Dr. Andy Frank, Ron Gremban and Felix Kramer- calcars.org photoDr. Andy Frank, "father of the plug-in hybrid," now drives a Chevy Volt from a Davis , California Chevy dealership, in a milestone after years of engineering, experimentation and advocacy.
Dr. Frank has been experimenting with various advanced vehicle technologies for the last 25 years with teams of students at UC Davis, where he is a Professor of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering.
The next day Ron Gremban and Felix Kramer picked up their Volts at Novato Chevrolet.
Ron is the CalCars Technology Lead, who first drove an electric car in the 1968 Caltech-MIT cross-country race and led the 2004 open-source PRIUS+ Project, converting hybrids so they could plug in. Felix is the founder of CalCars, and the three men have been important influences on bringing Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles to the mainstream.
The Novato event was covered by the Marin Independent Journal.
Felix spoke at Plug-In 2010. A transcript of his perspectives on the development of PHEV can be read here.
See the Professor Plug-in music video a fun way to see some PHEV modern history.
As published by Larry Holser at Examiner.com
