[ausev] Discount Electric Fueling for EVs and PHEVs in VERMONT

[Dan_Lee Vogler]

Vermont -  6//12/2007 

Promoting the latest in energy efficient vehicles, Vermont's largest utility
will offer customers a reduced rate to charge plug-in hybrid vehicles with
electricity.
Central Vermont Public Service Corp. (nyse: CV - news - people ) also has
purchased two of the plug-in vehicles, one of which will be used and studied at
Green Mountain College.
"CVPS plug 'n go gives our customers the opportunity to be on the cutting edge
of reducing automobile emissions and extending vehicle mileage, and the next
generation of highly efficient cars and trucks," said CVPS President Bob Young
said Monday.
The standard hybrid runs on a mixture of fuel and electricity, but the plug-in,
which can be charged with a cord running to an electrical outlet, can operate
on electricity alone at low speeds, extending its mileage from 60 miles per
gallon to the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon, officials said.
Green Mountain College will study the vehicle's performance and benefits.
"One can significantly reduce auto emissions by using cleaner, more efficient
grid energy, and vastly extend fuel efficiency," said Steven Letendre, a Green
Mountain professor and expert in the technology.
Mileage obtained from electricity will cost the equivalent of about $1 per
gallon, said company spokesman Steve Costello. The vehicles could also be
tapped as back-up home generators during power outages, said Letendre.
But the cost of converting a hybrid vehicle is high - about $10,000, Costello
said.
"Right now there's no mass market. That's one of the things we want to help
create. All major manufacturers are working on this technology," Costello said.

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