Re: Draft Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle R&D Plan

EESI and the National Plug-In Partners Campaign critique the DOE's draft PHEV R&D Plan for being insufficiently aggressive in its deployment timelines and for omitting smart grid capabilities. They argue that existing industry progress from companies like General Motors and Tesla proves that PHEVs can be brought to market faster than the DOE's projections. The authors recommend that the DOE accelerate its battery development phases and require all demonstration vehicles to be "smart grid-capable" to enable future vehicle-to-grid (V2G) functionality.

• The DOE's proposed timeline for battery development and design is considered too conservative and lacks the urgency needed to bring PHEVs to market within 3-5 years, failing to align with industry targets such as General Motors' 2010 goal for the Chevrolet Volt.
• The DOE's R&D plan is criticized for a disconnect between its phases and industry reality, as phase two of the design process is not scheduled to begin until FY 2012, which is two years after the projected introduction of an OEM plug-in hybrid with a 40-mile electric range.
• The proposed OEM validation and demonstration project, consisting of 10-20 vehicles across 3-5 cities between 2008 and 2010, is viewed as too small to effectively accelerate large-scale PHEV deployment.
• The DOE plan fails to incorporate smart grid technologies, missing the potential for "smart charging" and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities that could match charging to real-time grid conditions.

APA

Werner, C., & Duncan, R. (2007). Re: Draft Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle R&D Plan. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/comment-does-office-of-freedomcar-vehicle-technologies-draft-phev-rd-plan

Chicago

Werner, Carol, and Roger Duncan. Re: Draft Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle R&D Plan. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2007. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/comment-does-office-of-freedomcar-vehicle-technologies-draft-phev-rd-plan.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Werner |first1=Carol |last2=Duncan |first2=Roger |title=Re: Draft Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle R&D Plan |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=28 March 2007 |url=https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/comment-does-office-of-freedomcar-vehicle-technologies-draft-phev-rd-plan |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{werner2007draft, author = {Werner, Carol and Duncan, Roger}, title = {{Re: Draft Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle R\&D Plan}}, publisher = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2007}, month = mar, url = {https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/comment-does-office-of-freedomcar-vehicle-technologies-draft-phev-rd-plan}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }