Plug-In Hybrids Won't Strain the Grid

The Chicken Littles who are worried that moving to plug-in hybrid vehicles that primarily run on electricity will cause a power crunch can rest at ease. According to a new study by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the existing coal and natural gas-fired infrastructure could handle the overnight recharging of batteries for up to 84 percent of today's vehicle fleet without adding capacity. The report assumes that the utilities will not require additional capacity to be added nor use renewable energy to provide the power for the batteries for plug-in hybrids. Utility prices could go down since the would be able to make more money without adding capacity.

"... The study suggests the idle capacity of the electric power grid is an underutilized national asset that could be tapped to vastly reduce our dependence on foreign oil," according to Eric Lightner, of DOE’s Office of Electric Delivery and Energy Reliability.

The report acknowledges that plug-in hybrids would lead to cleaner skies in the cities while likely increasing the sulfur dioxide emissions around the power plants. However, the net energy efficiency would increase "because the entire process of moving a car one mile is more efficient using electricity than producing gasoline and burning it in a car’s engine."

The increased revenue that the coal and electric power industries received should be invested in making the process cleaner, such as sequestering the coal emissions. The report estimates that if plug-in vehicles cost $6,000 or more than standard cars the payback would be in 5 to 8 years as the cost per mile would be a fraction of what we pay today for gasoline.