NAIAS
2010: Year of the plug-in hybrid, or is it 2020?
Friday, January 18, 2008
Helping
start the plug-in revolution in 2010?
Plug-in hybrid concepts made a pretty strong showing at
this year's North American International Auto Show, and
several automakers even reiterated their plans to have
some lithium-powered plug-in
hybrids on the road in 2010, such as Toyota and GM,
even Quantum Fisker.
Other plug-ins, such as those from Chrysler, are still in
a more conceptual stage.
Then you have the greenest major automaker, Honda,
skipping plug-in hybrids altogether and heading straight
to fuel cells. What? Why?
And, even if a few automakers hammer out the
thermodynamics of integrating lithium chemistry into an
actual production plug-in vehicle by 2010, production is
almost certain to be limited and vehicle costs high for
the first few years. Suddenly, the plug-in hybrid
revolution might not really kick into gear until 2015,
even 2020 - if ever.
Russian roulette? Time to invest in oil shale?
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