Looking even further down the road, a study by scientists at the University of Delaware concluded that plug-in hybrids could be made to give and take power from their local power grid — a concept called vehicle-to-grid or “V2G” hybrids. They calculate the North American grid could receive up to 50 percent of its electricity from wind power alone, if plug-in hybrids’ batteries acted as temporary electric storage devices.

Energy CS’s 160-mpg Prius demonstrates it’s possible to dramatically improve the efficiency of today’s hybrids while creating significant environmental and economic benefits for consumers, the nation and the world.

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Driving on Pennies

What’s the payoff to you Assume your utility charges you 5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for off-peak usage between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Let’s also assume you drive a plug-in hybrid that operates on electric power alone for about 25 miles, requiring 6 kWh of energy to recharge its batteries. To travel 25 miles in an average car, you’ll pay more than $2 in gas, and in some areas, closer to $3. To travel the same distance in a plug-in hybrid would cost you only 30 cents, or about one-tenth of a conventional car. If you drive only 25 miles a day, your trip will cost just pennies, and your visits to the gas station will be few and far between.

This difference in the cost of gas versus electric power is due in large part to the the fact that electric motors are much more efficient than internal-combustion engines.

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Bill Moore is the publisher and editor in chief of EV World, an online publication and information clearinghouse focused on electric vehicles and related green transportation news. He began reading Mother Earth News in the mid-1970s, which helped kindle his interest in sustainable technologies and energy.