Is Plug-in Feature For Hybrid Car Really Revolutionary?

Industry experts are predicting an era of renaissance in the global automotive market, thanks to hybrids as this concept is full of advantages and is being adopted by carmakers rapidly. US, in particular, is leading the market. The US Federal and State Governments make some of the largest vehicle markets and their high purchasing power can certainly set the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) market in motion.

According to “Hybrid Car Market Outlook”, a recent report of RNCOS on hybrids, ‘plug-in’ feature, which is truly revolutionary, is going to bring the next phase in hybrid evolution. US is sufficiently capable to offset the augured electricity demand by plug-ins, though cost may vary from region to region.

PHEVs come with multiple benefits, like they have larger battery which can be recharged at night to get more than 100 Miles per Gallon (mpg) and if gasoline in the PHEV is added with Northwest biodiesel, the mpg can go even higher.

Counting its benefits, the U.S. Department of Transportation says, “There are significantly fewer harmful pollutants and CO2 produced to power a plug-in vehicle than a comparable gasoline powered car. Plug-in cars capable of 50 miles per day would meet the needs of 80% of the American driving public”, as reported by the First Science News on July 2, 2007.

HEVs are already proving immensely beneficial for US energy in terms of security and consumption. As per the data by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in the league of existing hybrids, the most energy-efficient one can reduce the consumption of gasoline by nearly 40% against similar conventional cars.

At country level, in 2005, US remained the biggest hybrid car market and had a share of around 69% (with over 210,000 units sold) in the global hybrid sales. Next came Japan with over 19% share. It is expected that the hybrid car sales in US would transcend 1.6 Million in 2012, says the RNCOS report “Hybrid Car Market Outlook”.

The future of automotives too belongs to PHEVs and identifying this, many car-manufacturers, including GM, Ford, and Toyota, are fast switching towards adding these cars in their portfolio. PHEVs will let the customers to use electricity from grid to substitute gasoline at their own choice.