Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that will Recharge America [Paperback]

Sherry Boschert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2006

A politically polarized America is coming together over a new kind of car—the plug-in hybrid that will 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, the technology for plug-in hybrids exists today. Unlike conventional hybrid cars that can’t run without gasoline, plug-in hybrids use gasoline or cheaper, cleaner, domestic electricity—or both. Although plug-in hybrids are not yet for sale, demand for them 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 plug-in hybrids get to market—and stay here.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sherry Boschert has been an award-winning medical news reporter in the San Francisco bureau of International Medical News Group, a division of Elsevier, since 1991. A committed environmentalist, the addition of solar panels to her roof led her to buy an electric car and to co-founding the San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association, of which she is President.

Product Details

• Paperback: 231 pages
• Publisher: New Society Publishers (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865715718
• ISBN-13: 978-0865715714
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #817,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very practical, myth-busting discussion of the facts, July 29, 2007

By 

David W. Riddle (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that will Recharge America (Paperback)

This book --which in some ways begins where the video "Who Killed the Electric Car" ends, but is yet independent of it --is a very practical, myth-busting discussion of the facts about the capabilities of alternatively-powered vehicles. As one might guess from the title, the book concludes that of all the possible alternatives for fueling cars, plug-in hybrids are the most practical. In fact, as the book reiterates, practical plug-in hybrids were produced and leased by the auto companies about a decade ago --and then recalled and destroyed. Today (July, 2007), news reports say Toyota and GM and perhaps Ford and others "hope" to have an electric car available by 2010. The news stories say Toyota and GM are having trouble getting much more than a range of 40 miles out of the batteries, even though this book points out GM produced electric vehicles in 1999 with a range of about 140 miles!

This book is a good primer on how plug-in hybrids work, and also explores other alternative technologies such as hydrogen and fuel cells, though for several reasons it returns to plug-in hybrids as being immediately available technology.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a must-read for the environmentally conscious, December 21, 2006

By 

B. Baker - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that will Recharge America (Paperback)

This book is deligently researched and compellingly written, full of good history and vivid portraits of the major players. It contains easy-to-understand explanations of complex issues and technology. Sherry Boschert has made the subject a page-turner. For the environmentally and politically conscious, this should be your next book. I'm convinced that a plug-in hybrid should be my next car.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book ranks right up there with An Inconvenient Truth., January 21, 2007

By 

Anne Koedt (new york, ny) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that will Recharge America (Paperback)

This is a mind-blowing book. With technology available today, we could start mass-producing cars that run both on electricity and gasoline (or biofuels). You could plug your car in at night and charge it while you slept. Then you could drive 40 or more exhaust-free miles before the car switched to gasoline. Since 50% of Americans drive 20 miles or less per day, and 80% drive 50% or less, most of the driving in a plug-in hybrid would be on electricity. (Plug-in hybrids average 100 mpg.)
Happily the plug-in hybrid now has many enthusiastic and influential supporters, from environmentalists to conservatives worried about America's dependence on foreing oil -- R. J. Woolsey, former CIA director and the NY Times colulmnist Thomas L. Friedman, among them.
Another intersting fact: plugging in your car at night could tap otherwise unused electricity from wind farms, because wind farms don't have a way to store the energy produced at night. So wind power, could end up running our cars.