Today is the last day of the exciting convention, Plug-In 2008: A Short Drive to Tomorrow, here in San Jose, CA. While I haven't had much chance to post during this time, I have been able to film several interesting presentations and interviews. These video segments will be made available on AutoBlogGreen in the very near future.

What I found that made this conference unique, in addition to being the first such convergence dedicated to plug-in hybrid technology, was the bridging of the tech community in Silicon Valley with the plug-in hybrid industry. On Tuesday, Andy Grove (Former Chairman & CEO of Intel Corporation) gave a luncheon speech that drew parallels between the eary days of the microprocessor industry and the current experiences of the plug-in hybrid field. He called for a grand vision - a commitment from those in the policy realm, industry, and research community to facilitate the production 10 million plug-in hybrid cars by 2012.

Dr. Andy Frank (U.C. Davis) provided a counterpoint in perspective during Wednesday's luncheon speech. Dr. Frank has spent the last forty years of his research endeavors dedicated to the development of plug-in hybrid technology. While he mentioned that the field has made considerable progress during this time, he sadly lamented that there are only about 200 plug-in hybrid vehicles in existence globally today (five of which are his). Dr. Frank remained optimistic, however, and stressed the need for faster progress in the field.

The Toyota Prius needs no introduction to any reader of AutoblogGreen. The hybrid has gained iconic status and is the poster-child for the green automotive movement. While we appreciate the current Prius, we're really excited at the prospect of plugging in the next-generation version. Even better would be a plug-in Lexus Prius with lithium ion batteries and all the best bells and whistles that accompany the Lexus name.

Check out Number 3.

It's not only the oil companies that make money when gas prices soar. Aftermarket hybrid hackers (CNN Money's term) like EDrive or Hymotion that will turn your Prius into a 100 mpg plug-in version will soon be doing quite well, thank you (read more here). The two companies will be selling the conversion kits by the end of the year. The EDrive kit will cost you $12,000, installation, and Hymotion's kit is $500 more. Hymotion co-founder Ricardo Bazzarella said that in 12 months his company's kit would cost only $6,500. Even with the drop, Bazzarella said the profit margin would be around 20 to 25 percent. Until Toyota debuts the official plug-in Prius, there's money to be made in using less gas.

[Source: CNN Money, Thanks to Jason for the tip]

Scientists at EDrive Systems, based in Los Angeles, are developing a new battery system that replaces a Priuses installed battery with a lithium ion battery that can be charged at home using a standard domestic power socket. The converted system should be able to get Priuses to over 120 mpg (if I've done my math right. The original article is from South Africa, I think, and says the new system can get about 100 km per less than two liters, which is 62 mile for about half a gallon, right?) for about $12,000.

Greg Hanssen, partner and chief engineer of EDrive Systems, said his company has an interest list of thousands of customers and that customers in Southern California will be served first once the technology is fully tested.

[Source: Motoring.co.za via EV World]