I know, I'm on a plug-in hybrid kick

But thinking about it (dangerous, I know), I realized a few things that will have to change about the way that we maintain cars once we start using plug-in electric hybrid cars:

1. Engine oil: Think about a car whose engine runs the equivalent of say, 2000 miles a year. For the extremely stingy, think about an engine that runs less than 10 miles a year, 5 years in a row. Now, that happens rarely but in normal cars, but for a plug-in hybrid, that will be the norm, not the exception. How does that affect the oil used in the car? The oil change intervals for vehicles will become radically different. No longer determined by mileage, will these cars have an "hours" meter for their cars? Will we have to change oil after a certain # of hours instead of miles? Will we have to change our oil every year? Will there be a special oil developed that allows us to only change our oil once every 5 years, or perhaps during the life of the vehicle?

2. Longevity: The automobile today has a lifetime measured by mileage. The average car is expected to last around 200,000 miles - almost entirely determined by engine failure. How does this change when the engine barely ever runs? The chassis could theoretically last 400,000 or more miles depending on the environment and driving habits.

3. Residual value: How will the evaluation of our car's retail value change? Will the "Kelly Blue Book" make an accommodation for plug-in electric hybrids which takes into account the number of hours on the ice, the # of miles on the chassis, and the age of the battery?

4. Battery lifetime: This one is straightforward. If you do not have to replace the engine for decades, then would you have to replace the battery pack every 5 years? 10 years? Is this something that you can do at home yourself? If not, why not??

5. Gasoline: The normal car today never holds the same gas in the tank for more than 30 days or so (just an estimate.) What about the plug-in hybrid electric that may never go through a tank of gas in 2 or 3 years? Will gas have additives that prolong its potency, or will we have to start adding sta-bil to all of our gas tanks?

6. Emissions Testing: The theory of emissions testing is that we only allow cars on the road that contribute some maximum amount of pollution to the atmosphere. But what happens when a car may not emit any pollutants at all? Will drivers receive a credit? Will standards for emissions be lowered because the engines only run part of the time? Let's say that today's emission standards for are for cars that use the engine 100% of the time during driving. Can we reduce the cost and complexity of a hybrid's engine so that it can be allowed to emit slightly more pollutants because it only runs 25% of the time, 10% of the time, or possible even never?

just thinking....