Forty miles without a single drop of gasoline. That’s been the pitch for Chevrolet’s Volt since it was just a concept. And it’s a claim that GM has been hammering hard on in promotional materials, advertisements and to the media. But it seems that the claim deserves an asterisk. Green Fuel Forecast‘s Sam Abuelsamid recently spoke with folks from GM’s Voltec battery development team. In the discussion of the Volt’s thermal management system, an inconvenient truth raises its misshapen head. “If you’re not plugged in and the battery is not conditioned and we’ve got to deal with the elements, right now we’re thinking 0-10°C we won’t use the battery. The more we can use it the better but we’ve got that area of refinement we’ll have to do as we get more of the engines, more of the vehicles, more of the batteries and tune it all up,” GM director of hybrid energy storage systems, Denise Gray tells GFF.
Category: Green
Three-hundred dollars Canadian is not a lot of money for a car that functions. But it buys you—well, the Canadian government—a lot of greenwashing. OK, some. “Retire Your Ride” pays the three bills for any currently registered Canadian car produced before 1996, “the year the government introduced more stringent emissions standards.” Canadian Driver dutifully reports, “These pre-1996 models produce about 19 times more air pollutants than newer cars and trucks.” Wow! Nineteen times! The Clean Air Foundation is in charge of sending any one of five million-ish eligible cars to the crusher, in exchange for CA$300 or discounts on public transit passes, bicycles or memberships in car sharing companies. As my father said to me on many memorable (if imminently lamentable) occasions, “How much is this boondoggle going to cost me?” This one, me, nothing. Canadian taxpayers, CA$92m. Canadian Driver saves the withering analysis for the end of their article, but it’s worth the wait…
Now that President Barack Obama has decided to let California raise America’s fleet-wide fuel economy regs to something like a 42mpg average, the automakers are howling with righteous idignation. Not. How could they? Not only would that be impolite to the incoming adminstration, environmentalists, the Democratic party and mother Earth, but GM and Chrysler are now more-or-less owned by the same federal government that just told CA to go for it. The New York Times dusted off ye olde “greedy American automakers are dragging their heels over higher mpg vehicles” template, but really, their heart just isn’t in it. But you’ve gotta give the Gray Lady credit for digging up a least one hysterical Neanderthal. Yes, it’s our old pal David E. Cole, whose Center for Automotive Research (CAR, geddit?) created the widely-quoted and entirely specious study that justified the Motown bailout buffet in the first place (if they go down, 42b workers will hit the soup lines). You can guess what David said, but it’s still fun to read. And wait ’til you don’t hear what Detroit doesn’t say…
For this section of the trip to make any sense, I must tell you a story, an important story allowing you a view into one of the Air Force’s most hallowed legends. The story of a bourbon whiskey called Jeremiah Weed, a fighter pilot, a young lieutenant, and how it all involves a Porsche Cayenne and a pursuit for hypermileage….
AutoNation’s Mike Jackson at World Congress
And yes, we’re talking about the CEO of Autonation, not the one-glove guy. Jackson’s keynote adress to “fellow survivers of 2008” at the Automotive News [sub] World Congress was TTAC-ish enough to be dubbed a “truth-serum” speech by AN’s David Sedgwick. Accompanied by the Laurel and Hardy influenced powerpoint presentation above, Jackson breaks down the great downturn of 2008 with wit and insight. He blames captive lenders like the “General Motors Rejection Corp,” and states that for 95 percent of the market, the price of gas determines the kind of vehicle they want. Check out the changes in captive lender approvals and the $10k swing in Prius residuals over the last year for some compelling evidence that he’s right. Listen to the whole speech below for a concise overview of the year that turned an industry on its head.
When Ford unloaded Land Rover on India’s Tata Motors, commentators didn’t see a whole lot of future for the brand. Sure, Landies are known worldwide for bearing the white man’s burden in places where he was eventually kicked-out and replaced by ruthless, genocidal despots. But the western world’s new-found fascination with automotive CO2 levels (of all things) didn’t bode well for Britain’s stilt-borne barges. Even before the transfer, Land Rover has been busy appeasing [both] 4X4-loving tree huggers by hanging-out the greenwashing– paying for carbon credits, stocking the cafeteria with organic cauliflower cheese, that sort of thing. Under its new masters, the planet-friendly spin continues. A press release this morning reveals that Landie’s Gaydon training facility has been converted to Eden Project II.
If we’re going to start looking at the discrepancy between what our politicians say and actually do, we could be here a while. Still, props to Autobloggreen (ABG) for pointing out that the diesel-powered Cadillac-shaped tank from which our lastest President will view the rabble is probably not California-compliant. In particular, particulates. “It’s been reported that the limo uses a 6.5L diesel V8 which got me thinking about whether it might be a Tier 2 Bin 5 compliant clean diesel. I contacted Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell who gave me the following response, “We’re just not permitted to discuss that at all — and in fact I don’t even know the engine aspects of the car. So it’s not the case that I’m just choosing not to tell you — I don’t know and would not be permitted to know.” In fact, if they told him, they’d have to kill him. And if we told you, well, didn’t Robert Redford star in a movie about that? ABG has to go that one step further, pointing out that the limo probably runs on military-grade diesel. This from Mr. Ethanol. Who’d a thunk it?
Here’s an Insight: Honda has publicly declared its intention to rebrand itself as the environmentally-friendly/responsible car company. I guess the power of dreams is the power to save the world. For some reason, despite its participation in the now-theoretical gas-guzzling segment of the market, good old reliable Toyota also has designs on that mindspace. As part of the Japanese automaker’s ongoing campaign to cloak itself in the mantle of not so mean mean green, Toyota’s relaunched it’s Why Not? website. It’s a virtual world without a single man-made sound (except the digital bird noises), where clickable bits of paper provide ideas for improving your carbon footprint, eliminating waste and generally protecting the world’s resources for our children (it’s always about the children). Although the idea’s authors names are withheld, you too can submit your planet-saving ideas to the site. So no public recognition, BUT your entry could win you a week-long trip for a VIP tour of Toyota’s plant in Kentucky and a chin wag with unspecified “top innovators” in New York City. No disrespect to the KY’s ToMoCo workers (who may or may not be working at the time of the trip), but a week seems a bit… much. Me, I’m thinking Hoover Dam and the straight to Vegas baby. Anyway, why not submit your Why Not? ideas here as well?
I love internal combustion. The sound of my Accord is Salieri to the Boxster’s Mozart, while the distinctive putt-putt of the VW [Real] Beetle is like some endearing melody from childhood, or maybe the rap version of Eensy Beensy Spider (yes, there is such a thing). The ICE is probably the most refined machine on the planet. In contrast, electric drive has all the elegance and soul of a washing machine. Nonetheless, I think global heating threatens civilization, and so I drive with guilt. In so far vain attempts to assuage that guilt, I skim anything dealing with capturing and sequestering carbon, in the so far vain hope that in this version of the Iliad, Achilles won’t die, and I’ve attended talks on the subject at places like MIT. I’ve even concocted wild schemes for personal absolution like cutting my trees and burying them in the peat under my backyard, and growing new trees. Nothing helps. And forget spewing particulates into the atmosphere, because even if that mitigated global heating without bringing on a new ice age–fat chance that we’d get it just right–it would do nothing about ocean acidification from CO2, something that will likely kill off most of our seafood. But now comes a little ray of hope from the 10 January issue of New Scientist.
America is not the only country whose government is Hell bent on supporting an auto industry past its prime. Take Germany. Bitte. Last autumn, the German government announced it would suspend registration taxes on cars to support new-car sales. The moved shaved between $200 (for small cars) and $2000 (for more prolific carbon belchers) from the price of admission. Net result, sales-wise? Nichts. Never mind. Yesterday, Germany’s government felt inspired by the French example to introduce incentives for motorists to scrap their older cars. Now, any owner of a nine-year-old or older German ow-tow-mobile car can collect around $3,000 (€2,500) if he or she junks his or her car and buys a new, hopefully more fuel efficient model. Hmmm. Corporations account for over 50 percent of Germany’s new cars sales. Looking at the other half, few motorists who drive a genuine clunker can afford a new car, with or without incentives. And those who can usually purchase a cheap, non-German car. In light of these inconvenient Aufrichtigkeits, PricewaterhouseCooper’s estimates that the scrapping incentive will add 300k sales to the moribund annual total sounds like a load of baloney. If so, all that remains is greenwashery (“at least we got some of those clunkers off the road”) and expensive government activism. Look for an American version in the next Congressional bailout budget.
