Channin Cheuk of Coulomb Technologies demonstrates their charging station which would allow electric vehicles to charge on the street, one of a number of companies exhibiting at Plug-in 2008, a three-day conference on plug-in hybrid vehicles at the San Jose McEnery Center in San Jose Tuesday July 22, 2008. (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News) ( Patrick Tehan )
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News
Article Launched: 07/23/2008 01:34:25 AM PDT
Silicon Valley legend Andy Grove said Tuesday that the nation should convert millions of gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs into plug-in hybrids to dramatically cut our use of foreign oil.
"This is a very hard task," admitted the former chairman and chief executive of Intel. "Someone I know called it 'borderline undoable.' I like that."
In his keynote speech on the opening day of the Plug-in 2008 conference at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, Grove made the case that only a massive action could change the nation's dependence on oil and curtail greenhouse-gas emissions.
He called for the creation of an inter-industry task force with representation from utilities, automakers, high-tech companies and academia. Its goal: produce 10 million dual-fuel pickups, SUVs and minivans in four years. (Grove said he uses the term "dual-fuel" because he dislikes the term "PHEV," or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.)
He said the task force should present that goal, and ideas about how it could be achieved, to the next U.S. president Jan. 21.
"It would be a fantastic move in energizing the country, and probably other countries as well," he said.
Grove, 71, has become a passionate advocate for plug-in hybrids, according to Felix Kramer, founder of Calcars.org, a non-profit promoting those vehicles.
Plug-in hybrids are vehicles that combine a gas engine and a battery pack, just like a traditional hybrid, but also include a larger battery for more electric-driving range and a plug to permit home charging.
While Grove said that big vehicles get the worst fuel economy, he said they're also large enough for big battery packs. His mission is to get these behemoths to achieve 40 miles of electric-only range because 80 percent of U.S drivers, on average, drive less than 40 miles a day. That would cut U.S. gas consumption in half, he said.
The three-day Plug-in 2008 conference features speakers from General Motors and Toyota, both of which are likely to start producing plug-in hybrids in a few years, as well as representatives from utilities, policy-makers and advocates.
Grove's call to action received a mixed response.
"I don't agree with his specifics, but I don't know if it was as much about his specific proposal as saying this is the kind of quantum discussion we should be having," said Nancy Gioia, director of sustainable mobility technologies and hybrid vehicles at Ford Motor.
Pat Cadam, owner of Pat's Garage in San Francisco, which converts Prius hybrids into plug-ins, said Grove's speech was full of "great ideas."
"I like him saying that this kind of plug-in technology (converting Priuses) is valuable, so taking something like an SUV or pickup and converting it is even more valuable."
Also at Plug-in 2008 Tuesday, the city of San Jose announced a two-year demonstration and test project with Coulomb Technologies of Campbell. That company has created the ChargePoint, a device that will allow owners of plug-ins and electric vehicles to charge up on city streets and in parking garages.
Coulomb will install five vehicle chargers in San Jose. The exact locations aren't determined, said Coulomb CEO Richard Lowenthal, but places such as City Hall and the convention center and the airport are likely spots. Coulomb said it will pay for the electricity.
Contact Matt Nauman at mnauman@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5701.