DETROIT — To judge by the vehicles being touted at the North American International Auto Show this week, an extension cord may well become a standard car feature.
Irvine-based Fisker Automotive unveiled a luxury sports car here Monday that it says can travel 50 miles on a battery charged by plugging it into standard, 120-volt current. The $80,000, rear-wheel-drive Karma will be able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in less than six seconds and top out at 125 mph, the company says. It plans to start selling it by the end of next year.
Minutes later, General Motors Corp. unveiled a prototype plug-in Saturn Vue crossover vehicle, and on Sunday night, Toyota Motor Corp. said it would market a plug-in version of its popular Prius hybrid by 2010. Chrysler rolled out three concept plug-in cars, and even a Chinese automaker, BYD Auto, announced what it called a "dual mode" hybrid that has not one but two power plugs -- one for standard, eight-hour recharging, and another for quicker repowering.
The hotly anticipated technology uses electric current to charge a battery that powers an electric motor that turns the wheels. The battery power can be supplemented by a gasoline engine linked to the drivetrain -- as is the case with the plug-in Prius hybrid -- or by a gasoline engine that functions as a generator, recharging the battery before it's drained -- as in the case of the GM products and the Fisker.
The plug-in announcements generated a rush of excitement among attendees of the show, where green technology has taken center stage this year. With plug-ins seen as significantly closer to mass market than other green technology such as hydrogen fuel cells, there is intense jockeying for position among carmakers and rampant speculation over who will win the plug-in Preakness.
Few people are willing to call plug-ins ready for prime time. At least not yet. Nearly all the plug-ins being plugged in Detroit (except BYD's) use advanced lithium-ion batteries, an exciting but costly and, according to experts, still-developing technology that needs more testing. Current hybrids run on older battery technology, such as nickel metal hydride, but lithium ion promises more power output from a smaller, lighter package.
"There are some tremendous challenges" for plug-in hybrids, said Rebecca Lindland, director of automotive research at Global Insight. Beyond the high-powered batteries, which have yet to be produced in large quantities, there's an infrastructure problem: Only people with garages would be likely to have easy access to a source of electricity overnight, the time most people expect plug-ins to be charged.
