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The Obama administration probably can make good on its heavily publicized campaign goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. But automobile companies aren't likely to turn a profit on the rechargeable vehicles in the process.


That's the opinion of electric vehicle and battery experts who spoke on Wednesday during a panel discussion at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit.


Bill Visnic reports at Edmunds' Auto Observer that "none of the panelists would directly say the first electrified models or battery contracts will be profitable, but they did mostly agree the president's mandate for 1 million plug-in hybrids by 2015 could happen."


Panelists were pretty much in agreement that manufacturers will struggle to turn a profit from the next-generation of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles (including General Motors Corp.'s heavily promoted Chevrolet Volt), the rpeort says.


That prediction also holds for developers and manufacturers of the more-expensive lithium-ion batteries that will be needed to make the next generation of green vehicles possible.


Visnic notes that Minoru Shinohara, senior vice president of Nissan Motor Co., "expressed a hope that making money on early electrified vehicles might be possible."
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Tags: General Motors, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric, Electric Car Batteries, Electric Car Manufacturers, Electric Cars, General Motors Corp, Lithium Ion Batteries, Plug In Hybrid, Volt Battery Pack

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One Million PHEVs by 2015 Is Possible, But Probably Not Profitable was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.