September 17, 2009 blog
Sep 17th, 2009 by Brian Heithoff
This past week I have driven the PHEV instead of my regular vehicle. This included trips to Des Moines, Green Mountain, and back and forth from home to work. My MPG ranged from around 50 to 85 depending on the length of trip. Yesterday, I was low on fuel and therefore had to fill up the tank with gas. I filled it up, which meant I put in over 8 gallons of gas at a cost of $20. That should get us down the road another 500 miles or so.
What is interesting, and exciting at the same time, are the questions I am getting when in public. Friends have stopped to ask questions at the Y, church, school and in the neighborhood. The interest level in plug-in technology seems to be high, and it is common for comments to be made regarding how soon the manufacturers can start producing these from their assembly lines as opposed to having to have an HEV converted by an after market company.
It is my understanding we will start seeing them around 2012. The benefit of having the car manufacturers incorporate plug-in capabilities instead of third party companies is that the technology will be better optimized than what it is today, and therefore the performance should be even better than what we are realizing.
Brian