While you are caught in a dilemma as to which car to own or what kind of hybrid vehicle you must be seeking out -- yet another wonderful option available for the discerning, recession-hit and increasingly worried auto consumer is the Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV). A nifty piece of technology and brings the kind of flexibility you see on electronic gadgets to your cars. PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid vehicles) have the remarkable ability to morph into an electric vehicle or a regular gasoline powered one, as you deem fit. Here are some amazing things PHEVs are, which other cars cannot:
- Plug-In Hybrids have a dual personality: The remarkable ability of a Plug-In Hybrid is the possibility of turning it into anything you desire -- if you are in the mood for a little bit of zipping around you could try the gasoline part of the equation but use the electric part when trying to save money. The PHEV has the ability to morph into either of its avatars and that makes it a lovely car to have.
- You don’t need gas or you don’t have to plug-in: Unlike a regular gasoline or an electric vehicle, you are not boxed into using just one type of fuel for your car. You are the liberty to choose which mode of the PHEV you would like to use at given point of time. You can, perhaps, avoid the gasoline part entirely and just keep plugging in your car to electric sockets each night and use it that way or perhaps use the gasoline part more often than the electric vehicle part.
- They are incredibly inexpensive to drive: Consider this -- you could drive for a cool 30 miles for about 81 cents, according to calcars.org. Also, costs of power consumption is lower in most cases so since the plug-ins are “plugged-in” during the nights, this doesn’t lead to any overly dramatic electricity bills.
- You could use a Plug-In Hybrid Car to Power your Home: Another little known fact about Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles is that that they have been known to power some critical systems in emergency situations and they have enough power to provide electricity to your home for some time during emergency at least. Now, no one suggesting that you replace you generator with a plug-in hybrid, but the point here is about the potential of the stored energy within these hybrids.
Except for the fact that plug-ins are a tad expensive (mainly due to the batteries), there isn’t a single other thing any consumer would ever have to think about -- even this problem might be solved thanks to the rapid advancement of battery technology.