Automakers look for new technology to reinvent the car

Fiona Anderson, Vancouver SunPublished: Thursday, March 13, 2008
Representatives from the big automakers may disagree about which new type of car is best, but they do agree advances in technology are needed before consumers can afford to switch from petroleum-fuelled transportation.

While hybrids can improve fuel efficiency in city driving by as much as 89 per cent, the cars still rely on petroleum, and companies are looking for alternatives.

Next in line may be plug-in hybrids which, as the name implies, plug into regular power sources to recharge. The problem is developing an affordable battery that can be continually recharged.

"The key challenge we yet have to overcome is still technology," said Nancy Gioia, the director of sustainable mobility technologies and hybrid vehicle programs at Ford Motor Co., during a a panel Wednesday at Globe 2008, a business and environment conference taking place in Vancouver.

Andrew Frank, a professor at the University of California, Davis said a plug-in hybrid should run 90 per cent of the time on electricity and 10 per cent on gas.

"We have plugs in the wall and we have gas stations," he said "And we have nothing else. So the plug-in hybrid uses the two infrastructures that we have."

But John German, manager of environmental and energy analyses at the American Honda Motor Co., believes the increased cost of plug-in cars may not be worth the benefit.
And before plug-in hybrids can be affordable, there has to be a breakthrough in battery technology, he said.

But German cautioned against looking for one solution. "There's no silver bullet," he said. "The problem is so immense we need everything and we need to avoid the trap of single solutions."
General Motors was showcasing its hydrogen-fuel cell car at the Globe 2008 trade show. And GM's vice-president of environment, energy and safety policy, Beth Lowery, said the company is currently rolling out cars for customers to test drive. The cars aren't ready for market yet, though GM's target is to have a financially competitive model by 2010, Lowery said. But hydrogen gas stations will have to become more widespread before the cars can become mainstream.