Two items:

1) S. David Freeman is the former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) -- and one of the most memorable interviewees in "Who Killed the Electric Car." He's long been a hydrogen proponent (see http://www.h2carco.com) but in an excellent interview with the SF Bay Guardian he can't endorse PHEVs enough:

"That kind of car -- which they know how to make -- with the plug-in feature, with just a few more batteries in it, can run at least 60 miles all electric...I'm writing this book [about energy], and this is our most available big option for displacing oil, far bigger than ethanol."

"I don't think you can say too much about the impact on our national security. Plug-in hybrids would probably make as much difference as any weapons we can come up with."

"One is a huge thing. If a million people signed up to say they're not gonna buy a car until they can get a plug-in hybrid, it would happen. It would pass more quickly than any law."

See full interview at http://www.sfbg.com/­entry.php?entry_id=1008

2) The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a detailed and well-sourced guest editorial on making Washington the leader in "clean energy independence." Great suggestions all, and PHEV adoption is one of five major components. The editorial calls for, among other things, a State Plug-In Hybrid Task Force:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/­opinion/­276049_focus02.html

With Washington and Minnesota (http://www.calcars.org/­calcars-news/­436.html) increasingly vocal on the issue of PHEVs, perhaps "California Cars Initiative" needs some reconsideration. WashCars or MinCars, anyone?

-John

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John Davi
Communications Director
jdavi@minca-- no, still calcars.org