Plug-in hybrid car would run on venture capital

With oil prices hitting new highs, venture capitalists are considering a kind of car you can plug into your home power outlet at night. And one person they’ll be hearing from soon is Palo Alto’s Felix Kramer.

The Toyota Prius and its ilk are in high demand — with engines that run on gas and electricity.

But with a plug-in, you can do away with gasoline almost entirely. You can get a car that charges overnight so you drive it 10 miles each way to work on batteries alone. And if you need to drive it more, you can rely on a cleaner fuel blend, say, 80 percent ethanol — made from corn or sugar — and 20 percent gasoline.

With the U.S. Senate’s move last week to add new tax credits for gas-electric hybrid cars in its version of national energy legislation, the plug-in car may get new impetus.

By Matt Marshall

Knight Ridder Newspapers

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