PHEVs: Will the Grid Be Ready?: "PNL study states that if the national power grid were optimally utilized at all hours of the day, it could provide enough power for plug-in hybrids to comprise up to 73 percent of the nation's cars, vans, SUVs and light duty fleet. What's more, switching from gas-only vehicles to mostly plug-in hybrids could reduce the importation of oil by up to 52 percent, according to PNL.
The PNL study compares the power consumption of plug-in hybrids with the national electricity consumption data from 2002 and does not factor in expected increases in power demand or planned additions to the power grid, according to Michael Kintner-Meyer, one of the authors of the study. (According to the Department of Energy, electricity demand will grow by 11.4 percent between 2004 and 2015.)
Even if the electricity used to charge plug-in hybrids is produced primarily from fossil fuels, burning that fuel at the power plant, rather than in a car's engine, is more efficient: The 'well to wheel' efficiency of vehicles powered by electricity generated from natural gas and coal is superior to that of petroleum vehicles (31 and 22 percent versus 13 percent respectively), according to data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission."
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