Kleiner Perkins hints at plug-in car launch this week and they have said it “it is not an electric vehicle” and then said “do not think batteries”. My guess? It IS an electric car but it doesn’t use batteries. I mean what other kind of propulsion system would the car run on? It’s really annoying but modern vernacular confuses automotive propulsion with energy storage with regularity. For instance, a “hydrogen fuel cell” car IS an electric car … it just uses H2 as is energy storage and a fuel cell to convert it to electricity.

My guess is that this car in fact does use a fuel cell technology — possibly hydrogen fuel cell — and the real breakthrough is that they’ve come up with a more efficient way of using on-board electrolysis to make hydrogen gas (or whatever gas the fuel cell consumes). If that is true and the economics of this storage system compete with battery technology that could have a huge impact on the automotive field.

What if a car were faster, bigger, more fuel efficient, and cost less (notice I didn’t add sexy). Sound too good to be true? Well that’s what preliminary estimates are looking like from the Prius camp for their new 2009 edition. If this pans out to be true — and let’s not delude ourselves, it might not be — it would appear to be a strong signal that the internal combustion engine (ICE) is going to die sooner than most people think. When the Prius opened up the hybrid market nearly 10 years ago it did so because electrics were “good enough” to be price competitive for upper-middle class families. Now that the market has been established the much higher potential of electric engines to find new efficiencies as compared to the ICE marketplace means that this proven market will get more and more attractive. When this economic reality hits it will trigger more aggressive competition from manufacturers (leading to even more accelerated innovation and more competitive pricing) and at the same time drive up customer demand.

While it has been easy to see that this transition should take place for several years, the realisation of it is still of a huge import. If the Prius really does introduce this car — where all changes are moving to the positive — expect to see a lot of Prius’s sold in 2009. For me, I’ll wait until they make it look sexier. Fuck the planet. Just kidding (about the planet, not the car).

For more info on the car, read this article: Exposed: 2009 Toyota Prius.