A British engineering firm has put together a plug-in hybrid of the Mini Cooper.
The PML Mini QED is one souped-up car, offering 640 hp and 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds. The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles.
The hybrid is a plug-in, which means that it can be directly charged from a power outlet.
Unfortunately, it’s not commercially available, but the company is considering one-off orders and collaborations.
I wonder how much one costs… (wheels turning - no pun intended!)
JB and I spent Saturday at the Maker Faire, which is a great gathering of nerds who make stuff. Among the interesting sights we took in at the Faire was a 100 MPG Prius.
How does it happen? According to www.calcars.org, “We can achieve [a 100 mpg hybrid] today — with a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). A PHEV is essentially a regular hybrid with an extension cord. You can fill it up at the gas station, and you can plug it in to any 120-volt outlet. It’s like having a second fuel tank that you always use first — only you fill up at home, from a regular outlet, at an equivalent cost of under $1/gallon.”
The benefits they claim are:
- You don’t have to plug it in. You can use the gas tank like a regular hybrid if you want to.
- If you drive mostly locally (short range) you don’t use alot of gas.
- Service costs are lower.
- A PHEV can power your house when there’s a power outage!
A few things I wondered were, first, doesn’t generating electricity also create carbon emissions? They have an answer for this one: “The “well-to-wheel” emissions of electric vehicles are lower than those from gasoline internal combustion vehicles. California Air Resources Board studies show that battery electric vehicles emit at least 67% lower greenhouse gases than gasoline cars — even more assuming renewables. A PHEV with only a 20-mile all-electric range is 62% lower (see printed page 95 in the 2004 study).”
Second, I wondered whether the enviornmental impact of the batteries themselves would affect whether this makes sense. Maybe a topic for another time.
Still, this sounds like a really interesting way to really reduce your gas usage. Too bad you can’t get one yet. According to CalCars, “CalCars and several aftermarket companies have converted a few dozen cars. For a list of conversions completed to date, see Where PHEVs Are. We don’t know when after-market conversion companies will be selling to individual consumers.”
Hopefully we’ll hear more about these soon.
While I’m on the topic of batteries… I’m really digging this new rechargeable battery charger I purchased on Amazon. If you want to go even more green, consider purchasing rechargeable batteries - they typically have a longer lifespan and are less expensive than ever before.
