National Security Benefits of Plug-In Hybrids

PHEVs: A Solution to Reduce U.S. Dependence on Foreign Oil

In recent years, a growing awareness has developed that the United States' dependence on foreign oil is a national security issue.

Recently, a bipartisan coalition of leaders in the field of national security joined with environmental and renewable energy advocates to sign an Open Letter to the American People. The letter calls on the nation to implement strategies for energy independence on the scale of the space program of earlier decades. The letter was also sent to President George W. Bush. Signers included, among many others, former CIA Dir-ector James Woolsey, former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, and former Secretary of Energy James Watkins.

Called Set America Free, a key plank in the group's recommended energy strategy is the development of flexible fuel plug-in hybrid vehicles. The group made the following recommendations concerning flexible fuel plug-in hybrids:

• Provide automakers government incentives to manufacture plug-in hybrids;
• Offer incentives for consumers to purchase PHEVs;
• Allocate funds toward research of plug-in hybrid technology;
• Combine plug-in hybrid technology with flexible fuel technology— a technology that has been in production since 1996
• Set mandates for substantial portions of government fleets to be converted to plug-ins and flexible fuel vehicles;
• Grant investment tax incentives for corporate fleets.

Other prominent groups approaching the energy issue from a national security perspective include the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and the Committee on the Present Danger. Both have also strongly endorsed the plug-in hybrid concept.

Hard Realities

In A Blueprint for U.S. Energy Security, which accompanied their letter, Set America Free makes it clear why foreign oil dependence is a matter of national security:

• The United States consumes a quarter of the world’s oil supply while holding a mere 3% of global oil reserves, forcing us to import over 60% of our oil.
• America’s dependency on foreign oil is growing.
• Most of the world’s oil is controlled by countries that are unstable or at odds with the U.S.

Similarly, Oil and Security, a policy paper written by George P. Schultz, former Secretary of State and R. James Woolsey, former CIA Director warns, “A single, well-designed attack on petroleum infrastructure in the Middle East could send oil to well over $100/barrel and devastate the world’s economy.”

Download Oil and Security (pdf)

The Real Cost of Imported Oil

How much are Americans really paying for a gallon of gasoline? The Institute for Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) says, “Our dependency on oil from countries that are either politically unstable or at odds with the U.S. subjects the American economy to occasional supply disruptions, price hikes, and loss of wealth, which, according to a study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, have cost us more than $7 trillion present value dollars over the last 30 years. That is more than the cumulative cost of all of the wars fought by the U.S. since the Revolutionary War.”

Rising Oil Demand from Other Countries

• Today oil supplies about 40% of the world’s energy and 96% of its transportation energy. - IAGS
• "The two countries with the highest rate of growth in oil use are China and India, whose combined populations account for a third of humanity. In the next two decades, China's oil consumption is expected to grow at a rate of 7.5% per year and India’s 5.5%. (Compare to a 1% growth for the industrialized countries).” - IAGS
• Last year China’s oil imports were up 30% from the previous year, making it the world's #2 petroleum user after the United States. The bipartisan, Congressionally-mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission notes that “China’s large and rapidly growing demand for oil is putting pressure on global oil supplies” and that “this pressure is likely to increase in the future, with serious implications for U.S. oil prices and supplies.”
• Using electricity as a transportation fuel would dramatically decrease dependence on imported oil, since less than 2% of U.S. electricity is generated from oil.

One Solution: Flexible Fuel Plug-In Hybrids

A key recommendation of Set America Free, IAGS, and others is to combine plug-in technology with existing flexible fuel technology. "Flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) are designed to burn on alcohol, gasoline, or any mixture of the two. About four million FFVs have been manufactured since 1996. The only difference between a conventional car and a FFV is that the latter is equipped with a different control chip and some different fittings in the fuel line to accommodate the characteristics of alcohol. The marginal additional cost associated with such FFV-associated changes is currently under $100 per vehicle. This cost would be reduced further as volume of FFVs increases, particularly if flexible fuel designs were to become the industry standard ."

- A Blueprint for U.S. Energy Security

If flexible fuel and plug-in hybrid technologies are combined, such vehicles can be powered by blends of alcohol fuels, gasoline, and electricity. "If a plug-in vehicle is also a FFV fueled with 80% alcohol and 20% gasoline, fuel economy could reach 500 miles per gallon of gasoline."

- A Blueprint for U.S. Energy Security

Potential for Dramatic Impact on Oil Imports

"By the year 2025, if all cars on America’s roads are hybrids and half of them are plug-in hybrid vehicles, U.S. oil imports would drop by 8 million barrels per day. Today, the United States imports 10 million barrels/day and it is projected that we will import nearly 20 million barrels/day by 2025. If all of these cars were also flexible fuel vehicles, U.S. oil imports would drop by as much as 12 million barrels/day."

- A Blueprint for U.S. Energy Security

For more on foreign oil dependence as a national security issue, see The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) and How Utilities Can Save America from its Oil Addiction, by IAGS Director Gal Luft.