How Far Can New PHEVs Go On A Gallon Of Gas?

"The idea is that owners charge up the car overnight, plugging into their garage outlet for cheap, off-peak electricity, and the stored energy covers their short-range daily driving—on average, less than 30 miles. Except that, unlike electric-only vehicles, which can range only as far as a charge allows, PHEVs can fall back on a gas engine. Within its electrically boosted range, this car can get 100 mpg....Setting aside the mysteries of cellulosic ethanol and carbon composites for the moment, the idea that PHEVs can be built from off-the-shelf parts has become something of an orthodoxy. "The solution is already with us," wrote Newsweek International columnist Fareed Zakaria in March. "We don't need to reinvent the wheel or wait for sci-fi hydrogen fuel cells," New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in late June. "The technologies we need for a stronger, more energy independent America are already here."