Companies from different sectors are striving to improve plug in electric hybrid cars.

Ford intends to convert their Escape Hybrid into a PHEV.

Excitement over plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) is spawning partnerships with companies from many different sectors outside the automotive industry. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) announced a partnership July 10 with Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX). The companies will make a collaborative effort to improve the value of the cars’ batteries through an evaluation and demonstration project. The technology behind PHEVs is still new and costly so Ford and Southern California Edison are looking to add value by allowing PHEV owners to charge their batteries when electricity costs are lowest, late at night. The companies speculate that the batteries could also serve as temporary storage for energy from renewable home-based power sources such as wind or solar that can be used later by the grid or the homeowner. Edison‘s Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona, Calif., will participate in the battery research.

Last month Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) philanthropic arm and Pacific Gas and Electric (NYSE: PCG) demonstrated the two-way transfer of electricity between a plug-in hybrid and Google’s solar power installation. General Motors (NYSE: GM) is also seeking to add PHEVs to its line of cars in partnership with Massachusetts-based A123 Systems, a maker of rechargeable lithium ion auto batteries. GM expects to begin mass producing the Saturn Vue with plug-in technology in 2009.

The furor surrounding the cars and their potentially multi-purpose batteries has been fueled by President Bush’s executive order mandating all federal agencies buy PHEVs when they become available [see “Automakers plug electric cars,” SI, March 2007].