Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that will Recharge America

A politically polarized America is coming together over a new kind of car—plug-in electric vehicles that save drivers money, reduce pollution, and increase US security by reducing dependence on imported oil.
 
Plug-in Hybrids points out that, where hydrogen fuel-cell cars won't be ready for decades (if at all), the technology for all-electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids exists today. Unlike conventional hybrid cars that can't run without gasoline, plug-in cars use gasoline or cheaper, cleaner, domestic electricity—or both. Demand for plug-in vehicles is widespread, coming from characters across the political spectrum, such as:
 
* Chelsea Sexton, the automotive insider: working for General Motors, Sexton fought attempts to destroy the all-electric EV1 car and describes how car companies are resisting plug-in hybrids—and why they'll make them -anyway.
* Felix Kramer and the tech squad: Kramer started a nonprofit organization using the Internet to tap into a small army of engineers who built the first plug-in Prius hybrids.
* R. James Woolsey, former CIA director and national security hawk: seeing the end of oil supplies looming, Woolsey is demanding plug-in hybrids to wean us from petroleum.
 
Cautioning that the oil and auto companies know how to undermine the success of plug-in car programs to protect their interests, the book gives readers tools to ensure that EVs and plug-in hybrids become the market for cars and trucks.

Because the market for EVs has advanced so quickly, some of the information in this book is dated, so the publisher and author decided not to reprint it after two editions. But for readers who want to know the history behind today's plug-in electric vehicles, and the political obstacles still in their way, this book gives the foundation for understanding the modern auto market.

Sherry Boschert has been an award-winning medical news reporter since 1991. A committed environmentalist, the addition of solar panels to her roof led her to buy an electric car and to co-found the national non-profit organization Plug In America.