These days, there’s a lot of interest in electric cars. There are many reasons to want to drive cars using electricity instead of gas, but doing so is still not easy.
The biggest problem is driving range. Most of the ‘all-electric’ vehicles on the market can only go 60-80 miles on a charge. This is enough for most of us to go about our daily business, although people with long commutes are out of luck.
When it comes to taking lengthy car trips, today’s electric cars are not so practical. Even when charging infrastructure permits it, having to recharge the car’s battery every 70 miles is not an attractive way to take a long trip. The Tesla electric sedan can go much farther but it is quite expensive.
In response, car-makers are gradually introducing plug-in hybrid vehicles as a viable compromise. These cars can provide limited all-electric drive – somewhere between 10 and 40 miles – but then revert to being gasoline-driven high-mileage hybrids. For quite a few of us, the electric miles can accomplish much of our day-to-day business. But when a longer trip is needed, the car can go anywhere using gas.
There are some drawbacks. Plug-in hybrids come at a premium price and their batteries take up lots of space – typically displacing much of the trunks in these vehicles. However, batteries are steadily improving and will get smaller and cheaper.
In the meantime, plug-in hybrids give us a practical option for weaning ourselves from gasoline without having to give up on the freedom of the road.
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Web Links
Plug-in Hybrids
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/phevtech.shtml
Photo, taken on August 26, 2010, courtesy of Zero Emission Resource Organization via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.