Top DOE official drives a plug-in Toyota Prius - Drive On | USATODAY

Top DOE official drives a plug-in Toyota Prius

12:38 PM

David Sandalow, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for policy and international affairs, practices what he preaches when it comes to alternative-energy vehicles.

Sandalow drives a Toyota Prius converted to a plug-in electric for his 5-mile commute to work every day. He recharges at night in the carport of his Washington home, the Associated Press reports.

Sandalow's Prius was converted two years ago to allow him to recharge the battery from an electric outlet. He can drive up to 30 miles on a single charge, only has to fill the gas tank about twice a month, and he figures he gets about 80 miles a gallon. Including the six-hour electric plug-in a day, it works out to about 75 cents per gallon of gas. His aftermarket conversion cost about $9,000, on top of the price of the Prius.

His thinking, of course, is in line with the administration's policy. President Obama wants to bring 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to U.S. highways by 2015. But it won't be easy, and it could be expensive. No one knows better than Sandalow:

Sandalow wrote the 2007 book Freedom From Oil, and he thinks that hybrids and plug-ins are the quickest way for the country to lessen its dependence on foreign oil.

"My children are teenagers. They can scarcely imagine growing up in a world without personal computers, cellphones or GPS devices," Sandalow was quoted by the AP as saying. "I predict that someday one of my children will have one of their children look at them and say, 'You mean you couldn't plug in cars when you were young? That's so weird.' "

Posted via email from New Economic Papers