Former Intel Chief to America: Convert 10 Million SUVs to Plug-Ins by 2012

Can Andy Grove light a fire under America’s sleepy electric car effort?

At the first annual Plug-In 2008 Conference, the former Intel chief called on America to convert ten million of its clunkiest, most gas-hungry SUVs, pickups and minivans into plug-in electric hybrid vehicles (PHEVs).

Timeframe? Four years.

If Grove had his way, he'd go on to retrofit the remaining 80 million or so US gas-guzzlers to PHEVs through a combination of conversion and new product -- a move that would cut the nation’s imported oil needs in half.

Big, big, big job.

There are only about 125 to 150 PHEVs on the world’s roads today, thanks to the few conversion shops out there. (See this map by CalCars to locate some of the US PHEVs.) There's not a single plug-in hybrid passenger vehicle in production, although Toyota, GM, Ford, Volkswagen and others have plans to change that soon.

Great. But Grove wants action yesterday. Read his big vision, and it seems he's caught the clean tech moonshot fever. Don’t you just love it? The fact that he’s got the talent to match makes it all the more interesting.

The man behind Intel, the world’s largest microchip maker, is pushing the auto industry to do for cars what giants like Google did for the Internet: embrace a "disruptive technology." In this case, the mass-market PHEV.

The first task, says Grove, is to assemble a consortium of automakers, utilities, technology companies and public research institutions to better lobby the US government for fast change. Next step? Get a detailed PHEV plan on the new president’s desk by January 21, 2009.

Grove has other ideas to kickstart his mini revolution, via Greentech Media:

• Have utilities provide free electricity for two years for powering converted plug-in hybrids.
• Provide a tax credit to pay for 50 percent of the expenses of retrofitting cars, a cost that could be offset by an increase in licensing fees for all vehicles, boats and airplanes.
• Create a special federal court system to efficiency resolve intellectual property disputes and promote public interest.
• Standardize battery and other technologies.
• Invest more venture capital in technologies that promote plug-in hybrids.
• Assemble a consortium of automakers, utilities, technology companies and public research institutions to better lobby the government for change.

His car conversion plan is an energy dependence fix for America, which is clearly Grove’s #1 concern. But what about fixing climate change, too? Here’s Grove in an article he wrote for The American, the magazine of the American Enterprise Institute:

A shift from petroleum-based vehicles to electricity-based ones would move the locus for addressing carbon emissions from millions of individual vehicles to far fewer centralized electricity-generating plants. Controlling emissions thus becomes an industrial task, easier technologically. Estimates indicate a potential reduction of carbon emissions of around 50 percent through such a shift.

Interesting. But truth is, Grove is no enemy of coal. Electricity is golden in his eyes -- in all forms -- as long as it's 100% home grown. So how many new coal plants will it take to power a PHEV future?

Answer: none. That's according to a 2007 report by the US Department of Energy Berkeley Lab report. At least not from the get-go:

The results of the analysis indicate that significant portions of the U.S. gasoline-operated vehicle fleet could be fueled with the available electric capacity. For the nation as a whole, about 84% of the energy needed for operating cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs (or a maximum of 73% of the energy of the LDV fleet) could be supported using generating, transmission, and distribution capacity currently available.

And keep in mind that America’s grid is getting cleaner each year. (See Joe Romm’s PHEV FAQs for more on this.)

So the question now becomes: Is Grove’s plan even possible?

The Intel head himself admits its "borderline doable." Fair enough. But it's worth remembering that there are many such ambitious clean energy policies floating in the climate solutions space, and the barriers to their success have been for the most part political rather than technological. This one will be no different.

Time to repeat this nugget by Al Gore, over and over:

There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for
whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment.

The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more – if more should be required – the future of human civilization is at stake.

Sources: Earth2Tech, Greentech Media, Green Car Congress

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