Reliant Energy and the City of Houston Launch Electric Vehicle Pilot Project

But First Snide's Remarks: As our loyal readers know, The Auto Channel has put its support for Electric Vehiclse where your eyes are, since before it was cool to be a EV'er.

BUT let's not get blinded by the light and miss another real good alternative to gasoline, and maybe a better way to get us away from the black poison, build every car as a Flex-Fuel vehicle (cost to manufacturer only $50 bucks) and then retrofitting 200 million gasoline powered cars on the road to burn Ethanol...make sure you understand that the raw material for American alcohol can be produced in every farm county on America by American farmers who will be growing non food crops on non food crop land...it's sure worth looking at.

I hate to sound Snide, but if home grown ethanol was the accepted alternative fuel, the power companies would have to settle for lower volumes and lower profits. EV's are the best thing since the light bulb for "Big Power". Let me know what you think...msnide@theautochannel.com

HOUSTON--The City of Houston and Reliant Energy, an NRG Energy company , today launched a program to bring plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to the streets of Houston to demonstrate the important role that electric cars can play in the city’s clean energy future.

The program, dubbed the “Power of the Plug-In,” includes converting 10 city-owned Toyota Prius cars to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and installing 10 vehicle-charging stations to power them. The “Power of the Plug-In” is designed to raise consumer awareness and educate the public about plug-in electric cars and to promote Houston and Texas as an electric vehicle center. Seven of the 10 stations will be available to the public, representing the largest public charging infrastructure in Texas.

“We're committed to making Houston the nation's green energy capital,” said Houston Mayor Bill White. “That commitment begins at City Hall and these clean-running electric cars and the charging stations that will be available to all Houstonians will get us farther down that road.”

“We envision thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of electric cars on our roads in the coming years, making Houston’s air cleaner and the city greener,” said Reliant Energy President Jason Few. “This pilot project gives both Reliant and the city of Houston the opportunity to learn more about the performance of electric vehicles and the needs of drivers, while promoting consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars. Reliant is committed to making Houston and Texas the electric vehicle capital of the United States. We think big in Texas and we have big plans.”

“The more we know about consumer habits, the better we can provide the infrastructure and the products and services to meet the needs of electric vehicle owners and drivers in Texas,” said Few. “Ultimately, this is about providing consumers the tools - in this case the charging infrastructure – and information – like what we will get from this trial – so they can make informed choices about how they use energy.”

The 10 Reliant-provided charging stations will be located around Houston, with public stations at City Hall, the Health Department office at 8000 Stadium Drive and at the Mayor’s Citizens Assistance Office at 9615 Rustic Wood in Kingwood. Reliant chose Campbell, Calif.-based Coulomb Technologies, Inc. to provide its ChargePoint® Networked Charging Stations. Coulomb is a leader in networked electric vehicle charging infrastructure and its network will enable the city to administer consumer access to the public stations.

The vehicles selected for conversion are 2009 Toyota Prius hybrids, which are already used extensively by the city. The plug-in conversion module is the Hymotion™ L5 provided by A123 Systems, a developer and manufacturer of advanced lithium-ion batteries and battery systems for use in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles, as well as for the electric grid and consumer markets.

The converted plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can deliver up to 100 miles per gallon, helping to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Studies show plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with a 20-mile electric driving range can reduce vehiclecarbon dioxide emissions by up to two-thirds depending on the generation source for the vehicle’s electricity when compared with traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.

Electric vehicles also provide long-term affordability. While electric cars generally cost more to purchase, largely due to the high cost of lithium-ion batteries, the vehicles do not require typical engine maintenance, such as oil changes. Electric vehicles are also less expensive to operate because electricity costs less on a per-mile basis than gasoline.

In a related development, Reliant and Nissan announced on Friday they have reached an agreement to work together to make Houston a launch city for the broader use of electric vehicles by the American public, businesses and public organizations. Earlier this week, Reliant’s parent company, NRG, joined with automakers, utilities, battery manufacturers, smart grid and infrastructure companies to form the Electrification Coalition. The group’s goal: to help guide the transformation of light-duty ground transportation from fossil fuels to electricity.

To learn more about this and other sustainability efforts by the City of Houston, visit www.greenhouston.tx.gov.

About Reliant Energy:

Reliant Energy provides electricity and energy services to more than 1.6 million retail customers—including homes, small and large businesses, manufacturing facilities, government entities and institutions across Texas. As part of NRG Energy , Reliant Energy is backed by one of the nation’s largest power producers. NRG owns and operates more than 24,000 megawatts of generation capacity, including more than 11,000 megawatts of capacity in Texas. For more information about Reliant Energy products and services, visit www.reliant.com. For more information about NRG, visit www.nrgenergy.com.