Automotive manufacturers are enjoying record sales of their gas-electric hybrid vehicles. The next logical step is to develop and bring to market automobiles that get power directly from an electrical outlet. The batteries in plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are larger than their regular-hybrid counterparts and can be charged from a standard outlet. Because they operate electrically for local travel, using a gas engine as a backup, fuel economy soars.

You can learn about the technology hurdles and policy challenges for commercializing PHEVs at a one-day symposium, “Plug-in Hybrids: Accelerating Progress 2007” on 19 September in Washington, D.C. The meeting will bring together leaders from manufacturing, electric utilities, universities, national laboratories and nonprofits to explore what’s needed before you’ll be able to charge your car battery from home.

“The plug-in hybrid is the first new technology allowing the electrification of the transportation sector, thereby increasing energy efficiency and reducing the United States dependence on foreign oil,” says Thomas R. Schneider, chair of IEEE-USA’s Plug-In Hybrids Planning Committee.

Plug-in hybrid technology is ready now, according to the IEEE New Technologies Directions Committee Chair and 2008 IEEE-USA President Russell Lefevre. “We don’t have to wait 15 or 20 years until this technology is mature enough to begin to make a difference,” he says. “Everything is available right now to begin making America energy independent, reduce greenhouse gases and enhance national security.”

The symposium, which takes place at Washington’s Omni Shoreham Hotel, is made up of four panel sessions that will look at electrification, fuel economy, and the environment; plug-in vehicles and the electric grid; challenges that face new technology; and the need for federal action to support this technology.

Keynote speakers include the commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Jon Wellinghoff, and former CIA director and founding member of the Set America Free Coalition, R. James Woolsey, whose organization seeks to make the United States energy independent. Demonstration PHEV vehicles will be on display.

The registration fee is $200 for representatives from industry and $100 for government workers and students. The fee includes breakfast, lunch, and coffee breaks. For more information and to register, see http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/phev/default.asp.

Go to http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/positions/PHEV0607.pdf for more information on plug-in electric hybrid vehicles.

The event is being cosponsored by IEEE-USA, the IEEE New Technology Directions Committee, the Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington D.C., the Electric Drive Transportation Association, the Set America Free Coalition, the IEEE Power Electronics Society, the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology, the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, and the IEEE Power Engineering Society.