Out of Tune - Industry Admits the Future of the Auto is not Green

Well, now it is really obvious, on the off-chance it was not obvious before.

All the ads with furry critters fawning in the forest over SUVs.
All the breathless claims that the electric car is finally here.
All the ads showing cars crumbling back to the earth leaving not a trace.
All pure propaganda.

While they may have be singing a green tune in New York in May, now, their actions and their wallets, or in GM's case, our wallets, are speaking louder than words. Even after being wiped out by high oil prices and an almost depression, only to be saved by taxpayers, the Wall Street Journal reports that Mileage Rules Prompt Backlash while Fox News states that Auto makers fight Obama's fuel standards.

Auto makers and car dealers, emboldened by rising profits and a more business-friendly Congress, say they will fight the Obama administration's proposal to boost average new-car fuel economy to as much as 62 miles a gallon by 2025.

Clearly, they would not be doing this if they had any faith that people would be buying electric vehicles in the next couple of decades. Clearly, they don't and people won't. As was the case for the last 40 years, when the electric car was continually "just around the corner", with the breakthrough in battery technology just months away, like lite and low-tar cigarettes, the electric car is simply a propaganda tool to convince the public that there is a fabulous future for the automobile age once fossil fuels are going, going, gone.

The Windsor Star on December 15, 1967 reported AMC out front electrically.

...indications are good that vehicles like those under serious consideration by a growing number of companies could be available in five years or sooner. ...AMC group vice-president in charge of engineering, told us that there are no major hurdles to jump to bring it to reality-firming up the final design and time-consuming proving and testing are all that remains to be done. It's that simple, he said.

Unbelievably,  further details from The Owosso Argus-Press December 12, 1967 seem identically to the claims being made today by the industry. As today, they are claiming lithium batteries are the major breakthrough.

Dr. Leslie K. Gulton said. "for the first time in half a century, the gasoline burning automobile is about the share the road with an electrically powered car whose performance needs no apologies.

Well, 43 years later, this car is still not here nor is AMC for that matter. It is that simple. I guess we should all be happy that the industry is so committed to the environment it seems to be recycling old AMC PR spin pretty much verbatim except for the part about taking it to the heliport. I guess if it still works, why bother changing it. Fool us once, shame on them, fool us over and over again every five years, well...

Speaking of which, they were at it again in March 1974. The Beaver County Times reported Electric Car Ready by June.

Improvements in the already patented battery will estend [sic] the range to 350 miles in two years. A prototype 18 months down the road includes a battery pack that could be charged in 5 minutes...

Paul Agarwa, head of General Motors, electrical-vehicle research and development, says that by the year 2000 almost all cars will be electric in and around cities....

Skipping forward to today, it looks like the PR departments still spinning the same old lines. Fortunately, we can get a better idea of what the industry really thinks the future holds from their high paid lobbyists. The industry lobby group, the Auto Alliance, knows that electric vehicles will not be economically viable especially in an economy with stagnant wages.

"If the economics for high fuel-economy vehicles is so overwhelming, why do so few consumers today choose to buy high fuel-economy vehicles?" the letter asks.

The alliance added that at the very least, the price of a car would increase $4,448 under the 62-mpg rule.

This is not surprising as the battery packs of even tiny electric cars like the Nissan Leaf cost around $18,000. Imagine what the battery for huge SUV's the industry is convinced Americans love that are two to three times the weight of the Leaf would cost. For a family with two of the these beasts, the batteries could cost more than their house in the post bubble market. While "economies of scale" could reduce this cost, high demand could also increase the cost of the resources required to make the batteries.

Even worse, GM, the so called Government Motors, that is owned by the US, Canadian and Ontario governments is now spending dollars that it would not have if it were not for taxpayer's support.

GM, which had stopped making campaign contributions as it underwent its taxpayer-funded bankruptcy restructuring, recently resumed such spending, giving thousands of dollars to lawmakers' campaigns in the midterm election. GM has said it is exercising its right to support lawmakers who will push policies that help the industry.

Looks like the industry created the best congress money could buy.

Even worser, in spite of ads bragging about how safe their products are, they are concerned far more concerned with profits than the safety of their customers or innocent victims of their products.

Auto makers lobbied heavily against a bill to mandate new safety technologies and increased government oversight, which was proposed in response to the uproar over Toyota Motor Corp.'s sudden acceleration recalls. That legislation now appears all but dead.

Unfortunately, not only is the legislation dead but tragically, the million people who are killed by motor vehicles each and every year will be as well.

So, it is time to face the reality that the age of the automobile is over. It is merely a symptom of cheap oil. With the auto industry fighting mileage standards and unwilling or unable to bring fuel efficient cars to bring anywhere enough electric and fuel efficient cars to market in the next couple of decades, lets stop wasting limited taxpayer's dollars on roads and begin the transition to real sustainable transportation including high speed rail, rapid transit, cycling and walking.