Google's new quest for plug-in hybrids

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Mountain View-based tech giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), announced in September 2007 its intention to invest $10 million in technologies related to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) over the next year.

In an unusual approach to technology development financing, Google.org issued a request for proposals (RFP) from companies with related technologies, and says it intends to invest between $500,000 and $2 million in each of the companies it selects. The company goal for the fund is to accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids by investing in technologies that reduce their cost and make the vehicles more consumer-friendly, according to a company spokesman.

Google.org, itself a hybrid between a venture fund and a nonprofit [see “Google searches for social returns,” SI, November 2006], will take an equity stake in the PHEV-related companies in which it invests. The RFP comes just a few months after Google unveiled a successful pilot program with PG&E (NYSE: PCG), which pairs solar power with plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles to realize energy and cost savings [see “Google plugs V2G technology,” SI, August 2007].