In a further sign that plug-in vehicles are on their way, two new companies - both utilities - have joined the USCAR partnership: DTE Energy and Southern California Edison. USCAR (the United States Council for Automotive Research, a joint project of the Big Three) announced yesterday that the new utility partners would take part in the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. The U.S. DOE's Andy Karsner (Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy) said in a statement that the new line-up "demonstrates a shared public-private sector commitment to accelerate the research, development and deployment of Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles from the laboratory to the marketplace." The representative from USCAR then pointed out that PHEVs are just one of many powertrain alternatives that the American automakers are working on (don't forget hydrogen!). More details about the companies' plug-in plans are described in the release after the break, but if you're a regular reader you won't need them.

The DTE Energy company, which provides natural gas and electric services to Michigan customers, is going to start using biodiesel in its fleet of 800 diesel trucks and service vehicles (things like bucket trucks and light-duty vehicles). DTE will present a ceremony on Tuesday to mark the shift to the biofuel, but didn't announce the percentage of biodiesel it will be using. DTE did say that Michigan-based biodiesel supplier RKA Petroleum will provide the fuel and that the switch is the "environmental equivalent of taking about 120 of those vehicles out of service." Since "environmental equivalent" can mean a lot of things, we can't just calculate the biofuel percentage. What we do know is that even if you're providing energy to a lot of people, greening up your own supply isn't a bad idea.

[Source: DTE Energy]