Plug In America inspires change, but it’s the actions of Plug In America’s supporters that are the most inspiring. One example: Andrew Bell. He took the initiative to create what may be the first plug-in hybrid in his province, Alberta, Canada (population > 3 million). It took determination, but as you’ll see in his note below, it made a lot of sense to do it. It’s also an example of how Plug In America’s books can inspire people to switch to electric drive. So if you haven’t yet read my book or our 2011 resource guide, Charged Up & Ready To Roll: The Definitive Guide To Plug-in Electric Vehicles, click on the titles to order today. Or get an extra copy to inspire a friend. You might be rewarded with a letter like the one below. — Sherry
Photo courtesy of Andrew Bell.
Dear Sherry,
I purchased your book Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America about 3 years ago. Inspired with what I read and following podcasts on the subject, I recently converted my 2005 Toyota Prius into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), with a newly upgraded 4kW Enginer plug-in PHEV system. In Alberta, there are no conversion services so I had to drive over 1,000 km to Electric Autosports in Vancouver, B.C. in order to do this.
We don’t have the nice California weather that you do, but I’ve gone from 47 miles per gallon (mpg) up to 74-ish mpg since the install. As the temperatures get warmer I should be getting over 100 mpg! I had purchased the Prius for $11,000 and sold the truck that I had been driving for $5,000. The Enginer system including installation was $4,700. So for just $10,700 I’m now the proud owner of a PHEV!! Between insurance and gas cost savings over the respective costs had I kept my old truck, the system will pay for itself in about 2 years. There are still no financial incentives from the Alberta or Canadian Federal government in regards to these projects. Presenting the numbers on a piece of paper to my wife got me the ‘green light’ to do this. Note to self: remember this strategy in the future…
The professional team at Electric Autosports let me have the privilege of drilling the hole in my bumper to have the electrical port installed. You can see some of the system on the right hand side of the photo. They tell me that I have the first PHEV in Alberta. I’m driving a lone PHEV in a sea of big trucks and SUVs on Alberta roads.
I’ve put up a website about the project to help spread the concept of this option. Let me know what you think: http://www.wix.com/abel_video/plugin-prius
Thank you for inspiring me to do this!
Sincerely,
Andrew Bell
