The Oil Drum

I looked at that in You find you get what you need.  A bit dated and doesn't follow through on all the implications (efficiency of cars is a bit high, doesn't incorporate grid or battery losses, etc.) but it gives a halfway-decent picture.

The average US electric consumption in 2004 was about 450 GW, and the daily peaks are considerably more than the wee-hours minimae.  If we made mass use of plug-ins and boosted average consumption by 100 GW with charging scheduled to level the load curve, we'd replace peaking plants with more efficient base-load plants and get better utilization out of the transmission infrastructure.

I will need a new vehicle in about a year, and I plan to buy a plug-in hybrid.  Why?  The main reason is that I remember the gas lines in the 70's, and we had a reminder of that during the gas panic here in Atlanta during Katrina.  

I predict that the coming increases in the volatility of gas prices will lead to times when it will be difficult to get gas, period!  With a plug-in hybrid, I will be able to get to work, etc no matter what the gas price and volatility.  I expect that this will be more important the as time goes on...

Because here in Georgia, most of our power is produced by coal and nuclear, I am also expecting the difference between the price of power and gas to grow, and grow and grow.  In the short term, I don't expect that I will save any money.  But, because we can burn just about anything to produce electricity, I am predicting that electricity will be the cheapest replacement for liquid fuels.  In addition, if electric (partially and fully) cars can be used to help with the peak production of electricity here in Georgia, we might be able to idle a few more natural gas fired peaking plants.  Which would help the reserve situation and therefore help with the natural gas price volatility.

Speaking of batteries, I searched this blog and didn't see anything about Firefly Energy's new lead-acid batteries.  I'm a chemical engineer who has spent a fair amount of time with lead-acid batteries and I can testify that this company has made some extremely important advances.  Not only do they have the technology, but also they have the backing of Caterpillar with some great management, $$$, and marketing channels to make a HUGE splash on the hybrid market!  I am excited!!!  Will this be the solution to all of our problems - Heck No!  But at this point, every little bit will help.

http://www.fireflyenergy.com

Check it out!

As for the energy difference, let me put it this way: In the climate I live in it is very hot, and one's air conditioner is the largest power draw in the house. However, the AC takes about 5kw when on, and over the course of a summer day the whole house may use 80kwhr. My car uses over 120kw when accelerating. So, in one hour my car can use more power than my whole house does in a day. Now one begins to see the scale of the problem (anyone want to build nuke plants?).
Furthermore, I just want to point out that "plug in" hybrids shouldn't have to "plug in". I've already advocated using inductive charging several times before, I hope Toyota impliments it like GM did. (I know there's and eff. loss, but i doubt it's much, and it's worth it for the convience, though not if it adds another $3000 to the car).
-Stop the Iran war-