Plug-in Prius: 99 mpg, 55 cent fill-up

With gas closing in on $4 a gallon around Florida, who wouldn't want one?

John Massiello, who heads up renewables for Progress Energy, uses one of the utility's two experimental plug-in Prius hybrids. He plugs in the car at home, and it quietly draws 5 kilowatt hours of electricity, more than enough to power his 26 mile round trip commute.

At 11 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, his full-up costs 55 cents, or $2.75 a week. In a car that gets 30 miles to the gallon, that same commute would cost about $17 a week.

The car gets about 99 mpg in the first 30 miles, and about 50 mpg using its hybrid engine, Massiello said.

In addition to saving cash, it also saves on greenhouse gas emissions. Massiello estimated that the electricity used to charge the battery produces about half as much carbon dioxide as the gasoline used to travel the same distance.

Toyota plans to offer plug-in Prius before 2010.

The Green Car Journal for Spring 2008 offers a look at the roster of new "green" cars now in development. These include a Mitsubishi car with in-wheel electric motors that uses photovoltaics on the roof to recharge.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times Staff Writer

Comments

[Ken]

The power companies should help car companies manufacturer plug-in cars. If everyone is plugging in their car at night, the grid should be able to handle it. Let's get off of foreign oil and help employ people in our country! The next car I buy will be a plug-in; I hope others will follow.

[Eric]

Close... but no cigar. Toyota: 99 MPG, but only 30 miles on electric. The new GM Volt (out in 2010) - GM changed their mind, instead of being 100% electric they decided on reducing the battery size and limiting the range to about 40 miles on battery while adding a gasoline motor to run a generator to charge the batteries. In 1991 there was a 100% electric car with a 140 miles range. Today, the Tesla Car has over a 200 mile range-per-charge. Think Corporation in Europe has a 100% electric with a range over 150 miles. I don't know who it is: Government? Car Companies? Investors? but someone or some group simply does not want fully electric vehicles on the road. It's not the consumer... people are ready now.

[Kimberly]

If you want electric cars and other options, do a "strike" by looking at how you live and all the ways you can live without gas. Then, do it. If your children complain, explain what you are doing and why you are doing it. Educate your children to be part of the solution.

The kids coming out of the Great Depression and World War II didn't grow up to sit around playing games and waiting for their parents and other people to hand them everything on a silver platter. They became adults who felt a personal responsibility to make the world a better place and worked to do it. Your kids and grandkids will be better adults if you ask them to be part of the solution.

Think creatively. Ask how other people are living without gas and such. Write letters to the editor to educate other people on how to do it.