Study quantifies benefits of plug-in hybrid vehicles

A six-month study by Colorado's Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) suggests that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will be less expensive for owners, and could eliminate harmful vehicle emissions by up to 50 percent.

The study looked at how PHEVs might affect the electric power grid depending on when and where the cars were charging. It also looked at the overall emission footprint of these vehicles, the decreased vehicle fuel costs and how PHEVs could impact the company’s production and capacity costs.

Xcel worked with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on the study. Computer modeling measured the impact of a mass penetration of PHEVs and how much energy would be required to charge them.

NREL’s program was able to simulate adding vehicles to the roads in large increments, under real driving conditions, simulating an increase in the market penetration of these vehicles.

The study suggested that PHEVs, each equipped with a 9 kilowatt-hour battery, could reduce overall CO2 vehicles emissions by half. They could also save owners more than $450 in fuel costs each year compared to a traditional combustion engine vehicle.

“Depending on when customers choose to recharge, adding PHEVs to the road may help reduce overall emissions of CO2 without significant increases in utility infrastructure. In other words, PHEVs could be one piece of the puzzle to solving our global climate change problem,” said Mike Carlson, CIO, Xcel Energy.

How much would be saved in vehicle emissions depends on when drivers charge their cars, according to the study. Incentive programs may induce customers to charge their PHEVs at certain times and would help Xcel minimize emissions and operating costs as well as incremental utility infrastructure investment, the company said.

Xcel Energy is a major U.S. electricity and natural gas company with regulated operations in eight Western and Midwestern states.

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