Why Plug-In Cars?
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What is a Plug-in car resources Plug In America/ Why plug-in car? Electric Auto Association In an all-electric car, high performance www.pluginamerica.org batteries store cleaner, cheaper, domestic www.electricauto.org electricity, and an electric motor provides Plug-in propulsion with zero emissions. In a plug-in Who Killed the Electric Car? hybrid, more batteries than a conventional Must-see documentary. Available now on DVD. hybrid allow local all-electric, zero-emission whokilledtheelectriccar.com Cars? driving with a gasoline engine for longer distances. CalCars Plug-In Hybrid Project Sounds great! Can I get one? www.calcars.org www.eaa-phev.org It’s very diffi cult to fi nd an electric car today. National Plug-in Hybrid Campaign Carmakers should offer us the choice of www.pluginpartners.org electric cars and plug-in hybrids. The automakers produced great electric cars Plug-In Hybrids: The Cars to meet California’s Zero Emission Vehicle that will Recharge America No Gas Required. Mandate during the ‘90s. But only a small a book by Sherry Boschert number of these electric cars were ever www.sherryboschert.com Zero Emissions. offered for sale. The auto and oil industries spent millions lobbying in Sacramento, EV World Online Magazine sued in federal court and successfully www.evworld.com No Noise. eviscerated the Mandate, eliminating any real Plug In America advocates the use of choice for consumers. plug-in cars, trucks and SUVs powered by cleaner, cheaper, domestic electricity No kidding. GM, Honda, Ford and Toyota confi scated and to reduce our nation’s dependence destroyed thousands of electric cars, despite on petroleum and improve the global offers of cash from satisfi ed customers. In 2005 environment. Join us. as a result of the DontCrush.com campaign to save electric cars, Ford and Toyota agreed to stop crushing their great electric cars. But the automakers still only sell gas cars. Plug In America and the Electric Auto Association are working for the electric choices www.PlugInAmerica.org we want now. contact: [email protected] Toyota Tesla Motors Chevrolet Volt RAV4 EV Roadster Plug-in Hybrid All-electric All-electric 2010? 1997-2003 For sale now All-Electric Range: 40 mi. Total Range: 640 mi. All-Electric Range: 125 miles All-Electric Range: 250 miles Top Speed: 120 mph Top Speed: 80 mph Top Speed: 130 mph Weight: 3140 pounds Weight: 3480 pounds Weight: 2500 pounds Motor: 120 kW perm. magnet AC (161 HP) Motor: 50 kW perm. magnet Motor: 185 kW (248 hp peak) Batteries: Lithium-Ion Batteries: Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) Batteries: Lithium-Ion Charger: standard 110 volt plug Charger: 220 volts/30 amp; 5 kW inductive Charger: 110 or 220 volts; conductive Battery Capacity: 16 kWh Battery Capacity: 27 kWh Battery Capacity: 56 kWh IC Engine: 1.0 L 3 cyl. (71 hp) • How many miles can an all-electric • Aren’t electric vehicles inefficient? thing. And there’s more: utilities have car go between charges? EVs are the most efficient cars on the road: plenty of excess generating capacity The RAV4 EV has a maximum range of Toyota RAV4 EV: 887 BTU/mile at night which could charge millions of about 125 miles on one full charge. The Toyota Prius: 2250 BTU/mile plug-in cars. While electricity is getting Tesla Roadster about 250 miles. The Tesla, Toyota RAV4 Gas: 4423 BTU/mile cleaner and more renewable every year, like many new EVs, will be capable of fueleconomy.gov/feg/byfuel/byfueltypeNF.shtml even the cleanest gasoline car becomes more polluting over time. An electric charging at any electric outlet. • Aren’t conventional hybrids better? car, on the other hand, just gets cleaner A plug-in hybrid can be operated like a • How many miles can a plug-in hybrid over time as the grid gets cleaner. (PHEV) go on electricity? conventional hybrid. And since most drivers Plug-in Priuses have been built with 10-40 have access to electricity, a PHEV can also • Can I charge a plug-in car with solar mile electric ranges. The Volt, for example, use this cleaner, cheaper, domestic fuel. or wind power? will have an all-electric range of 40 miles. • Isn’t hydrogen the solution? Yes. The cleaner the power, the cleaner After that, the gasoline engine kicks in to No. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are 4X less the car. Putting solar panels on your home recharge the batteries. efficient than battery EVs if the hydrogen or business makes even more sense with a plug-in car. The investment pays off faster, • is produced from electricity. It’s 1.4X less How long to recharge the batteries of and the car becomes truly zero-emission. electric cars and plug-in hybrids? efficient if made from natural gas. Where Overnight charging to full is the idea. and how will the hydrogen be stored? Who will pay the billions required for this new Electricity is plentiful and cheap at night. infrastructure? (Hint - us taxpayers.) With What can I do? • Where do you charge? plug-in cars, the infrastructure is already in • Join Plug In America. Usually in one’s garage overnight, and there place - the electric grid. • Tell your local auto dealer you won’t are public chargers for electric cars as well buy a new car until it has a plug. • What about the pollution created in parking garages and shopping centers. • Sign the pluginpartners.org petition. making the electricity? Aren’t you just (www.evchargernews.com). • Tell your friends to see the film moving the pollution? Who Killed the Electric Car? • Is it expensive to charge? No. EV emissions are lower even on the • Buy or make an electric conversion Less than $1 to fill a plug-in hybrid; 52%-coal U.S. grid. Moving the pollution (www.evfinder.com). $2-4 for an all-electric car. away from population centers is a good www.PlugInAmerica.org.