PIP Declares Victory

It's pretty rare when you get to declare victory and bring the troops home. And those of us at Plug in Partners are grateful to our partners and friends who have made this announcement not just possible, but in a very real sense, a reality. Here's the press release:

PLUG-IN PARTNERS DECLARES VICTORY

In January 2006, Austin Energy launched the national Plug-In Partners campaign, a grassroots effort to demonstrate to automakers that there is sufficient demand to support the mass production of flexible-fuel plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

The Plug-In Partners national campaign was a natural fit for the Austin community, which has a long history of achievement on the energy and environmental fronts.

We concluded as a community that there were three key reasons for Austin to take the lead in this national program.

First, were economics. The supply of inexpensive oil is running out. That will require a transition to less expensive transportation fuels.

Second, was environmental. Automobile pollutants are one of the largest contributors to climate changing emissions.

And third, was national security. The obvious need to curb dependence on foreign oil grows daily.

PHEVs allow for optimization of readily available clean-energy resources and represent a sustainable transportation solution that can be delivered today. The fuel infrastructure is already in place. The operational technology has been perfected and the battery technology is maturing. PHEVs address all needs. They reduce emissions, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce the upward pressures on gasoline costs.

Automakers are now on board. Most have advertised their intentions to bring PHEVs to the market –some as early as next year.

The Chevy Volt, a plug-in electric car, will have the battery power to take most American drivers to and from work every day without using any gasoline at all. The vehicle will be recharged at night, plugged into a standard home outlet.

Toyota also is developing a plug-in hybrid, expected on the road by 2010. Ford, Chrysler, Volvo Nissan, Subaru and VW have all indicated they will be bringing plug-in hybrids to the showroom floor for sale within the next few years.

The Plug-In Partners effort over the last three years that enlisted 631 partners, signed up 38,312 petitions and made 11,333 soft purchase orders and participated with outreach and educational efforts in over 88 conferences and expositions has been a critical success.

The City of Austin and Austin Energy have played an important role in moving our nation forward with a practical inexpensive short-term solution to our transportation fuel problem."

To make this announcement even more timely, the first real Plug in Hybrid was unveiled in China last week. The BYD F3DM will land in showrooms at the end of the month. It’s expected to cost roughly 150,000 yuan ($22,000), and go as far as 70 miles (110 kilometers) on electricity when fully charged.

Parent company BYD Co.—it stands for “Build Your Dreams”—claims to supply 65 percent of the world’s nickel-cadmium batteries, and 30 percent of its lithium ion mobile phone batteries. In September, fabled investor Warren Buffett bought a 10 percent stake in BYD for $230 million."

BYD plans to sell cars in Europe and the US by 2010... the year that the Volt should arrive in showrooms.

Although this site will no longer be the official blog of the National Plug in Hybrid Campaign, we'll still keep it up and post new developments in the plug in hybrid world, so, if you haven't bookmarked it already, do so, and stay in touch.

Thanks to you all of you, and thank you Partners,

Something's happening here,

And we helped make it that way.


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editors note: Check out the links, they include a wide variety of PHEV stories since our last post.