Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

It’s no big secret that fuel prices for our gas- or diesel-guzzling vehicles costs a crap load more per mile than the necessary power required for an electric alternative vehicle. For the most part, electric cars are very clean, much less dependant on imported petroleum, quiet, and can be fully powered by renewable resources of electricity such as wind generation. A huge part of their previous unsuccessfulness was the fact that electric cars had very limited range.

With the new hybrid technology, though, that supposed unsuccessfulness is no longer an issue. You can add some extra electric batteries to an electric-gas vehicle and as long as you have a way to plug them in, you can expect to get a typical day’s mileage. But, thankfully, you still have a fuel tank for times when you either don’t have time to charge or replace your batteries, or when you need to go on a longer trip.

But just because the hybrid is perceived as “better” than the electric cars doesn’t mean that they don’t face challenges themselves. The largest challenge a plug-in hybrid will face is the weight and cost of batteries. Extensive research on modeling, thermal management, and solutions have been (and is still being) done on energy storing technology by NREL.

NREL’s engineers and scientists are also dedicated to improving power electronics crucial to the new cars’ efficiency, and do very extensive research on what areas hybrids can improve in. But, even with the rather hefty cost of today’s battery, plug-ins will be able to repay their debt within only a few years.
With energy efficient homes, it’s not hard to picture someone driving an electric car home from work, and plugging it into their solar powered house to draw energy.

Plugging your car into your house really wouldn’t require much electricity at all, as these cars get most of the electricity they need from renewable resources.