Pie in the Sky Hydrogen? Or Plug-in Hybrid Cars

The AP reported today about plug-in hybrid cars, that dramatically improve mileage–and the car companies are not yet interested.

“Toyota and other car companies say they are worried about the cost, convenience and safety of plug-in hybrids ? and note that consumers haven’t embraced all-electric cars because of the inconvenience of recharging them like giant cell phones.

Automakers have spent millions of dollars telling motorists that hybrids don’t need to be plugged in, and don’t want to confuse the message.

“University of California, Davis engineering professor Andy Frank built a plug-in hybrid from the ground up in 1972 and has since built seven others, one of which gets up to 250 mpg. They were converted from non-hybrids, including a Ford Taurus and Chevrolet Suburban.

Frank has spent $150,000 to $250,000 in research costs on each car, but believes automakers could mass-produce them by adding just $6,000 to each vehicle’s price tag.

Instead, Frank said, automakers promise hydrogen-powered vehicles hailed by President Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, even though hydrogen’s backers acknowledge the cars won’t be widely available for years and would require a vast infrastructure of new fueling stations.

“They’d rather work on something that won’t be in their lifetime, and that’s this hydrogen economy stuff,” Frank said. “They pick this kind of target to get the public off their back, essentially.”