Professor Andrew A. Frank (“Andy”) at UC Davis uses plug-In hybrid electric and electric vehicles (PHEV, EV) to help solve the transportation, energy and climate challenges occurring now and in the near future. Use of PHEVs and EVs will allow fossil fuels to be replaced with renewable electric energy from solar, wind, and hydro, and a little liquid biofuel.

During more than 30 years of research, Andy and his students have engineered many plug-In hybrid electric vehicle prototypes and showed they could be efficiently powered using 90% renewable electricity from wind, solar, water and other sources and 10% renewable biofuel from plants and human generated wastes for ZERO CO2 greenhouse gas pollution.

Andy is also cofounder and Chief Technical Officer of Efficient Drivetrains Inc. (EDI) where they are working to commercialize his current research and University-owned patents to produce clean, green cars, trucks and buses for the future.

EDI is working on advanced PHEV and EV designs that will be simpler to produce and more economical to purchase than the first generation PHEV and EV designs that are available today. His innovative designs are being explored by companies throughout the world with joint projects at the EDI offices located in Dixon, California and WuXi, China.

Our existing energy distribution infrastructure (electric grid and liquid fuel pipelines, refineries and distribution systems) can be easily modernized and adapted to provide renewable electricity and biofuels for PHEVs and EVs, so these vehicles can be quickly and economically used for transportation and integrated into in all sectors of our society including housing and commerce.

EDI is working on some of these aspects as PHEV and EV technologies are introduced to companies and communities world-wide. One of the goals of EDI is to use the publically and privately owned PHEV’s and EV’s to enhance the existing electrical distribution by using standard 110 Volt 15 amp circuits (Level 1) as well as to allow the present electric generation and distribution grid to introduce both locally and centrally generated renewable electric energy.

The vision is to enhance the Grid Business Model as new local and distributed renewable energy is introduced rather than try to replace the grid with millions of privately owned entities.  The objective is to preserve the well-established institutions and enhance their business for a more efficient and productive society.

In addition, Andy is proposing that rather than trying to undo the Fossil Energy (material) businesses throughout the world, we should be encouraging them to enhance their businesses by using their oil, natural gas and coal for the production of more valuable “forever recyclable materials” to replace the use of wood and other products from plants that we currently use for our society so that we can begin to restore our environment with newly planted forests and ocean biology projects.

Andy Frank charging his PHEV at home.
Andy Frank charging his PHEV at home.

We have to preserve the only planet we have today for our grandchildren using the currently available mass production systems that we have so carefully invested in over the last century!

In addition to engineering the vehicles, Andy has been a tireless speaker throughout the years encouraging public, industry and government audiences to rapidly adopt using electricity to power vehicles. Society needs to eliminate fossil materials as fuel use before greenhouse gas pollution causes irreversible climate change.

Andy’s vision is to get PHEVs and EVs into mass production as soon as possible so that the general public and commercial enterprises can utilize the vehicle’s energy storage properties and increased performance to allow world-wide industries to see a near term future for their bottom line ”Profit!”

This will result in enhanced prosperity and productivity while transitioning to a green, renewable, and sustainable energy future and allow us to adjust social group distributions for a balanced economic system so that we can increase comfort and wealth for everyone.

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