In a country that uses approximately 12,600 billion gallons of oil, electric vehicles could prove to be the solution to our dependence on foreign oil

On Friday Bob DeVault, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher, spoke about "Plug-In Hybrid and Electrical Vehicles in 2010" at the UT Science Forum. DeVault, who earned his Bachelor and Masters of Science in engineering sciences from UT, started working at ORNL in 1977.

"We [The United States] use more oil on a per capita basis than anyone in the world," DeVault said. On average, each American consumes 958 gallons of petroleum in a year.

DeVault went on to say that in 2006, the United States consumed 24 percent of the world's oil, despite the fact that the country only makes up 5 percent of the world population.

Plug-in electrical vehicles have the potential to end the need for imported oil because they do not directly use petroleum.

Plug-in electrical vehicles have the potential to end the need for imported oil because they do not directly use petroleum. Bob Devault, ORNL researcher

Batteries are more reliable than gasoline engines, according to DeVault. A plug-in hybrid could get 100 miles per gallon depending on driving characteristics, distance between charging, the speed at which the car travels and the engine-battery configuration.

DeVault recommends charging an electric car battery at night and before the battery charge gets too low. "Depleting the charge over and over again decreases the battery life," DeVault said.

As part of an almost $200 million Department of Energy initiative the lithium ion battery-powered Nissan LEAF will hit the roads in five states - Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington. The electric car infrastructure, which includes charging stations, will help the D.O.E. test and observe the Nissan LEAF in a real-time setting.

In December 2010, the Nissan LEAF, "a medium-sized hatchback that seats five adults with a range of 100 miles," will be released to the market.