GM’s VP For R&D Larry Burns has a new post up at Fastlane, calling for a “partnership between the U.S. government, auto manufacturers and suppliers, the energy and infrastructure industries, and other key stakeholders focused on transforming the automobile.” After all, as Burns says “we all seem to be coming to the conclusion that the automobile as we know it — powered by a combustion engine — must eventually go the way of the horse and buggy. It is simply not sustainable.” And so Burns humbly offers GM’s solution: The Cadillac Converj, A concept car that is powered by electricity. Unless it wants to go more than 40 miles, in which case it’s back to the ol’ ICE. But luckily “significant challenges” are actually a good thing when you are going for government handouts and not the Standard Of The World.
There’s a piece in the Sunday NY Times automotive section (we get it a day early) about a New York congressman, Eric Massa, who drove a Chevy Equinox fuel-cell vehicle from Corning, New York (his hometown) to DC as a demonstration of personal greenness, forward thinking and the potential of hydrogen-fueled vehicles. How is that possible; it’s 280 miles form Corning to DC and there are no hydrogen stations en route? Turns out greenmeister Massa actually drove two Equinoxes. One he drove from Corning to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he changed horses to the fully fueled second Equinox. How is that possible, since you’d think a fuel-cell Equinox would use a certain amount of hydrogen just getting to Harrisburg? Well, it turns out GM towed the Harrisburg Equinox– and also the Corning Equinox, which had to arrive there fully fueled– with a pair of hybrid Tahoes. So Massa actually used four cars and a fair amount of fuel, and produced a goodly amount of CO2, to get to Washington while “burning no fuel and producing zero emissions.”
Or not, we might add. As usual, the latest chapter in the Volt saga is both convoluted and taxpayer-funded. Automotive News [sub] reports that “A123Systems, the battery supplier for the upcoming Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle, will make lithium ion batteries for automotive use at a Michigan plant if it receives federal (136) loans, the supplier said today.” The plant would employ up to 14k, and supply batteries for 19 contracts including the Volt, Chrysler’s ENVI and Project Better Place. But this information is based on A123’s filings. There’s still no official confirmation from GM on the Volt contract, although Business Wire does quote GM’s Bob Lutz as saying “A123’s proposal to manufacture advanced battery cells and packs right here in the United States is a positive development for our industry and the nation.” The strangest part of the story is that the GM-Volt.com cheerleaders, usually privy to info straight from GM, were previously convinced that LG Chem/Compact Power had beat A123 to the contract. Back in October, GM-Volt’s Lyle Dennis seemed to confirm a Reuters report that LG/Compact had won. “As we have heard before in a subtle way from GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz,” wrote Dennis, “GM was only using one supplier’s packs in the mules. Concurrently, we had heard from Compact Power’s CEO that his batteries were being used in the mules. Sources have now confirmed this is the case and that the mules packs are performing flawlessly.” So really, who knows. GM may well be saving the announcement for the forthcoming Detroit Auto Show.
Bioengineering is one of the most promising technology trends out there, but besides a perennial design influence, nature tends to stay away from cars. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, biodiesel tends to hog the bio-car development attention, but a LiveScience post sheds some light on efforts to introduce vehicle interior components made from organic materials. A team from Baylor University have been experimenting with coco fibers, and have developed trunk liners, floorboards and car-door interior covers made from a coco-based composite material. “(Coco) fiber has very good strength, stiffness and ductility, and potentially can be used for all kinds of things,” says Baylor engineering professor Walter Bradley. Bradley’s team blends coconut husk material with polypropylene fibers before being hot-pressed (compression-molded) into required shapes. The coconut fiber provides a rigid architecture for the resulting material, which Bradley says does not burn very well or give off toxic fumes, which is key in passing tests required for use in commercial automotive parts. Bradley also extolls the virtue in using a waste by-product of the coconut milk and oil industry. “We are trying to turn trash into cash to help poor coconut farmers,” he tells LiveScience. The team is partnering with a local auto industry fiber supplier to develop commercial products.
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