http://blog.maxdunn.com/articles/2008/07/22/why-phev-engines-always-turn-on en-us 40 Max Dunn's Personal Blog <p>One downside to current plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) is that the gas motor always turns on when first starting out. At the <a href="http://www.maxdunn.com/Conference-Plug-in-2008">Plug-in 2008 conference</a> I asked Elizabeth from <a href="http://www.a123systems.com/hymotion"><span class="caps">A123</span>/Hymotion</a> why this was and she said that the engine needed to turn on for about 57 seconds when first starting out to warm up the catalytic converter, otherwise the car wouldn&#8217;t pass smog tests. It is too bad that on short trips the gas engine still needs to turn on, but at less than a minute this shouldn&#8217;t waste too much gas.</p> Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:40:00 -0700 urn:uuid:ce12fd31-2d18-497d-a4dc-179837d51ba1 Max Dunn http://blog.maxdunn.com/articles/2008/07/22/why-phev-engines-always-turn-on Electric Vehicles