15 percent by 2035: The reality of plug-in hybrids

How long before all of us drive something like the Volt?

All day long I've been working on a story that I titled 'Fool's Gold: The electrification of the automobile', that I just haven't been able to finish. Now before EV fans go crazy, I'm not arguing against electric vehicles or� plug-in hybrid vehicles. I'm arguing the reason for these vehicles is to get off oil, especially foreign oil, and to reduce our carbon footprint.

Thus, in my opinion, conventional� hybrid cars, for the next decade or two, are every bit as important as plug-ins if we want to act as quickly as possible to achieve this change. Waiting until all of us drive an EV or PHEV is simply fool's gold.

As I was taking a break from rereading my draft - yes, I actually edit my posts sometimes,� sometimes� - the folks over at Yale Environment 360 sent me an e-mail with a link to the one of their posts,� Revenge of the Electric Car.

There isn't much in this piece that hasn't been covered by this blog. Nonetheless, it is a very nice summary of the state of electric cars and other plug-in hybrid vehicles. However, one quote really stuck out.

“It’s hard to overestimate the inertia of the old system, and how resistant many people are to change,” says Tom Turrentine, head of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Center at the University of California at Davis. A recent MIT study on the future of the car suggested plug-in vehicles might capture, at best, 15 percent of the light-duty vehicle market (passenger cars and SUVs) by 2035.