Truck, SUV could go ultra-green

A suite of offices on the second floor of a suburban office building might seem like an unlikely place for the answer to America's automotive woes.

Not only are there no cars on the showroom floor, there's no showroom.

But if what they've developed at Raser Technologies Inc., a 6-year-old energy development company headquartered in the Provo river bottoms, proves as effective as advertised, the Utah firm could soon take its place in automotive history.

The company has come up with an electric motor powerful enough for trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Talk about reigniting the American dream.

For three-plus years, Raser's engineers, scientists and technicians have worked on the project.

At the Society of Automotive Engineers convention in Detroit next week, they will unveil what they have wrought: a lightweight battery-powered electric motor coupled with a small four-cylinder gasoline engine that regenerates the batteries.

The electric motor is powerful enough for heavy SUVs and trucks and has a 40-mile range all on its own. After that the gas engine, acting as generator, kicks in and boosts the electric motor's range to 400 miles. At which point you're back to gas-only.

Your miles per gallon go progressively down the farther you travel between charges.

If you travel 40 miles or less, you use no gas. If you travel 50 miles, Raser estimates your fuel efficiency at 185 mpg. At 60 miles, it drops to approximately 100 mpg. At 200 miles it would be around 30 mpg.

For the 75 percent of Americans who travel less than 40 miles a day, it means you can drive that big ol' truck or SUV and use absolutely no fossil fuel.

Call it the end of gas-guzzlers.

You can recharge the battery overnight — a total recharge takes about eight hours when plugged into a regular 110-volt outlet and about half that in a 220 outlet.

David West, vice president of marketing at Raser, sees good news all around for American drivers and American automakers.

"Trucks and SUVs are the best-selling vehicles in America," he says. "Plus, they have a lot of room for batteries and they are the most profitable vehicles for Detroit to make."

The electric motor, he says, will make them "cleaner, more efficient, more powerful, and they'll use mostly American fuel."