I saw Sherry Boschert on C-SPAN, and I was impressed. What she knows about the potential for Plug-in cars, with technology available today, might make Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force (whoever they are) very uncomfortable.
Cars with massively reduced pollution output are just one benefit. Getting from point A to point B at lower cost isn't the whole picture, either. The bigger picture is that Plug-in Hybrids can be the key to a new, far more optimal electricity grid.
Optimizations that come into play with Plug-in Hybrids include solving the problem of what to do with renewable wind energy captured at off-peak hours... The wind blows at night, while people's cars are parked and charging. But it's much more than that. In effect, each Plug-in Hybrid can become a power node on a massively distributed electrical grid. That might sound esoteric at first, but imagine if the next time the power lines go down, you can run your whole house for a day or more off the car in your garage!
Also, there are price optimizations. Sherry gave the example of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system, which has the imprecise task of estimating it's massive electricity needs. Underestimating is very expensive, while overestimating is wasteful. BART has parking lots full of cars, which could act as a huge battery bank, absorbing electricity that BART would otherwise waste, in return for sharing some excess energy when it's needed, in a symbiotic relationship that saves money for both BART and vehicle owners. For details, look at this presentation from SF BART's Manager of Reserach and Development.
We need to act NOW to move our transportation system off of polluting, limited, expensive hydrocarbons. Even hybrids that can only drive their first 25, 50, or 75 miles on electricity before a gas engine kicks-in to recharge the batteries can massively reduce petroleum use.
Sherry Boschert's vision for Plug-in Hybrids can be made a reality, today.
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