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Driving Clean: What's Next
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| What's in store for the future of clean-running, fuel-sipping cars |
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| Updated |
Mar 17, 2005 19:41:50 |
| Rating |
 22 ( -6 -27.27% ) | | Author | Brian Chee |
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Description:
 FUEL ECONOMY AND CLEAN AIR GUIDE
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I go to the pump and there it is, in brilliant LCD: $30.57. Thirty bucks for a tank of gas. About three times what it cost 20 years ago. That's more than a C-note a month to get down the road, and it might soon be double that-- as tensions in the Middle East increase and the threat of war looms with Iraq.
It makes me want to cry. And it almost makes me willing to trade in my SUV for a sensible commuter, or perhaps a hybrid.
Almost. But not quite. Right now, the pleasure of driving a gas-guzzling beast offsets the benefit of motoring around in an ugly little commuter car, or, God forbid, a 4-cylinder. And to think the automakers charge more dollars for a two-seat green-cart that generates a puny 95 horsepower!
When I was 16, I traded my moped for a car. Why should I go back to the moped, even if it does have four wheels and a roof?
If I did, maybe I'd save a little money. Or help clean the air. But it's not enough money, and I don't really care about the air - at least not enough to sacrifice 285 horses. Besides, what I - or you - do makes no difference to the Big Picture. We'll still be slaves to the black juice, and the air will still be crap.
That's life in America, circa 2003. Deciding what to do with pollution and oil dependency is a job for the people we vote into Washington D.C.'s Big Party. Let them go after the captains of industry, or cut down another forest. Just as long as I can continue driving my 20 mpg slug, just as long as it never, ever comes down to me.
But that's the problem. Sooner or later, it will come down to me. That's the bottom line of it, no matter what the President says about hydrogen. Sooner or later I'll have to decide whether to park a hybrid in my garage with the same joy and pride of ownership I do with an oil-burning, gas blowing V8 monster.
Sooner is when I get tired of paying a ransom at the pump. Later is when we have to start wearing masks, and the government outlaws big block engines.
That would be a truly dark day, in more ways than one. Even still, count on later, because it turns out that there is a magic spell -- a little voodoo technology from the automakers that will enable us to drive cleaner cars without giving up space, style or performance.
It's not hydrogen. Forget hydrogen - it's a State of the Union pipe dream. The magic is hybrid technology, combined with advanced engine performance. Put the two together and you'll eventually get regular cars with hybrids and low polluting engines. It's a matter of working with what we've got - adding to it, combining it with other power supplies and making it better. Hybrid technology is based on a simple concept: combine a traditional internal combustion engine with the battery and electric motor of an electric vehicle, and you'll get significant fuel economy and virtually zero pollutants. It makes for a more efficient vehicle. For example, a hybrid vehicle essentially "stalls" when at a stop. When you step on the accelerator, the electric motor instantly engages the engine and zoooom - of you go. No more idling cars spouting black tar out of tailpipes. Hybrids on the market today include the Honda Insight, a two-door vehicle that looks like a hybrid; the Toyota Prius, a futuristic vehicle that has become the Trend du Jour among Hollywood's royalty; and the Honda Civic Hybrid - which is exactly what it says - a Civic - and has ushered in the most significant next step in Hybrid technology, that being the application of hybrid power into mass market cars. Toyota has plans for a hybrid SUV, Ford's Escape Hybrid will debut later in 2003, and GM will begin selling hybrids to the public in 2004. Vehicles slated for hybrid technology in 2004 are the Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra and the Chevrolet Tahoe/Yukon. In 2005, GM's Advanced Hybrid System will debut in the Saturn Vue.
Yeah. SUVs and Trucks as hybrids. Now that's where we need to be. The challenge is to bring down the cost. The Prius and Civic qualify for a $2,000 IRS tax deduction, as will most hybrids as they become available. While this helps bring prices into line with competing non-hybrids, automakers are looking for a sign from the public as to how many they produce.
More than twenty thousand Prius hybrids sold in 2002 is enough of a sign.
Imagine how many people would buy a similarly-priced Highlander Hybrid. Toyota execs are probably imagining it right now, so development continues though it could probably go faster. Still, automakers are making great strides with internal combustion engine efficiency. The Civic Hybrid uses Honda's super-clean 4-cylinder IMA engine, and the Prius engine is a 4-cylinder overhead cam that rates as SULEV for emissions - the best possible rating in California. These steps toward improvement are felt throughout entire vehicle line-ups. Honda has improved the fuel efficiency of virtually all Acuras and Hondas, as has Toyota. New cars are being released that have virtual zero emissions rating.
Make that partial zero emission, or PZEV (Partial Zero Emission Vehicles) - the latest strange set of letters car buyers will have to remember, courtesy of the State of California. The PZEV rating requires that a vehicle meet the Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) standard for tailpipe exhaust emissions, and emit virtually zero emissions from the vaporization of fuel in the gas tank and fuel system. Coming soon to a dealership near you is the Camry PZEV and the Ford Focus PZEV. The Focus is powered by the new I-4 engine makes extensive use of lightweight aluminum components, which offer both a weight savings - approximately 40 pounds compared with the equivalent Zetec I-4 engine - and chassis dynamics benefits, such as improved weight distribution front-to-rear and higher power-to-weight ratio. The PZEV powertrain will become the standard engine powering all California, New York, Vermont and Massachusetts Focus models beginning in March, 2003. A year later, the all-new 2.3-liter I-4 engine will be introduced in all non-SVT Ford Focus models in the U.S.
The Civic shows it can be done. But who, besides a few hundred thousand people, wants to drive a Civic. The next big step toward clean air and better fuel economy is a hybrid SUV -- for about the same price as a traditional model. Fact is, SUVs are handy vehicles and people aren't likely to stop driving them just because the air is thick and gas prices are up.
Go figure. Early reports show Ford in the lead -- their Escape Hybrid has been making the rounds since 2001, yet no production version has been released. There's also a Dodge Durango hybrid in the works, though it's unclear as to when the public will get to drive it. And, as always, GM is lurking somewhere in the background, making up for lost time.
But bet on the Honda CR-V. Or the Toyota Highlander. These two automakers have been one step ahead of the crowd pretty much from the start. When that happens, we'll be living in a pretty green, and clean, world.
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