:

1. Next Generation Wind Power

2. Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles

3. Cleaner Fusion

4. Ocean Wave Energy Buoys

5. Microbial Fuel Cells

6. Organic Solar Cells

All of these ideas are worth a post. But I'm particularly glad that the idea of plug-in hybrids is getting some mainstream attention. This article states that most Americans drive an average of 30 miles a day. According to Dr. Andrew Frank of the University of California, an electric engine that's recharged nightly could handle all of those miles. And unlike all-electric vehicles, there is no range issue. The car's gasoline engine will kick in if the battery gets low or if high speeds are required. We have the gasoline infrastructure in place to allow these vehicles to take long trips.

The primary reason carmakers appear to favor the "charge-sustaining" approach is convenience. They don't think drivers will want to be bothered with having to plug in their vehicles when they come home at night, which the "charge-depletion" approach requires.

Well, that's kind of silly. If the owner of a plug in hybrid doesn't want to plug in, he doesn't have to. It's only an option. Such a car would be no different from the hybrids on the road today. They run primarily on gas, but use some electric power harvested from braking. Dr. Frank:

"We are also working on automating the charging. The only thing that is required for you to do is that you park in the same place every night. You park the car, you take the key out, you hear a little click underneath the floor and the car is on charge, automatically."

Dr. Frank believes that plug-in hybrids could become a stepping stone to other fuel sources like hydrogen. He imagines a plug-in hybrid hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.