So what is an electric or plug-in hybrid drivers when they need to do a load and are away from home? Plug-ins are expected to reach up to 60 miles on a charge (for a great commute, but not for a longer trip), and although it apparently was the Tesla 241 miles on a charge in a recent manifestation of European road, his life and stop-go efficiency and less likely that drivers need to be “boxes” far from home.

Some forward-thinking large companies have installed electrical outlets available to employees for parking, but most plug-in hybrid and electric car drivers are looking for help beyond the scope of their commute. In the U.S., several cities in California and Seattle, Chicago, Phoenix and others are now building the refueling infrastructure. Paris, where Toyota is testing plug-in hybrids, which are over 80 refueling stations throughout the city and suburbs. Across the Channel, London is working with the nonprofit Environmental Defense to install more than 40 electric recharging stations in the city.

According to the California Cars Initiative (CalCars), who promotes plug-in hybrids, Americans recharge their plug-ins through a 120V outlet should expect to pay about $ 1 per gallon equivalent. “Using the average U.S. electricity from nine cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), 30 miles of electric driving will cost 81 cents,” says the group. “If we optimistically assume the average fuel economy of U.S. is 25 miles per gallon, gasoline at $ 3.00 this is equivalent to 75 cents per gallon equivalent for electricity.”

For its part, Toyota has already released hundreds of plug-in Prius in the U.S. the university’s fleet and commercial customers. The company will monitor the vehicles’ performance and use of data to modify the design for a consumer version sometime after 2010. Pricing on vehicles that get 65 miles per gallon or more in the combined gas / electric mode and can run on electricity alone, is still undecided. But the car is likely to command a premium of several thousand dollars plus the cost of a hybrid Prius. The fact that this feature could obviate the need for gasoline entirely, except for long trips outside the facility charge, can do that is worth the upfront costs of some buyers.

Those unwilling to wait for a mass market plug-in may have its Prius or Ford Escape hybrid converted result from any number of “spare parts” companies at a cost of $ 6000 or more. Cal Cars offers a comprehensive list of vendors throughout the U.S. and elsewhere can do the conversions, and also offers its own instructions for hybrid owners experienced engineers who can do it themselves.