Utility tests plug-in vehicles

Dominion Virginia Power is plugging in to the future of driving.

The state's largest electric utility is putting a pair of plug-in electric hybrid cars and two hybrid-powered bucket trucks on the road.

"This is the wave of the future," said company President David A. Heacock. "People are going to be converting their cars, first to hybrids and then to plug-in cars."

Dominion Virginia Power added recharging equipment and high-technology 5-kilowatt-hour batteries to its two Toyota Prius hybrid gasoline-electric cars.

The $11,000 modification provides up to 30 miles of battery-only driving in normal operating conditions. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average driver travels 35 miles a day in a car.

Recharging takes about five hours plugged in to a 110-volt electrical outlet and costs less than 50 cents, the utility said. That compares with $2 to $4 for the same mileage in an ordinary vehicle with gas selling at $2 a gallon.

Dominion Virginia Power will use the four hybrid vehicles in Northern Virginia. The test will help the company, which has a fleet of 8,600 vehicles, determine the impact that plug-in vehicles could have on electrical demand.

In the long run, the company would like to see thousands of electric cars plugged in to its grid during times of low demand. However, a flood of customers recharging batteries at 6 p.m. on an energy-intensive summer day could be a problem.

"Electricity is much more expensive to produce at peak," Heacock said. "We want to be able to charge them at night" when the power company has surplus energy.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can be powered by stored electricity alone, but like ordinary hybrid electric cars, they have engines for driving and battery recharging.

The combination offers increased driving range with potentially large fuel and cost savings, the U.S. Energy Department said.

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or .