Plug-ins getting a boost?

The internet is rife with speculation that General Motors is planning to make a series of new, more fuel efficient vehicles, including a Plug-in hybrid electric car, to compete with Japanese auto-manufacturers.

The idea being floating in the blogosphere is that GM will use some of its savings from cost cutting this year to make vehicles that match Japanese fuel efficiency.

GM's plans supposedly include a hybrid-electric vehicle with a plug-in battery that can be recharged at any regular power outlet, as well as more efficient fuel combustion engines, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The most intriguing aspect of these reports is that GM has created an engineering team to develop a plug-in hybrid, called the 'I-Car', short for 'Icon Car.'

(Plug-in hybrids, or PHEVs - Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles -  are capable on reaching 60 mpg fuel efficiency by combining electric motors and fuel combustion engines. The motor switches to gasoline when the battery is drained. Regular hybrids use friction from braking and power from the engine to recharge the battery for the electric motor. The electric motor is used to idle in traffic and at speeds below 3-40 mph, while the traditional engine powers the vehicle at higher speeds.)

GM's CEO Rick Wagoner, and Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, recently toured GM's hybrid development center in Troy, Michigan, to let researchers know the company is making such technologies a priority, according to Bloomberg's sources. Wagoner is said to have stressed the automaker is now fully committed to hybrid and other technologies.

The latest report confirms earlier rumors this summer that GM was looking seriously at plug-in technology. Demand for Toyota's hybrids, including the Prius (the top-rated fuel efficient vehicle on the road today), has helped the company boost US sales while GM and other US carmakers are slumping badly.

But GM still remains way behind the curve. Toyota is already working on a new generation of hybrids.
"Hybrid isn't an alternative. It will be the heart of most of everything we drive," Toyota's NorthAmerican chief, Jim Press, told Bloomberg in June. "There will be diesel hybrids, advanced gasoline hybrids, fuel-cell hybrids, ethanol hybrids," he said.

Click here to read the full story by Bloomberg's Jeff Green.
Click here for more info on lpug-in technology from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

- David Adams