Plug-in hybrid cars are clean, but face hurdles

By Timothy Gardner - Analysis

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The United States is pushing the use of plug-in hybrids but these cars, which sip gasoline and are low in greenhouse gas emissions, face cost and infrastructure hurdles that will keep them out of the mainstream for years.

The cars have large batteries which can be recharged at home with an extension cord, unlike conventional gasoline-electric hybrid cars which have batteries that are only powered when the driver hits the brake.

The big batteries allow plug-ins to depend more on electricity, the use of which emits less carbon dioxide per unit of energy than petroleum products do, even if the power comes from coal, said Dan Santini, an expert at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

If the electricity comes from nuclear, or perhaps in the future from wind power, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction for plug-ins would be even greater.

The federal government, which is hoping to soon regulate greenhouse gases, is pushing development of plug-ins and President Barack Obama has set a goal for the United States to put 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015. Obama's stimulus plan had $2 billion for development of batteries.

Several car companies like General Motors plan to launch plug-ins and its Chevrolet Volt is expected to go on sale late next year.

Unfortunately, bigger batteries are expensive, which means the price for the Volt will run about $40,000, about double the price of a gasoline-electric hybrid like Toyota's Prius.

"Plug-ins are not the perfect solution, they are not going to be the cheapest," said Ewan Pritchard, who manages North Carolina State University's Advanced Transportation Energy Center and who has converted conventional buses to run as plug-in hybrids.