A Brief History of Plug-in Hybrids
The Chevy Volt is one of the most-discussed vehicle launches of all time. Suddenly, the term "plug-in hybrid" is on the minds and lips of automotive watchers around the world. But what is a plug-in hybrid? Who invented the plug-in hybrid. Most important, how do plug-in hybrids work?
Today, we'll take a stroll through the automotive history books and lay out answers to these questions.
The history of the plug-in hybrid is obviously intertwined with the history of unplugged hybrids, which stretches back more than a century and is covered in our "Hybrid Cars: A Brief History." Roughly seventy years after Ferdinand Porsche developed one of the earliest hybrids, Popular Science magazine featured the General Motors XP-883 in a 1969 issue, an experimental plug-in hybrid commuter car similar in appearance to a Chevrolet Vega. The car's basic concepts aren't much different from the plug-ins about to hit the market any day now, but it never went into production, perhaps due to its tiny two-cylinder engine that took almost 30 seconds to go from zero to a top speed of sixty miles per hour.
GM XP-883
A few years later, the foundation for the development of the modern plug-in was laid in California when Professor Andy Frank, the plug-in Godfather, began working on the technology at UC-Davis. Around 1990, Frank and his student-built plug-in hybrid prototypes would begin to attract both major attention and eventually investment from big names like GM, Ford, DARPA and the Department of Energy.
Meanwhile, some work was going on within GM subsidiaries to convert the doomed EV1 into a plug-in and in Europe, Audi and Swiss company Esoro unveiled their own plug-in concepts. The EV1 conversion project was cancelled, the four Swiss Esoro H301 prototypes that were built are believed to still be on the road somewhere, and only sixty or seventy Audi Duos were built then shelved after a few years. Why? The 100 percent price premium over the conventional Audi A4 was an insurmountable obstacle for consumers and the company.
GM EV1
Back in California, plug-ins really started coming together in the early 2000's. Professor Frank became director of The Department of Energy's National Center of Hybrid Excellence at UC-Davis and the California Cars Initiative (Calcars) was created; both groups worked to develop and promote several plug-in hybrid prototypes that were shown worldwide. At the same time, Renault began selling a plug-in direct to consumers in Europe, but only 500 or so "Elect'road" models - a redesigned version of the popular Kangoo - were sold.
Then, in 2005, fuel prices spiked following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Within a year, plug-in hybrid development seemed to have transitioned from taking place largely under the watch of universities, non-profits, government agencies and other consortia arrangements to being carried out by a number of start-up businesses rushing to move a plug-in product to market. Many small companies like Canada's Hymotion and Colorado-based Hybrids Plus began offering plug-in conversion kits; both companies have since been acquired.
Plug-in hype reached a fever pitch in January of 2007 when GM unveiled the Chevy Volt and other major automakers and start-ups soon followed suit, announcing their own plug-in plans and prototypes. After both the global economy and auto industry entered a state of crisis in 2008, many of these plans were delayed, put on indefinite hiatus or scrapped altogether as several brands, like GM's Saturn, were discontinued.
2011 Chevrolet Volt
The Volt, the Toyota Prius Plug-in, Fisker Karma and other new models are still planned to hit showrooms in coming months, and when they do, plenty of tax credits and other incentives will be waiting to entice buyers (more information on that here), with some of the most generous coming from state governments like Colorado's. In other words, the turning point in the history of plug-in hybrids is upon us now.