?One Hundred Miles to the Gallon – A Realistic Goal for Hybrids?

When hybrid cars first hit the mainstream market, people were rejoicing over the fact that they got twice as many miles to the gallon. After all, with the gas prices rising, that was welcome relief at the gas pumps. Then, the public got a little greedy. Why can’t there be a hybrid car that gets one hundred miles to the gallon? Unbeknownst to the every day person on the street, that lofty sounding goal was already the talk of many technological studies at major car manufacturers.

Toyota, in fact, leads this drive to achieve the one hundred miles to the gallon in a hybrid vehicle. Their immediate solution is to offer bigger batteries for their electric-gasoline hybrid vehicles, which could then be recharged through any electrical outlet. This adaptation has met with great success as Toyota achieved their goal just this past August 2006! While a little over one hundred miles to the gallon was achieved, it was done so in tightly controlled settings with just the right road conditions.

While Toyota has achieved the one hundred mile to the gallon status, it will be several years before people can buy that technology in their own local car lots. For the most part, hybrid car enthusiasts have been the only ones meeting with some success in their own backyards. These backyard “tinkerers” figured out for themselves that plugging in their vehicle was a sure fire way to boost battery power to avoid using the gasoline engine often. To do that however, these hybrid amateurs installed more batteries in their cars. They are the ones who brought the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles into fruition. Also known as PHEVs, these modified hybrids have to be plugged into an electrical outlet for a recharge.

Toyota achieved their hundred miles to the gallon status using the same principle, but it will be years before the general public can buy something similar. And the reason is that it takes some effort to transform a hybrid vehicle into a plug-in model. And with that effort is a hefty price tag as amateur hybrid enthusiasts are finding out. It will be a few years to fully develop the concept and achieve it in a relatively economical fashion. As more and more people are buying hybrids and enjoying the quiet ride and gas savings, the demand for the plug-in variety will only increase.

The conversion from a “regular” hybrid to the plug-in variety sounds simple in theory, doesn’t it? However, the technology going into it is not so easy. Take a look at the current gas-electric hybrid today. There is no way that it can be plugged into anything. The braking recharges the battery and other kinetic energy the hybrid produces.

When you consider a plug-in variety, the foundation of the hybrid is essentially the same with one exception – it gets extra batteries, which essentially serve as another “fuel” source. These are in the form of an extra pack, which of course is modified to handle the hybrid technology. These extra batteries allow the hybrid to perform primarily by battery alone. Of course, the plug-in hybrid’s extra “fuel” source typically only works for short distances, not for long road trips. But for the average driver in America, the commute to work every day may justify this.

What happens when the charge on that extra battery pack gets low? Unlike other items that run on batteries, the hybrid does not slow down. Instead, it will switch over to gasoline to conserve and slowly recharge the electric portion of the hybrid vehicle. The great thing about it is that the driver does not know when it switches from electric to gas.

While the plug-in hybrid models are still years away, there are several companies working on bringing conversion kits to the market. You could be the first hybrid owner on your block to convert to plug-in status. The only problem is that the cost could be more than owners bargained for. There are no clear estimates on what this conversion kit might cost except that it could be anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over ten thousand dollars. Hybrid hobby enthusiasts don’t care though. They are converting their hybrids on their own simply for the challenge to say that they did. However, for the every day hybrid owner, these lithium-ion battery conversion packs will soon be a reality. If you want to achieve that one hundred miles per gallon, start saving your money.

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