Google Pushes Better Electric Cars

Ridden writes that Google has been "running a small fleet of hybrid vehicles for the past few years to support its effort to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles."

The company's engineers have been researching different ways to improve electric vehicle efficiency and have "open-sourced" their findings. Now, Ridden writes, Google "has confirmed that the fleet is currently running smart software to enable communication between the grid and the vehicles."

Engineers started by reviewing data collected on how employees used cars in the company hybrid fleet. Then, Ridden writes, "technicians drew up 257 journeys over 38 routes of less than 100 miles leaving from and returning to the Mountain View headquarters. Professional drivers were hired for driving consistency and the plug-in hybrids fitted with a Hymotion/A123 production plug-in hybrid kit, some standard hybrids, a 4.6 liter SUV, a 3.5 liter V6 minivan and a 1.8 liter compact car set off to collect performance information for comparison."

Of course, the plug-in hybrids won, and Google's next step is "the development of improved all electric plug-in vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure that can both handle the demand on the system and help keep overall emissions down, not just at the tailpipe."

"The beauty of plug-in vehicles is that with the right software behind them, you could manage their charging," Dan Reicher, Google's director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives, told Ridden.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Marks, via Flickr