Plug-In Hybrids. How electric cars could change America.

Our guest contributor James Culp (see this morning's previous post) has sent us this report on last night's Plug-In Hybrid book presentation by the author Sherry Boschert:

James writes:

As The Fueling Station reported on Tuesday, today was the special event at the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa, Florida featuring California author, Sherry Boschert and her new book: 'Plug-In Hybrids. The Cars that could Recharge America.'

Sherry did an excellent job of breaking down the history, technology, politics, and future projections involving the Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle or "PHEV." Her book brings to culmination almost thirty years as a journalist. Basically, "this book explains what plug-in hybrids are, why people want them, and what you can do to get one," she says.

Sherry begins with an insider's look at General Motor's EV1 and then carries us all the way to an exciting development called Vehicle to Grid Technology or "V2G." In this latest concept, electric vehicles would be connected directly to the grid and would supplement power supplies during peak demand. This makes sense, because as Sherry discussed, "The average car is driven 3 hours and is parked 21 hours." It is estimated that 1 million V2G's would equal approximately 20 average power plants.  This would bring "flexibility to the grid for the utility and extra income for the driver."

Don't be mistaken, "Plug-In Hybrids,..." is not all about the technology, it is as much about the interesting people from different political backgrounds, who are all making this technology work and evolve to its next level. Sherry admits to having less of an engineering background and more of one involving people, process, and policy; however, her presentation and book are adequately balanced across each of these areas enough to pique the interest of most readers. Take the case of former CIA director, R. James Woolsey, who "is demanding plug-in hybrids to wean us from petroleum." One does not have to study the press too hard to realize that Mr Woolsey sees our dependence on foreign oil as a threat to national security. Another example of people on the front lines happens to be Felix Kramer and his partners, who formed a nonprofit organization that was responsible for creating the first Prius plug-in hybrids.

In a nutshell, the development of plug-in hybrids on a mass scale does not require a major technological breakthrough, but it does require each of us to take a stand. Log onto www.pluginamerica.org and click on "take action now," there you will find the telephone numbers of recorded lines for each of the major auto manufacturers. Then tell your politicians and your neighbors. Realize that you do not have to sit and wait for your plug-in hybrid to come off the assembly line, you can log onto www.eaa-phev.org to learn how to modify an existing car to make one yourself.

Every time I am invited to the FSEC campus, I always feel that I am amongst passionate, intelligent pioneers who are in the trenches of the renewable energy world, battling for solutions to our nation's myriad energy problems. Sunday was no exception. Besides her career as a medical news reporter and now as an author and plug-in hybrid advocate, Sherry is a solid renewable energy practitioner as well. In addition to installing solar panels to the roof of her home, she bought an electric vehicle, and also founded the San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association (www.sfeva.org).

Charles Whalen, Director of Public Charging Infrastructure at the Florida Electric Auto Association (www.FloridaEAA.org), recently received a call from Sherry and got the ball rolling in preparation for her book release and presentations throughout Florida. One of our colleagues that Charles contacted was Bill Young, FSEC researcher and Coordinator for the Space Coast Clean Cities Coalition (www.clean-cities.org), an organization created by the US Department of Energy to promote alternative fuel vehicles. Once Bill knew that Sherry would be in town, he arranged for FSEC to host today's event that was open to the public. (see photo of Charles with Sherry and Bill - and Charles's RAV4 EV).

(this is a photo close-up of the RAV4 engine)

If there is one recurring theme surrounding Sherry's book, it is "people coming together to accomplish something good." I couldn't help but smile as I read her inscription in the book as I walked to my car, "James, Never doubt that you can make a difference. Plug In America! Sherry Boschert"

Sherry will be bringing her presentation next to Florida International University's College of Business Administration at 11200 SW 8th St in Miami on Wednesday at 12.30pm. Building/Room #MARC 125.

- James Culp, Energy Programs Manager
Technological Research and Development Authority
www.trda.org
(offering 40 hours of free tech support for your business: www.spacetechsolutions.com)

Comments

[Paul Scott]

James, thanks for your terrific piece. It's so refreshing when we see someone who "gets it" as well as you. And your writing is superb.

This is indeed an important issue, probably as big as anything else when one takes it to its ultimate conclusion.

Sherry wrote the definitive book on PHEVs, and made the case for all electric drive vehicles from start to finish. We appreciate your helping get the word out.

Paul Scott
Plug In America

[Charles Whalen]

The timing of Sherry's Florida book tour couldn't have been better, coming on the heels of major announcements from some of the big automakers at the Detroit International Auto Show a few weeks ago about their development and production plans for plug-in hybrids over the next few years. I started reading Sherry's book last night on my overnight charging stop at the Ft. Pierce public charging station (where a GM Gen 2+ small-paddle inductive charger was installed a few months ago) on my way back down to South Florida in the RAV4-EV. The book is a great read; I highly recommend it if you haven't yet bought it. Although plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) have the obvious advantage of not having the range limitations of a pure battery electric vehicle (BEV), with its several hour charging stops on a long road trip like the one I did yesterday, and thus will appeal to more people than a pure BEV, I have to say in defense of the pure BEV that I actually enjoy making these long distance trips of several hundred miles, having made 5 such trips in the last 9 months, because the several hour charging stops actually give me some much needed time to catch up with far-flung friends and associates and to catch up on my reading, as I did last night with Sherry's book.

Sherry's book tour is another in a series of high-profile visits to Florida by prominent national EV leaders, started by Plug In America Executive Director and star of the film "Who Killed the Electric Car?", Chelsea Sexton, at the film's Florida premiere last summer, to help the Florida EAA in its mission to educate the public here in Florida about electric drive technology and plug-in cars. We in the Florida EAA are most grateful to Sherry and Chelsea for the way they are succeeding in greatly raising the profile and visibility of EVs in Florida.

I look forward to bringing my RAV4-EV to Sherry's Miami and Boca Raton lectures on Wednesday and Thursday this week, respectively, the details of which follow here below:

Miami: Wednesday, January 24, 12:30 p.m., Florida International University Park Campus, Room MARC 125, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami. RSVP to: dsalpiet@fiu.edu or 305-348-7806.

Boca Raton : Thursday, January 25, 12:00 noon, Florida Atlantic University, Senate Chambers, University Center building, 777 Glades Rd. RSVP to: ggaloust@fau.edu or 561-297-2010. Lunch provided.
I would also like to add that I took the opportunity of Sherry's lecture at FSEC in Cocoa yesterday to finally deliver some long-promised new charging equipment to Bill Young for the Florida Solar Energy Center's efforts to upgrade and modernize their public charging stations in Cocoa and Titusville, including swapping out a large-paddle inductive charger for a small-paddle inductive charger plus swapping out Yazaki connectors for Avcon connectors & cable assemblies on two EVI ICS-200 conductive powerpacks. (Yes, the RAV4-EV may be a big fat pig with its "barndoor" aerodynamics, but it sure can haul a lot of big, heavy, bulky charging equipment!) Many thanks to Don Francis of Georgia Power in Atlanta for providing annotated, detailed instructions on how to do this and in general for all of the tremendous help that Don has given the Florida EAA and continues to give us in our efforts to deploy a public charging infrastructure in Florida. We continue to make good progress on rolling out our Florida "Electric Highway" public charging network and will be updating our webpage later in the spring with several new charging stations.

Best regards,

Charles Whalen
Florida Electric Auto Association (www.floridaeaa.org)