The mad rush to hybrid vehicle models has reached its natural conclusion. We’re going to see models coming out that are plug in oriented. This may seem great at first, but there are a lot of practical issues to consider.
A plug in vehicle is pretty much what it sounds like. You simply plug the car into an electric outlet at home. The battery will then charge much like a cell phone or other battery operated device. When you are ready to use the vehicle, you unplug it and off you go. Most of these vehicles come with either a gasoline/electric motor mix or will soon be purely electrical.
The big benefit of the plug in platform is the obviously fact that it cuts down on oil use. This has two alleged effects. First, less gasoline use means less reliance on foreign oil suppliers. Second, it means you’ll pay less at the pump because of reduced demand. Third, these vehicles produce reduced emissions.
All three of these reasons are very noble, but are they really all that accurate? Well, let’s assume so for the sake of argument. If we assume everyone buys one of these cars, aren’t we solving all of our problems? Well, no. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it, but it does mean there are some other issues we need to be cognizant of and recognize.
The first issue is the simple problem of providing energy for plug ins. It is no great secret that the infrastructure of the United States is nightmarishly outdated and under stress. It is under great strain now. Plugging in a fleet of cars every day is just not going to be possible. They system can’t handle it. Obviously, the demands would ramp up slowly as more plug-ins are purchased over time, but the grid is already operating near capacity. We are going to need massive billions to upgrade it. President Obama has already put millions towards the issue, but that will not be enough.
The second issue is the fuel needed to generate electricity. Simply put, where is it coming from? We might be lowering our oil dependency, but power plants still have to run on something. The obvious answer is coal, which is the primary energy source for power plants at this time. The good news is coal is pretty plentiful. The bad news is it is not exactly good for the environment. Is it an acceptable trade off? Time will tell.
Plug in hybrids appear to be the wave of the future when it comes to vehicles. There is nothing wrong with that so long as we recognize they are not a cure all.
Thomas Ajava writes for
HybridCarDealerDepot.com - where you can get more
gasoline information for the modern era.
