At the Plug-In 2008 conference in San Jose CA this week General Motors will be on hand to announce a partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to promote plug-in vehicles. GM VP for Global Program Management Jon Laukner will be delivering a keynote address at the Plug-in conference on Monday, and the EPRI partnership is expected to be part of the discussion. At this point GM doesn't have any production plug-in vehicles, but will debute two different models in the next two years. A plug-in version of the Saturn Vue Two-Mode hybrid is expected to debut in late 2009 while the Chevy Volt should appear a year later. The styling of the production car based on the Volt concept should be debuting in the next few months, possibly in September in conjunction with GM's centenial celebration. One possible key to the ultimate success of plug-in vehicles would be the installation of public charging stations allowing drivers to top up the battery as they go through their daily routines. Doing this will require the participation of local governments, businesses and electric utilities. Another factor that would help make plug-in vehicles financially viable for consumers would be the establishment of an aftermarket for lithium ion batteries that may not be useful for cars but could be used by utilities for buffering power supplies. EPRI previously announced a similar promotional partnership with Ford.

[Source: Reuters]

Ford's test program for the Escape plug-in hybrid is expanding beyond the original partnership with Southern California Edison (SCE). The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) will join the program, setting up a group of utilities in the New York-New Jersey area that will also participate in the test program of the twenty PHEV Escapes that Ford is building. The Escapes will initially be tested in California by SCE after which the fleet will be shared with the EPRI group.

The expanded test program will help increase the understanding of the potential impact of plug-in hybrid vehicles on the electrical grid. Including northeastern states in the testing will allow the evaluation of the impact in different regions and weather conditions. The collaboration among utilities in different areas should help them to standardize what kinds of accommodations need to be made to the grid and power generation systems to accommodate larger numbers of plug-in vehicles. More after the break.

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New York Power Authority (NYPA) is about to embark on a $21 million dollar hydrogen power and vehicle project. The plan will fund and oversee the construction of two hydrogen generating stations which will incorporate vehicle fueling capabilities as well as the purchasing of a fleet of hydrogen-fueled vehicles. The stations will reportedly cost $7.5 million while the remaining $13.5 million will be set aside for hydrogen-fueled fleet. Electricity to power the electrolysis process will come from the Niagara Power Project.

NYPA approved the project on Tuesday following the completion of feasibility studies conducted with the Electric Power Research Institute, a California-based, non-profit research organization. Further studies to determine the best locations for the hydrogen stations will continue for an additional three months. Hydrogen production is expected to begin by 2007, however, NYPA expects that when complete in three years, the hydrogen stations will be able to produce the equivalent of 120 gallons of fuel per day.

The article doesn't specifically state if the project calls for vehicles equipped with hydrogen combustion engines or hydrogen fuel cells. Either way, it sounds almost too good to be true. Clean electricity used to create hydrogen which will be used to fuel a fleet of vehicles.

[Source: Buffalo News]

On Monday, Dr. Cornelius Murphy, Jr. president of the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) and Timothy S. Carey, president and chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority (NYPA), were presented a plug-in hybrid electric Sprinter van concept vehicle by DaimlerChrysler for use in SUNY-ESF's fleet of 34 alternative-fuel utility vehicles.

NYPA has joined the Electric Power Research Institute with the cooperation of DaimlerChrysler to test and demonstrate plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) in real-world conditions for a three-year period. Throughout the rest of 2006 and 2007, five prototypes which are currently being tested in Germany will make their way to the U.S. and will be placed in various fleets across the country. Robert Graham, Electric Transportation Program manager at EPRI says that internal studies indicate that fleet applications offer the best opportunity for the early demonstration of plug-in hybrids. One of the vehicles will be put to the test in the fleet of The New York Times.

Dr. Murphy was notably pleased that SUNY-ESF was chosen as one of the testing environments and said, "Today's demonstration of a new plug-in hybrid electric Sprinter Van is another step forward toward a cleaner, greener world."

[Source: State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry]