GM, Toyota Bet Hybrid Green
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GM, Toyota Bet Hybrid Green
Even as Sales Cool, Auto Makers Hope They Will Help Branding, Bottom Line
Monthly sales of the Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid car are down 28% since August. Ford Motor Co. is cutting the price of its Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrid SUVs by more $1,200. Sales of the Lexus RX400h hybrid fell nearly 23% in November from a year earlier. California has put a cap on new permits allowing owners of the Prius or Honda Civic hybrids to use high occupancy vehicle lanes during rush hour. The federal tax credit of as much as $3,150 that helped boost Prius sales this year will be cut to less than $800 next year, to the consternation of Toyota executives.
Is the hybrid car moment over in America?
Not if Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. can help it. The warring giants of the auto industry are determined to keep gas-electric hybrid vehicle technology in the forefront of their product programs, as well as their corporate advertising and image-building efforts.
Data from the Power Information network may indicate that hybrid demand has cooled since gasoline dropped below $3 a gallon. But compared to many vehicles on the market, most hybrids are still hot items. The average Prius sits on a lot just 12 days before selling. Even the Ford Escape hybrid sells in an average of 29 days, compared to 57 for the conventional Escape. There appears to be something here. Toyota and GM want to lead the way toward defining what that something is.
Toyota and GM come to their commitments to gas-electric hybrid technology from different directions. But their competitive goals are roughly the same. On a technological level, Toyota and GM want to be sure that if alternatives to century-old gasoline internal combustion engines start to gain traction, they are driving the change, not being driven by it.
"We are going to keep working to displace petroleum" as a motor fuel, "and expanding our commitment to electrically driven vehicles," GM's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner told a group of reporters and analysts assembled last week for a preview of GM's future models. "We see energy and environmental leadership as a key part of our turnaround strategy," he said.
GM's Vice Chairman for product development Bob Lutz went even further. "I think the electrification of the automobile is not just a possibility. It's inevitable." At the recent Los Angeles auto show, Mr. Wagoner declared that GM intends to develop a plug-in hybrid -- a gas-electric vehicle that can run for miles on batteries alone and plugs in to the power grid. He didn't say when, and GM executives say the battery technology needed to make a plug-in hybrid work reliably doesn't exist. But Mr. Wagoner's statement was a victory for the small but very vigorous plug-in hybrid lobby.
Meanwhile, GM is gearing up to launch next year its own brand of gas-electric hybrid technology on its large SUVs. The "two mode" hybrid Cadillac Escalade will get a boost from electric motors at both city and highway speeds. Equally important, the big SUV will have prominent badges identifying it as a hybrid. Mr. Lutz calls it the "guilt free Escalade."
All this talk might come as a surprise to Greens who think of GM as the company that snuffed out the EV1 electric car in the 1990s, and since World War II has done just about everything within its power to assure that consumers saw personal, gas-fueled motor vehicles as the best transportation option.
But after losing $10.6 billion last year, and putting its North American operations through another sweeping and painful shrinking operation, GM has to grab for every handhold to climb out of the hole. The EV1 was a failure, as were other electric vehicles launched in the 1990s to placate California clean-air regulators. But Mr. Lutz says GM has valuable technology and intellectual property left over from the effort that the company could use in a new generation of advanced vehicles.
GM isn't about to do a wholesale conversion to battery-driven vehicles. But Mr. Lutz says that he thinks it's possible that within three years, the lithium-ion battery technology that could make a plug-in hybrid viable just might become available. So if GM wants to take advantage of that, it has to start working today on such a vehicle.
Mr. Lutz says that current gas-electric hybrid technology still doesn't make economic sense, given the high costs of the hardware and the relatively low cost of gasoline. "But it doesn't matter," he says. The image boost Toyota received from promoting its leadership on hybrids is priceless.
Toyota, meanwhile, already has a fleet of hybrid vehicles on the road, including the Prius, the hybrid Camry sedan, Highlander SUV and several Lexus models. Now, its marketing executives want to position Toyota's "Hybrid Synergy Drive" technology as one more option mainstream consumers can order for their car.
Toyota wants customers to see "Hybrid Synergy Drive as the powertrain of choice," says Celeste Migliore, national manager of advanced technology marketing at Toyota's U.S. sales operation in Torrance, CA.
Toyota earlier this month launched a redesigned Web site to promote its hybrids, and suggest more reasons why consumers would want the technology. Toyota hopes to increase sales of the Prius by 40% next year to about 170,000 vehicles, while nearly doubling sales of the Camry hybrid to 60,000 vehicles.
"As we grow our sales and introduce hybrid powertrains to our vehicles there is a more mainstream buyer we have to pull in," Ms. Migliore says. Simply touting the environmental benefit isn't enough.
To promote its hybrid technology, Toyota plans to send a mobile hybrid hands-on exhibit, packed into two semi-trailers, on an 18-month tour of the country as part of an effort to fertilize grass roots interest in Toyota's technology and vehicles.
What share of all this is hype, and what share reflects a substantive commitment to changing mainstream automotive technology, remains to be seen. Car makers can't ignore economics for too long. At some point, Toyota and GM will need to make hybrids that cost less, or cut petroleum consumption substantially more.
But in the meantime, if the economic justification for hybrid technology is that they are more effective to promote a car maker's brands than television commercials, where's the harm?
Originally Posted by Wall Street Journal - December 11, 2006
Monthly sales of the Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid car are down 28% since August. Ford Motor Co. is cutting the price of its Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrid SUVs by more $1,200. Sales of the Lexus RX400h hybrid fell nearly 23% in November from a year earlier. California has put a cap on new permits allowing owners of the Prius or Honda Civic hybrids to use high occupancy vehicle lanes during rush hour. The federal tax credit of as much as $3,150 that helped boost Prius sales this year will be cut to less than $800 next year, to the consternation of Toyota executives.
Is the hybrid car moment over in America?
Not if Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. can help it. The warring giants of the auto industry are determined to keep gas-electric hybrid vehicle technology in the forefront of their product programs, as well as their corporate advertising and image-building efforts.
Data from the Power Information network may indicate that hybrid demand has cooled since gasoline dropped below $3 a gallon. But compared to many vehicles on the market, most hybrids are still hot items. The average Prius sits on a lot just 12 days before selling. Even the Ford Escape hybrid sells in an average of 29 days, compared to 57 for the conventional Escape. There appears to be something here. Toyota and GM want to lead the way toward defining what that something is.
Toyota and GM come to their commitments to gas-electric hybrid technology from different directions. But their competitive goals are roughly the same. On a technological level, Toyota and GM want to be sure that if alternatives to century-old gasoline internal combustion engines start to gain traction, they are driving the change, not being driven by it.
"We are going to keep working to displace petroleum" as a motor fuel, "and expanding our commitment to electrically driven vehicles," GM's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner told a group of reporters and analysts assembled last week for a preview of GM's future models. "We see energy and environmental leadership as a key part of our turnaround strategy," he said.
GM's Vice Chairman for product development Bob Lutz went even further. "I think the electrification of the automobile is not just a possibility. It's inevitable." At the recent Los Angeles auto show, Mr. Wagoner declared that GM intends to develop a plug-in hybrid -- a gas-electric vehicle that can run for miles on batteries alone and plugs in to the power grid. He didn't say when, and GM executives say the battery technology needed to make a plug-in hybrid work reliably doesn't exist. But Mr. Wagoner's statement was a victory for the small but very vigorous plug-in hybrid lobby.
Meanwhile, GM is gearing up to launch next year its own brand of gas-electric hybrid technology on its large SUVs. The "two mode" hybrid Cadillac Escalade will get a boost from electric motors at both city and highway speeds. Equally important, the big SUV will have prominent badges identifying it as a hybrid. Mr. Lutz calls it the "guilt free Escalade."
All this talk might come as a surprise to Greens who think of GM as the company that snuffed out the EV1 electric car in the 1990s, and since World War II has done just about everything within its power to assure that consumers saw personal, gas-fueled motor vehicles as the best transportation option.
But after losing $10.6 billion last year, and putting its North American operations through another sweeping and painful shrinking operation, GM has to grab for every handhold to climb out of the hole. The EV1 was a failure, as were other electric vehicles launched in the 1990s to placate California clean-air regulators. But Mr. Lutz says GM has valuable technology and intellectual property left over from the effort that the company could use in a new generation of advanced vehicles.
