By Andy Mannle | Tuesday, 20 November 2007
The 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid was awarded the “Green Car of the Year “ award at the LA Auto show, despite the fact that it gets only 21 miles per gallon. So why does it qualify as a ‘green car’ at all? Because its two-mode hybrid system makes it more efficient than a normal gas-guzzling SUV. But critics argue that with fuel prices reaching record highs, and temperatures soaring from global warming, we need to get truly efficient cars on the road in significant numbers if we’re going to make real reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions.
“People don’t think ‘green’ when SUVs are concerned, and for generally good reason since SUVs often get poor fuel economy compared to most other vehicles,” admits Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal which presented the award at the LA Auto Show on Thursday. Nevertheless, Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, and one of the jurors of the competition said “GM promised they would use hybrid technology, and use it where it would make the most difference – on their biggest vehicles.” But Sarah Connolly, Director of Rainforest Action Network’s Freedom from Oil Campaign says, “When we’re capable of 100 miles per gallon, labelling a car that gets 20 miles per gallon as green sells us all short.”
To prove their point, campaign organizers convened in a parking lot across the street from the glitz and glamour of the auto show. With help from the engineers of CalCars.org, they converted a traditional gasoline-electric hybrid into a 100-mpg plug-in hybrid, which they promptly dubbed the “Greenest Car of the Year,” presenting an award to the engineers.
Speaking to the small crowd gathered in the sunny parking lot, Connolly said, “If automakers begin mass-production of plug-in hybrids then we can all drive them and all afford them.”
“We need to stop trying to perfect the technology of the future and put the cars on the road we’re capable of now. We have a short window to stabilize and reduce our global warming emissions. It’ll take 15-20 years to turn over the US fleet [to more efficient models]. We need to start now, with the fuel-efficient technologies we have today.”
Alexandra Paul, who was featured in the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car” told the crowd, “I’ve been an EV driver for 18 years. When I first came to the LA Autoshow in 1991 I saw a 1929 Mercedes with the same mileage as the 1992 model.” She stated that while battery technology has improved 8 fold in the last 10 years, car companies are still saying they need to make improvements. “The Model T got 25 miles per gallon. The average today is 20.2 Automakers say they can’t make more efficient vehicles, but when we passed legislation in the ‘90’s they fought it and won.”
Schwarzenegger Praises Automakers
But these concerns were nowhere evident in the gushing statements Governor Schwarzenegger had for automakers posing with their latest alternative vehicles in front of the TV cameras earlier in the morning.
Saying he hadn’t seen such an impressive array of technology since working on his Terminator movies, the Governor had nothing but fond words for car manufacturers: “This is so extraordinary to see the car manufacturers really developing the technology because they know that we love our environment, and they care very deeply about the world we are leaving to our children and to our grandchildren,” Schwarzenegger said. “Forty percent of California’s greenhouse gasses come from transportation fuels, so imagine what we can accomplish if we improve efficiency, and put more alternatives on the road, whether it is bio-fuels, electric cars, hybrids, or blue-tec cars.”
Declaring that California is “leading the way in clean technology, and in alternative fuel,” the governor spoke about serious commitments to rolling back greenhouse gas emissions to the 1990 level by the year 2020, and a new Low Carbon Fuel Standard for Transportation Fuels. “As a matter of fact, we’re so serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions that we even filed a lawsuit against our own federal govt to make sure that they get the message that we want to go and regulate our own tailpipe emissions for the future.”
“It is fantastic to see so many of the world’s automakers are developing the technology to help us meet our goals here in California. So I want to say ‘Thank You’ to the car manufacturers for their willingness and for the great effort that they’re making. These cars come in every size and shape, and they prove that we can give our consumers the choices that they want, and still protect the environment. This is exactly the kind of innovation that we need.”
Automakers Stuck in the Future
After Schwarzenegger’s warm introduction, the automakers took their turn at the podium. GM offered “a glimpse of the not too distant future” by introducing their new Volt – an electric-powered vehicle with what the company is calling an “onboard range-extending power source,” otherwise known as a gas tank. And while the Volt may eventually offer some competition to the Prius, it will not be available for three years yet.
