Seattle PHEV event June 1 and Seattle Times Op-Ed
May 24, 2006 (From the CalCars-News archive)

Prof. Andy Frank and Felix Kramer will speak, and
the PRIUS+ converted at the Maker Faire and
driven back to Seattle by owner Ryan Fulcher will
be part of the Thursday afternoon session of the
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?
command=view&id=209&program=Cascadia&isEvent=true

Future Trends in Energy, Technology & Transportation
workshop
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?
command=view&id=209&program=Cascadia&isEvent=true

Part of Cascadia’s TransTech Leadership Forum
Series, in the Microsoft Executive Conference
Center. Download a detailed
http://www.calcars.org//mint/pepper/orderedlist/downloads/download.php?
file=http%3A//www.calcars.org/Future_Trends_Workshop.pdf3-page flyer and agenda
http://www.calcars.org/Future_Trends_Workshop.pdf of the event.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003012083_hybrid23.html

Seattle Times Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Plug-in energy independence

Guest columnists Steve Marshall and Bruce Agnew
Steve Marshall is chairman of the Municipal
League of King County. Bruce Agnew is director of
the Discovery Institute's Cascadia Center, which
is working on regional transportation solutions.
The Cascadia Center and Microsoft are
co-sponsoring the June 1 conference in Redmond
with government, transportation and energy leaders.


Imagine a car that gets more than 100 miles a
gallon, reduces greenhouse gases and helps free
America from its reliance on foreign oil. There
is growing bipartisan support and interest for
just that kind of car — a plug-in, flexible-fuel
hybrid vehicle. And on June 1 at the Microsoft
Conference Center, policymakers and the public
will be able to see actual plug-in hybrid cars
that can get 100 mpg, and hear experts discuss
steps to help "end our addiction to foreign oil."

Like hybrids on the road today, such as the
Toyota Prius, plug-in hybrid cars run on electric
power with a gasoline (or biofuel) engine backup.
The difference is that a plug-in hybrid can top
off its batteries by plugging into the electric
power system instead of using the gasoline engine
for recharging. For shorter trips, such as
commuting to work, the plug-in hybrid can get 100
miles to the gallon or more because it hardly
needs to use the gas engine. The gas engine
itself can become a "flexible fuel" engine
running on ethanol blends or biodiesel blends, further reducing oil dependence.

A relatively small shift to plug-in hybrids could
save Puget Sound drivers millions of gallons of
gas a year and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by
more than a million tons a year. Topping off
hybrid batteries from the electric power grid is
far more efficient than recharging from gasoline
engine power — which is why carbon-dioxide
emissions drop so much with plug-in hybrids.

But, it is the immediate threat to national
security from foreign oil dependence that is
finally driving strong bipartisan support for
plug-in hybrid cars and similar measures. At next
week's conference, former CIA Director James
Woolsey and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., will be
among those describing the national-security risk
from reliance on unstable oil-producing nations;
Brownback and others have sponsored legislation,
backed by a coalition of labor and environmental
groups, to accelerate production of plug-in
hybrid vehicles. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.,
will also speak on the coalition's efforts.

In his State of the Union address, President Bush
also called for an end to our foreign oil
addiction, and has rolled out initiatives
including support for plug-in hybrid vehicles.

We can work to pull together an integrated Puget
Sound transportation solution that would
dramatically reduce gasoline use, increase
transportation efficiency and cut greenhouse
gases — and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
There are three steps we need to take now to get ahead of the curve.

First, we need to convene state and regional
leaders in transportation, electric utilities and
government to work together on a set of overall
recommendations. For example, a cellphone-type
chip could be required that allows recharging
only during off-peak hours, in order to use our
electric power system more efficiently. Hybrid
bus transportation, including school buses, could
be encouraged. (A few Washington state school
districts have joined a national school bus
plug-in hybrid campaign.) Corporate and
government vehicle fleet purchases could be
linked to the national "plug-in partners"
campaign. Parking garages and park-and-ride lots
could incorporate recharging stations.

Second, we need to encourage a Washington
state-based transportation-technology industry to
advance solutions such as using strong,
lightweight composite materials for trucks and
buses and shifting to complete electric-drive
vehicles to save weight. Boeing is a world leader
in composites and we have high-tech research
centers such as Battelle and Energy Northwest to
help develop technology solutions. Paccar last
month announced an initiative to incorporate
lightweight material and hybrid technologies in its trucks.

Biofuels, using renewable Washington state farm
and forest products, can be further encouraged.
Like biotech, transportation tech can become a
hallmark of the Northwest economy.

Finally, we need to move fast. Plug-in hybrids
can be ready to roll well within the planning
horizon for regional transportation and power
organizations. We need a thoughtful, integrated
transportation approach now before we lose a
once-in-a-generation chance at an integrated transportation solution.

Such a solution will also require thoughtful
leadership to make sure we have the domestic
electric power to move away from our dependency
on oil while solving our commuting problems,
especially in the Puget Sound basin.