In a Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle, the average commuter could drive to and from work using only electricity.

Plug it in, plug it in

The average commuter in the United States travels under 30 miles roundtrip every day.  Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles (PHEVs) go beyond commercial hybrid cars that are widely available today, by using larger batteries to minimize fuel consumption.  The batteries in PHEVs are made of lithium-ion, the same material used in cell phone and laptop batteries, and are large enough to allow the vehicles to travel an average of 10 to 40 miles operating solely on electricity.  Once the limit has been reached, the car runs on gasoline like a traditional automobile.  To recharge the battery, the operator must simply plug it in for about 10 hours.  PHEVs can operate as regular vehicles indefinitely, but their fuel cost savings is minimized if they are not plugged in regularly.

Consumers have said yes to hybrid vehicles, which is why every automaker from Toyota (the revolutionary Prius) to Honda (the Insight) to Ford (the Fusion Hybrid) is scrambling to make them available.  Since unveiling the Prius in the U.S. in 2000, Toyota has sold more than one million here.  The company recently announced that a Plug-In Prius will be available in 2012, due to widespread demand for even more fuel-efficient vehicles.  Both Nissan (the Leaf) and Chevrolet (the Volt) have PHEVs in production.  The U.S. Dept. of Energy forecast there will be 100 million hybrid or electric vehicles on the road by 2020.  The initial appeal was more miles per gallon, but many hope to leave the gas pump behind altogether in favor of electricity, where large strides toward renewable sources are being made.

Using less oil has become a national prerogative.  This peaked during the gas price surge of 2008, when many Americans were forced to reevaluate their driving habits.  Some urban dwellers were able to ditch their vehicles completely, opting to cycle, walk, or take transit instead.  For those outside of dense, walkable communities, with little to no access to reliable transit, it was not practical to get rid of personal vehicles.  Instead, carpooling, a relic of the past, was suddenly popular again.  Trips to the grocery store became less frequent and more deliberate.  Most drastically, drivers traded in their trucks and SUVs for more fuel-efficient vehicles in record numbers. 

With the cost of a gallon of gas in Chicago hovering around $3, residents cannot afford to be wasteful.  Chicago is the third-largest U.S. auto market, and Illinois ranks among the top 10 in registered hybrid vehicles, making it a prime market for PHEVs.  All Chicagoans stand to benefit from PHEVs because savings on gasoline can instead be invested in the local economy through consumer spending.

For Additional Information:

• U.S. Department of Energy
• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
• Air Emissions Impacts of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles in Minnesota’s Passenger Fleet  

Photo courtesy of green.autoblog.com

NEWS

Local News

CTA Red Line sets sights on South Side extension – Chicago Tribune “Even in a time of belt-tightening and dreams deferred, a long-sought CTA project is in the works, offering the promise of improved transportation and economic rebirth for poorly served Chicago communities.” 

 Ill. governor announces funds for transportation – Bloomberg Businessweek “Gov. Pat Quinn has announced $100 million in capital funding intended to help Illinois cities and towns repair potholes and repave roads.” 

5 ways to fix Illinois' transportation mess – Daily Herald “A new report by Chicago Metropolis 2020 steps on several third rails by recommending some revolutionary ideas to fix Illinois' dysfunctional transportation system.” 

Governor Quinn Announces Illinois as First State to Begin High-Speed Rail Construction – Illinois Government News Network “In total, developing the Chicago-St. Louis High Speed Rail corridor is anticipated to create and retain approximately 24,000 direct and indirect Illinois jobs. The project is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).” 

A sound bet on O'Hare – Chicago Tribune “As the Tribune's Jon Hilkevitch and Julie Johnsson recently reported, the expansion of O'Hare International Airport has reached a difficult juncture.  To that end, the council last week approved a $1 billion bond issue for this aviation-friendly project.” 

 The Promise Of A Modern Transit System – Progress Illinois “At a time when government resources are scarce, elected officials and candidates in Illinois need to be judicious about how they spend taxpayer money. Mass transit is one excellent option.” 

 Report: Transit system needs overhaul – Chicago Tribune “Like a bus with several drivers, the Chicago area's mass transit system has too many people at the wheel, each with different destinations in mind, concludes a new report that calls for a far-reaching overhaul of the region's transportation network.” 


World News

APTA report: Quarterly ridership increases for first time since late 2008 – Progressive Railroading “’This rise in ridership offers a glimmer of hope that we may be coming out of the economic recession and ridership will continue to move upward,’ said APTA President William Millar in a prepared statement.” 

GE and partner will promote electric vehicles – Forbes “GE, which makes an electric vehicle charger called the WattStation, and Better Place will work on promoting consumer awareness and battery financing.” 

Capital Bikeshare: Washington, D.C. Launches The Nation's Largest Bike Share Program – Huffington Post “It's the largest bike sharing program in the United States -- 1,100 bikes at 100 kiosks in the District and Northern Virginia.” 

High-Speed Rail Stalls – Wall Street Journal  “Opposition from freight railroads is threatening the Obama administration's multibillion-dollar push to make high-speed passenger trains an integral part of the U.S. transportation network.” 

Warning labels on cellphones proposed – Washington Post “LaHood announced last week that research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that distracted driving led to 5,474 highway deaths and 448,000 accidents last year, which was 16 percent of the national total.” 

UBS Americas backs infrastructure bank funded by U.S. – Reuters “Obama, many in Congress and transportation experts acknowledge that present infrastructure funding mechanisms that leverage gas taxes and other user fees cannot keep pace with necessity and demand and that other options are necessary.” 

Captive shippers frustrated with freight rates – Land Line Magazine “A Senate committee is calling for a new national regulatory policy on railroads, in part to steady rates and to shift away from a captive-shipper scenario.” 

Toyota Expects 20,000 U.S. Plug-In Prius Sales – Bloomberg Businessweek “A rechargeable Prius should be available by June 2012, and the all-electric RAV4 compact SUV will be marketed in the U.S. the same year, Toyota Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada told reporters yesterday in Detroit.”

Resources

• How the Great Recession Was Brought to an End - Mark Zandi, Moody’s Analytics and Alan Blinder, Princeton University 
• No Free Money: Is the Privatization of Infrastructure in the Public Interest? – The Chicago Council on Global Affairs 
• The Next Economy: Economic Recovery and Transformation in the Great Lakes Region – The Brookings Institution 

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Contact Information
For comments, suggestions or submissions, please contact Emily Hudson, Executive Assistant, at ehudson@metroplanning.org or 312-863-6012.