Alternative Fuel Update
9 October 2000
Detroit - There's a lot of talk about alternative fuels and hybrid cars but the immediate future for these types of vehicles does not look very promising. BPAmoco and General Motors went out of their way last week to talk about a number of joint projects the two are working on surrounding alternative fuels. Actually, the one that they admit shows the most promise in the short term is not an alternative fuel at all, but rather a different version of the most common automotive fuel, low-sulfur gasoline. BPAmoco has begun to produce low-sulfur gasoline, which is viewed by automakers as the quickest and easiest way to meet new EPA emission regs referred to as Tier II. Tier II requires automakers to manufacture cars that emit no more than .07 gram of oxides of nitrogen per mile by 2004. SUV's, minivans and light trucks below 6000 pounds are phased in to that standard between 2004 and 2007. Heavier vehicles, like the Ford Excursion, are limited to .6 gram in 2004, but must meet the .07 gram standard by 2008. Low sulfur gasoline allows catalytic converters to work more efficiently and is said to result in a reduction of nitrous oxides and hydrocarbons by as much as 98%. GM, like most other automakers is also working on direct injection, seen as a fairly simple way to improve combustion, thus improving fuel economy and reducing hydrocarbons even further. Hopes for electric cars and even hybrids are being dashed as automakers are hard pressed to reduce the high purchase price and maintenance costs of these vehicles. Batteries are the main problem. Their cost is high and they require maintenance and constant recharging, which can get expensive. There is also a high disposal cost. The only scenario that makes electric cars viable for the masses is to envision the employee parking lot where you work or the mall parking lot where you shop looking like yesterday's drive-in movie lot, with a battery charger located adjacent to every space. The charger, of course, will have a meter, activated perhaps by a credit card or EasyPass. With this infrastructure in place, electric cars might become a more viable replacement for the internal combustion engine. However, even California, where the drive for alternative fuel vehicles has been the greatest, is not ready for electric vehicles. The state's electric power generation capabilities were taxed to their limit three weeks ago during unseasonally hot temperatures. Add tens of thousands of electric vehicles plugged in for a recharge and the California system would have been on its knees. Rob Stevens, president of Ford Motor Co.'s "Think" electric car unit says his company will begin selling the Norwegian-made, plastic-bodied Think electric car here in 2002, but he doesn't expect to sell many of them. Stevens says the company has only managed to sell a few hundred of the vehicles in Europe and he thinks sticker shock will keep most U.S. buyers away. Ford is said to be importing a small fleet of the all-electrics that will be available for rent through Hertz in San Francisco.