AFS Trinity PHEV 150mpg SUV… $11.40 for 340 miles

May 22, 2008   by Jozef Winter

Back in January AFS Trinity, a developer and manufacturer of fast energy storage solutions, using flywheels, capacitors, and batteries, to power equipment for NASA, the Army, and even F1 racers, unveiled its modified Saturn Vue at the Detroit Auto show, utilizing its technologies to create a 150mpg SUV plug-in hybrid vehicle. Since then they’ve been on a cross-country tour to promote the system, and even got some congressmen to take the PHEV for a test drive. Lucky guys!

AFS has released some data on their experiences with the performance of the vehicle, and it’s some good news. The acceleration in hybrid mode outperforms all other gas-powered SUVs, getting from 0-60 in 6.9 seconds. It’s top speed is 87mph, less than conventional luxury models, but who’s going over 87mph anyway? The biggest news, and one that will put smiles on our faces and keep money in our pockets is that the estimated fuel (electricity and gas) costs are around $11.40 for 340 miles traveled, assuming you use the 40 miles of pure electric 6 days of the week. This amounts to buying 2 gallons of fuel and simply plugging in your car to charge overnight.

Unfortunately, as we are hearing over and over again, the product won’t be on the market for another 3 years, so like all things, we must wait.

via Inhabitat