GM isn't about to do a wholesale conversion to battery-driven vehicles. But Mr. Lutz says that he thinks it's possible that within three years, the lithium-ion battery technology that could make a plug-in hybrid viable just might become available. So if GM wants to take advantage of that, it has to start working today on such a vehicle.
Mr. Lutz says that current gas-electric hybrid technology still doesn't make economic sense, given the high costs of the hardware and the relatively low cost of gasoline. "But it doesn't matter," he says. The image boost Toyota received from promoting its leadership on hybrids is priceless.
Toyota, meanwhile, already has a fleet of hybrid vehicles on the road, including the Prius, the hybrid Camry sedan, Highlander SUV and several Lexus models. Now, its marketing executives want to position Toyota's "Hybrid Synergy Drive" technology as one more option mainstream consumers can order for their car.
Toyota wants customers to see "Hybrid Synergy Drive as the powertrain of choice," says Celeste Migliore, national manager of advanced technology marketing at Toyota's U.S. sales operation in Torrance, CA.
Toyota earlier this month launched a redesigned Web site to promote its hybrids, and suggest more reasons why consumers would want the technology. Toyota hopes to increase sales of the Prius by 40% next year to about 170,000 vehicles, while nearly doubling sales of the Camry hybrid to 60,000 vehicles.
"As we grow our sales and introduce hybrid powertrains to our vehicles there is a more mainstream buyer we have to pull in," Ms. Migliore says. Simply touting the environmental benefit isn't enough.
To promote its hybrid technology, Toyota plans to send a mobile hybrid hands-on exhibit, packed into two semi-trailers, on an 18-month tour of the country as part of an effort to fertilize grass roots interest in Toyota's technology and vehicles.
What share of all this is hype, and what share reflects a substantive commitment to changing mainstream automotive technology, remains to be seen. Car makers can't ignore economics for too long. At some point, Toyota and GM will need to make hybrids that cost less, or cut petroleum consumption substantially more.
But in the meantime, if the economic justification for hybrid technology is that they are more effective to promote a car maker's brands than television commercials, where's the harm?
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U.S. Finds Electric Power Grid Can Fuel Fleets of Plug-In Cars
I thought this was interesting; especially in relation to the preceding post
U.S. Finds Electric Power Grid Can Fuel Fleets of Plug-In Cars
WASHINGTON -- The nation's existing electric power grid could fuel as many as 180 million electric cars, a Department of Energy study estimates.
The study, being released today by the department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is the federal government's first look at the grid's capacity to handle the demands of so-called plug-in hybrids, which can be operated as an all-electric car for most daily commutes. Until now, there have been few detailed studies of the effect of plug-ins, which are championed by environmental groups and the utility industry.
Currently there are only a few hundred plug-ins on the road, most hand-made prototypes or unsanctioned modifications of existing hybrids, which use small gasoline engines that charge their electric motors, but can't plug in to recharge.
General Motors Corp. recently announced it will build a plug-in Saturn, and other makers are thought to be planning similar ventures. The report estimates that the current cost of electricity needed to power a car is roughly one-third the equivalent amount of gasoline.
"It is intriguing to think of the trade and national-security benefits if our vehicles switched from oil to electrons," said Robert Pratt, one of the authors of the study and an energy researcher at the laboratory. "Plus, since the utilities would be selling more electricity without having to build more plants or power lines, electricity prices could go down for everyone."
The report estimates that plug-ins, made in volume, would cost between $6,000 and $10,000 more than existing vehicles -- largely due to the cost of carrying larger battery packs. The study estimates that because electricity is cheaper than gasoline, car buyers would recover the additional cost over five to eight years, depending on the price of gasoline.
The study estimates that if 84% of the nation's 220 million vehicles relied primarily on electricity, emissions of carbon dioxide thought to be accelerating climate change would be cut by as much as 5%. Vehicle-produced smog would drop in major cities.
But sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, would rise in rural areas where coal-burning power plants are located. The U.S. gets about half of its electricity from burning coal.
U.S. Finds Electric Power Grid Can Fuel Fleets of Plug-In Cars
Originally Posted by Wall Street Journal; By JOHN J. FIALKA - December 11, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The nation's existing electric power grid could fuel as many as 180 million electric cars, a Department of Energy study estimates.
