Earthanet

Green is the word at this year’s auto shows as the car manufacturers slowly admit that oil is now over $100 a barrel and the public is more interested in fuel economy than gewgaws and brute force. I attended the Chicago Auto Show on February 16, 2008, where at least 30 out of the more than 40 exhibitors featured at least one alternative fuel vehicle as part of their display. (Hummer wasn’t one of them, in case you were wondering.)

That’s the good news. The bad news is, I saw very little commitment to alternative fuel beyond concept vehicles and marketing hype (lots of the latter). Everybody knows that Green Sells. What they haven’t figured out is how to make cars that sip gas, don’t release tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, and are affordable the average consumer.

To be fair, only part of this is due to the big auto companies resisting new technology for as long as possible so they don’t have to go through expensive retooling that will eat into their quarterly profits and make their shareholders unhappy. The other half of the transportation conundrum is that even the most cutting-edge technologies we have right now are at best interim. By interim, I mean they’ll triage the damage we’re doing to the environment while we get our act together and come up with an energy source that will work long term (along with conservation measures like mass transit, ride sharing, and better community planning).

What will that long-term energy source be? I didn’t see it at the auto show. But I did see a few good interim technologies from companies that are actually taking risks and releasing alternative fuel vehicles as (gasp!) production models. Look below the fold to see who the good guys are (and aren’t).

Honda has proven itself the most willing to take risks this year with production models. Check out the Civic GX, which runs on compressed natural gas (CNG).

Advantages of CNG: named by EPA as the cleanest burning internal combustion engine in the world by the EPA (particulates very low, CO2 emissions 25% less than gasoline engines); performance similar to the gas Civic; fuel cost half of gasoline; equivalent mpg 39 highway, 28 city (natural gas isn’t measured in mpg so a conversion formula is used); range on one tank is 280 miles; and you can fill it up at home if you’re hooked up to the natural gas pipeline with the Phill refueling device.

Disadvantages: currently only available in California and New York; refueling stations available because CNG has been used for years in commercial fleets but still not as common as gasoline; and a complete switch to CNG would stress our natural gas supply to the breaking point.

Honda deserves even more kudos for developing the FCX Clarity (which was not displayed in Chicago)–a production model hydrogen fuel cell vehicle with an optional home refueling station similar to the Phill that hooks up to your natural gas line. Advantages: zero emissions. Disadvantages: only available in California, and the above-mentioned problems with a complete switch to natural gas for our transportation needs. But there are other ways to make hydrogen.

Honda also has the Civic gas-electric hybrid to compete with the Prius. It’s a sharp-looking car that starts at $22,600.

Toyota of course has led the charge toward greener cars, and they’re proud of it–their auto show display made alternative fuel vehicles their centerpiece, complete with a revolving LED display above the floor that flashed out “ten ways to save the earth.” They’ve been making the gas-electric hybrid Prius and Camry long enough to get the technology right, along with the hybrid SUV Highlander which manages to wheeze out 28mpg on the highway. Toyota is exploring a plug-in electric/gas hybrid Prius as a concept model (supposedly available in 2010), along with a very cool hybrid electric/hydrogen fuel cell concept car, the FCHV.

I’m sorry to say that U.S. manufacturers are so far behind Japan. Ford is the best of a sorry bunch–the Escape gas-electric hybrid has been tweaked to raise highway mileage to 34mpg from 31mpg in the 2007 model.

GM is, well, GM. They’ve implemented a two-mode hybrid system (a large-scale version of the Prius) in the 2009 Sierra full size pickup that boosts the gas mileage of this behemoth 25% above the 18mpg in the gas version. (Sorry, no EPA figures–because of its high gross vehicle weight, EPA doesn’t even test it. Go figure.)

The same two-stage hybrid system will be available in 2009 in the Tahoe and the Cadillac Escalade. It’s interesting that GM has focused exclusively on their truck lineup for implementing true hybrid technology, but maybe not so strange when you consider the profit margin on large vehicles with all the bells and whistles known to man.

The biggest disappointment of the show was GM’s “mild hybrid” lineup. I was excited to learn that the Chevy Malibu is available in a gas-electric hybrid production model, and that GM has reopened a previously shuttered plant in Lake Orion, Michigan, to handle the demand.

Saturn offers the same technology in its Vue and Aura models. Unfortunately, these three vehicles are “mild hybrids,” meaning that the electric motor doesn’t power the drivetrain–it only keeps the system running when the gas engine powers off while the vehicle is stopped, and restarts it when the brakes are released. The gain in gas mileage is only 10 to 15% at best. I know we burn up a lot of gas and release a lot of CO2 while we’re stopped in traffic, but is this worth paying the extra $2,400 that these cars cost?

Give a smidgen of credit to Dodge for buying a share of Gem and putting this all-electric vehicle into a production model.
This turned out to be the only production plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) at the show. It goes a maximum of 25mph, with a range of 30 miles maximum, and plugs into a 110-volt electric outlet. It comes in a four-seater model, as well as the flatbed pickup model shown above.

European manufacturers have focused almost exclusively on diesel technology, touting it as “clean diesel,” or more realistically, “cleaner diesel.” Mercedes has been building diesel passenger cars longer than anybody, and their E320 is a nice example.

I climbed on up on the platform, found the door unlocked, got in, and sat in it for at least a minute before the Mercedes guy (who was watching the whole time) said, “Ma’am, you can’t sit in there.” Everything about a Benz feels high-end–the ergonomics, the layout, the visual appearance. And of course the price tag.

I have mixed feelings about diesel as an interim technology. The particulate emissions are pretty well under control, but there’s no getting around the fact that diesel gives off about 9% more CO2 than gasoline. But, considering that Europen diesel technology like the Volkswagen Jetta TDI is 58% more fuel efficient, the net carbon output is far less than gas. The Jetta TDI gets 50mpg on the highway, compared to 29mpg for the gas model. Jetta CO2 emissions are still higher than the 45mpg Prius, particularly in city driving, where diesel cars are dogs. Diesel is a great interim technology because of the fuel efficiency, but we should have been there five years ago, and with diesel fuel currently at $3.99 a gallon in the U.S., I don’t think we’re going to get there anytime soon.

Finally, I’d like to introduce one of the oldest electric cars in the world.

This 1903-1906 vintage Columbia Electric was on display along with 12 other early 1900s models from the Gilmore Car Museum near Kalamazoo, Michigan. If fate had taken a slightly different twist, gasoline would never have become our primary transportation fuel, and we wouldn’t still be stumbling around like drunken sailors looking for a ride back to the ship.