To: bentway who wrote (315222 ) 12/12/2006 9:50:06 AM From: RetiredNow Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1576393 December 11, 2006 Report: U.S. Electricity Grid Can Power a Nation of Plug-In Hybrid Carsblogs.business2.com Prius_montagephotos originally uploaded by xwelhamite The United States could replace 180 million cars and trucks - 84 percent of its fleet - with plug-in hybrids without taxing the existing power grid, according to a new U.S. Department of Energy study released today. That could mean a substantial cut in greenhouse gas emissions, even with a big increase in electricity production from coal-fired power plants. That's because eliminating global warming emissions from individual power plants is far easier and cheaper to do than from hundreds of millions of vehicles, concluded the report's authors at the energy department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richmond, Washington. The report did not consider electricity generated from nuclear, hydro or renewable energy sources when calculating the grid's capacity to support plug-in hybrids. But if the U.S. made a push to switch to plug-in hybrid vehicles, the authors predicted the jump in electricity demand would promote the construction of solar power stations and wind farms to replace aging coal plants. Another big benefit: smog levels in cities like Los Angeles would drop dramatically if the nation plugged in. To create a plug-in hybrid you swap out the car's battery for a bigger rechargeable lithium ion version so it relies much less on its gas engine. "Since gasoline consumption accounts for 73 percent of imported oil, it is intriguing to think of the trade and national security benefits if our vehicles switched from oil to electrons," PNNL energy researcher Rob Pratt said in a statement. The researchers said that adding "smart grid" technology would allow utilities to detect when hybrid cars are plugged in so they could be charged only in off-peak hours. Pacific Gas & Electric, one of the nation's largest utilities, is working on such a system. See Green Wombat's A Plug-In Prius that Powers Your House.