The study, being released today by the department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is the federal government's first look at the grid's capacity to handle the demands of so-called plug-in hybrids, which can be operated as an all-electric car for most daily commutes. Until now, there have been few detailed studies of the effect of plug-ins, which are championed by environmental groups and the utility industry.
Currently there are only a few hundred plug-ins on the road, most hand-made prototypes or unsanctioned modifications of existing hybrids, which use small gasoline engines that charge their electric motors, but can't plug in to recharge.
General Motors Corp. recently announced it will build a plug-in Saturn, and other makers are thought to be planning similar ventures. The report estimates that the current cost of electricity needed to power a car is roughly one-third the equivalent amount of gasoline.
"It is intriguing to think of the trade and national-security benefits if our vehicles switched from oil to electrons," said Robert Pratt, one of the authors of the study and an energy researcher at the laboratory. "Plus, since the utilities would be selling more electricity without having to build more plants or power lines, electricity prices could go down for everyone."
The report estimates that plug-ins, made in volume, would cost between $6,000 and $10,000 more than existing vehicles -- largely due to the cost of carrying larger battery packs. The study estimates that because electricity is cheaper than gasoline, car buyers would recover the additional cost over five to eight years, depending on the price of gasoline.
The study estimates that if 84% of the nation's 220 million vehicles relied primarily on electricity, emissions of carbon dioxide thought to be accelerating climate change would be cut by as much as 5%. Vehicle-produced smog would drop in major cities.
But sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, would rise in rural areas where coal-burning power plants are located. The U.S. gets about half of its electricity from burning coal.
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From: TX Med Ctr
Hybrid Car Song...
Come on People now, People Now;
People now, Come on People now.
Got to drive hybrids people now, people now, people now, people now
Hybrids are for people now, people now,
Good for people driving people now, get a hybrid be good people now
We have got to all be people now, people driving hybrid people now;
people now people hybrid now,
hybrid people now driving people now
Come on people lets be people now, hybrid driving people now
Come on everybody be people now.
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Humm...missed that episode of South Park!
I found it interesting that Mr. Lutz calls the hybrid Escalade the "guilt free Escalade"...I just ordered a full-sized SUV and I don't feel the least bit guilty and I don't think I'd feel guilty even if I had ordered an Escalade!
I found it interesting that Mr. Lutz calls the hybrid Escalade the "guilt free Escalade"...I just ordered a full-sized SUV and I don't feel the least bit guilty and I don't think I'd feel guilty even if I had ordered an Escalade!
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From: cinci
I'd feel sorry for most the Northeast and Midwest if electric cars became mainstream. Energy has to still be provided somewhere, and currently most, like the article says, is produced by coal burning. The Northeast and Midwest already have some of the highest acidic rain counts in the States. I'd hate to see how much that would rise (fall on the scale) if we had to produce a whole lot more electric.
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After seeing the Tahoe Hybrid at the SF Int'l Auto Show I have to admit the idea of a hybrid large SUV seems more tempting to me today. However I still feel it needs improve a lot more than the "10% more efficient" mileage than they get today.
Besides, I have two large SUVs and I don't feel guilty.
Besides, I have two large SUVs and I don't feel guilty.
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After seeing the Tahoe Hybrid at the SF Int'l Auto Show I have to admit the idea of a hybrid large SUV seems more tempting to me today. However I still feel it needs improve a lot more than the "10% more efficient" mileage than they get today.
Besides, I have two large SUVs and I don't feel guilty.
Besides, I have two large SUVs and I don't feel guilty.
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Posts: 9,705
From: Oakland, California
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I'd feel sorry for most the Northeast and Midwest if electric cars became mainstream. Energy has to still be provided somewhere, and currently most, like the article says, is produced by coal burning. The Northeast and Midwest already have some of the highest acidic rain counts in the States. I'd hate to see how much that would rise (fall on the scale) if we had to produce a whole lot more electric.
I suppose they can "buy" power from other areas but that tends to get expensive compared to generating.
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From: cinci
I wouldn't be surprised if the areas of the country with population that would be the most intereted in buying an "electric car" are also the areas with power grids least able to support the added strain on their systems.
I suppose they can "buy" power from other areas but that tends to get expensive compared to generating.
I suppose they can "buy" power from other areas but that tends to get expensive compared to generating.
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