Plug-in kit to for the C-Max Hybrid?

[StoBro2]

My local utility gets its power this way:

 

Coal 42%

Nuclear 35%

Natural Gas 19%

Wind 2%

Hydro 1%

"Other" 1%

[viajero]

Why would anyone want to turn their C Max into a coal-powered auto ?

 

Whoa!  I can't believe you just said that!  Especially on this forum.

 

According to ERCOT's report, electric energy for the Texas grid in 2012 was:

 

44.6% Gas

33.8% Coal

11.8% Nuclear

9.2% Wind

0.1% Water

0.5% Other

 

http://www.ercot.com/news/press_releases/show/26382

 

On that chart you can see the percentage of wind energy is slowly inching upwards each year.  And a few old fossil fuel plants get upgraded or replaced by newer ones each year, so the grid keeps getting cleaner.  Meanwhile each year the oil gets harder and harder to get out of the ground.  They have to drill deeper, pump harder, use more fracking fluid, or burn more gas to cook tar sands to get the same amount of oil.

[MikeB]

Even if the local electric grid was 100% coal powered, it's still a better choice than burning gasoline. Remember, electric drive is so efficient that the Energi is getting the equivalent of 100MPG. You use so much less energy that there's less net pollution, even with a dirty grid. In fact, the electricity required just to refine crude oil into gasoline will take my Energi further than the gasoline will.

 

And then you have all those external costs, like trillion dollar wars that are driven by the need for oil. We've never needed a foreign war to preserve the integrity of our local electrical grid.

[SnowStorm]

As an engineer it sounds like a cool idea but a big reason for buying the C-Max is over-all long term operating cost.  The system would need to be quite cheap to pay for itself.  If you top-off once a day with the battery nearly empty (adding about 1200 watt-hours) you might save about $1 per week.  Double that if you can charge twice a day (or you get the electricity for free).  Would be nice if Ford built in the capability and/or added solar cells for charging at work (although payback is still a question).

[ford]

I live at the top of a hill. Every time I leave home I drag the brake while traveling down the hill. When I get to the bottom of the hill my battery is completely charged up.  So, don't get a charger or a dyno , just move to a hill top location. you'll enjoy the view better also. I thought all hybrid owners lived on hill top locations

[homestead]

I live at the top of a hill. Every time I leave home I drag the brake while traveling down the hill. When I get to the bottom of the hill my battery is completely charged up.  So, don't get a charger or a dyno , just move to a hill top location. you'll enjoy the view better also. I thought all hybrid owners lived on hill top locations

Does EV+ get you all the way to the top of the hill coming home?

[valkraider]

You can drive an electric vehicle 10 to 20 miles** on just the electricity it takes to simply refine a single gallon of gas.

 

And if we clean up one power plant we instantly clean up every electric vehicle on the road who uses that power plant.

 

**depends on the efficiency of the EV and how the miles are driven, etc etc

[ford]

Does EV+ get you all the way to the top of the hill coming home?

Just the last 1/2 mile