Honda introduced their new hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity which, “with 68 mpg has approx 3 times the fuel-efficiency of a mid-size gas powered sedan, and about one and a half times the mileage of a hybrid.” This would also seem a likely contender for “Green Car of the Year” except that it won’t be available for lease until next summer, at $600 a month; and of course, “initial customers will be those in the general vicinity of existing hydrogen refueling stations,” wherever those might be.
Dodge talked about allowing customers to “drive what they want to drive, and still make an improvement in fuel efficiency” with a hybrid Durango that can hold 8 people and tow 6000 pounds. But an improvement of 25% over rock-bottom fuel efficiencies will do little to curb emissions. And automakers will have to do better in light of a recent decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting the loophole that allowed SUV’s to be exempt from normal fuel efficieny standards in the first place.
While Toyota talked about working to make newer Priuses operate in full electric mode, “more often, and at higher speeds,” and “aggressively developing battery technology in-house,” their actions are not matching up to their rhetoric. “We will continue to pursue our efforts to advance all possibilities to reduce greenhouse gasses, and emissions impacts of the automobile,” said spokesman Frank Miller.
But rather than roll out a fleet of 100 mile-per-gallon plug-ins, Miller instead conceded defeat, saying, “We can’t do it alone, and that’s why just last week we announced our Clean Mobility Partnership” with the UC system. “The universities will help us to better understand what it takes to take these vehicles into operations rather than just having them on the drawing board,” Miller said.
In other words, instead of putting plugs on even a few of the 250,000 Priuses Toyota will make each year and letting real customers do the R&D for them, they are going to study the problem further. And what pressing problems will these prestigious universities be wrapping their heads around? “UC Berkeley will primarily focus on the customer experience, while UC Irvine will focus on some of the technical challenges, as well as determining the emissions benefits of plug-in technologies,” said Miller.
Activists Decry Automaker Hypocrisy
Sarah Connolly says this is just stalling. “Mass production of plug-in hybrids is not only possible, it is inevitable, but the auto industry needs to stop fighting progress and instead be willing to embrace it. As we’re showing today, plug-in technology is a way forward, but carmakers could make significant and immediate gains in fuel efficiency by using existing technologies to improve conventional gasoline vehicles.”
Nile Malloy, a Freedom from Oil Campaign organizer said, “We want to highlight the hypocrisy of the eco-concept cars being promoted by the auto industry while they are blocking California legislation to reduce emissions standards. How can you tout the ‘Greenest Auto Show’ and be blocking legislation, not only in California, but eleven other states?”
“The crux of the issue is we need to be building cars that people want,” said Malloy. Quoting a survey by JD&Power which found that 67% of Americans would be willing to purchase a more fuel-efficient vehicle, Malloy says, “Two-thirds of Americans are demanding this. But they’re spending billions of dollars on PR, when they could be using that investment to support cleaner vehicles.”
Alexandra Paul agrees: “They’re spending the money they could be spending on clean technology fighting clean air legislation.” Pointing to her Toyota RAV4 she said, “This battery technology is ten years old, and it goes 100 miles on a charge.”
Indeed, the LA Times reports that big automakers will spend up to $50 million dollars to put on the autoshow. Besides paying for booth space, they run up bills for “carpeting, electricity, transport, on-site product specialists, accommodations, advertising and public relations,” many spending an entire year “creating a ‘story’ that they hope to convey.” Meanwhile GM just reported their largest quarterly losses ever, and Ford CEO Mullaly announced last year that 16 plants are slated to be closed, 30,000 workers could lose their jobs, and company doesn’t expect to be profitable until 2009.
Saying that UAW jobs are at the mercy of the bad decisions of the automakers, Malloy adds, “We need union-made green jobs that will challenge climate change and protect economic security.” Nell Greenberger, of Global Exchange which was a partnering sponsor of the event, said that despite all the green-hype, “the same interests who fought against air-bags and seat belts are fighting against fuel-efficiency.”
As they have been for several years now, automakers are in the schizophrenic position of both promoting greener cars, yet fighting against fuel efficiency. But with oil nearing $100 a barrel, energy security increasingly becoming a national priority, and global climate change an unescapable political reality, the great American love affair with cars is getting a harsh reality check. And that leaves Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, software engineers, electric car enthusiasts, environmentalists and CEO’s all scrambling to put a vehicle on the road that people can drive - but also feel good about.
In order to do that they will surely have to develop a car with better mileage than a Model – T. And chances are good that the Green Car of the Year for 2009 will come with a plug.
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