Seth Leitman - Build Your Own Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Build Your Own Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle

TAB Green Guru Guides

Consulting Editor: Seth Leitman

Renewable Energies for Your Home: Real-World Solutions for Green Conversions by Russel Gehrke

Build Your Own Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle by Seth Leitman

Build Your Own Electric Motorcycle by Carl Vogel

Seth Leitman

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About the Author

Seth Leitman is the president and managing member of the ETS Energy Store, LLC (www.etsenergy.com), which offers consulting services to companies and individual families on organic, natural, and sustainable products. He is also a writer for the Planet Green Web site, and the Consulting Editor for the McGraw-Hill Green Guru Guides. Mr. Leitman runs the blog www.greenlivingguy.com, and is the co-author of the bestselling Build Your Own Electric Vehicle, Second Edition, published by McGraw-Hill. For more information, visit www.sethleitman.com.

I am an electric vehicle purist and the electric vehicles time has come. However, I do realize that we need to get from Point A to Point B, and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is the logical next step for the millions of people who own hybrid cars or who want an extremely efficient car and realize that it is quicker to build than wait for the car companies.

The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) movement has broadened to multiple levels of the public debate. Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio have recently made movies about the need to assist the environment and how oil and energy have created the global warming problems that our world currently faces. Al Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his discussion and call to action about global warming/climate change. Oil has flirted with prices of over $140 per barrel and $4.50 per gallon.

Well, PHEVs solve a lot of problems quickly. PHEVs bypass high energy prices and they cost pennies to charge. PHEVs have zero tailpipe emissions when running all electric.

While they charge up on electricity from power plants, they can also be charged by electricity from solar, wind, and any other renewable resource. Also, if you compare emissions from power plants for every car on the road with gasoline emissions, the electric component of the cars is always, always cleaner. In addition, as power plants get cleaner and reduce emissions, PHEVs will only get cleaner.

Plug-in hybrid electric cars also help develop the economy. We all know that we need to increase the expansion of electric cars. Hybrid electrics, plug-in hybrids, and low-speed vehicles all increase electric transportation. We as a countryno, we as a worldare increasing our involvement in this industry. From China and India, to Great Britain and France, and back here in the United States, electric transportation can create a new industry that will increase our manufacturing sectors ability to build clean, efficient cars. I recently spoke with an owner of an electric car company who said that the UAW was more than excited about building electric cars since the traditional car companies were leaving Detroit in single file. So a switch to electric cars can only increase domestic jobs in the United States and help our economy. Our world is dependent on fossil fuels from countries whose actions have not predominantly been in the best financial interests of the United States. Sending over billions of dollars to countries that are politically unstable and/or antagonistic to Western nations is a national security issue for all of us. Another way to ask the question is: Should we be sending more money to Iran and Venezuela, or should we keep it in our own pockets? What is the point? There is no point. That is why I believe in a pollution-free, oil-free form of transportation.