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Hi everyone, Happy Spring to you and happy second anniversary for the Driving Change Network! It’s been a fun couple of years, and with your continued interest and action, we’ve made some real progress on cleaning up our nation’s vehicles. But so much more needs to be done, so let’s get year three started by looking at some major corporate and regulatory news on the advanced technology front.
Take care,
Scott Nathanson
UCS National Field Organizer &
HybridCenter.org Administrator
In this issue:
As you might remember from last month, General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz recently took well-deserved heat for calling global warming a “crock of s***” as well as continuing to voice his opinion that the Prius did not make sense.
 While GM Chairman Richard Wagoner quickly noted that Lutz’s interesting new marketing approach was not representative of GM as a company, Lutz himself actually backtracked a bit on the Prius. In front of a town hall-style meeting to promote the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid concept, Lutz had this to say:
We had the technology to come out with a hybrid at the same time as Toyota…In hindsight, it was a mistake…We made the mistake and we won't make it again…I think the whole company has learned when you step out and do bold things, you win and when you're cautious and let other people do the bold things, you lose.
All this sounds great, and, of course, we’re rooting for GM to make its Volt technology work and get it on the market. But as exciting as that potential is, if General Motors is to truly be a part of a clean vehicle future, it must focus on the technologies it already has to give drivers more efficient options in every vehicle class. One promising new GM technology is its “two-mode” hybrid drivetrain. But, as I noted upon the debut of the Yukon and Tahoe Hybrid’s introduction at the LA Auto Show, GM’s impressive engineering achievement has unfortunately been stymied by the usual GM use of technology to boost power instead of fuel economy. It sure looks like GM is making that “mistake” all over again.
Of course, when Lutz really wants to get “bold” on reducing global warming pollution and gasoline use, he relies on his old standby—the Flex Fuel Vehicle and corn-based ethanol. Here’s some of what he had to say about that in an interview in this week’s Wall Street Journal:
 Well, to make the biggest environmental impact and displace as much petroleum as quickly as possible, and drastically reduce CO2 creation in the operation of motor vehicles, and create the least disruption to America's driving habits, there's only one technology that will get all of that quickly and at very low cost per car. And that is a conversion to basically bioethanol.
Better corn strains are being developed. They're developing corn with a shorter growing season, which was going to permit shifting the Corn Belt way to the north. I would point out that the vast majority of corn acreage in the United States is still not producing corn. It's getting $500 a year per acre not to plant corn.
So I think that people who say, well, the ethanol industry is taking food from the mouths of babies and it's driving tortilla prices up -- I think these are highly suspect conclusions. General Motors is the world's largest producer of ethanol-capable vehicles. We produce over one million a year. We've got 4.5 million on the road and constantly growing. We've committed to doing 50 percent of our vehicles to be E-85 [85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline] capable, and it's only about $150 per car.
There are so many misstatements here it makes my head spin. But let’s deal with the primary assertion, that the silver bullet is corn ethanol. As we’ve shown numerous times before, the best short term path to reducing U.S. gasoline use and carbon emissions from the transportation sector is with better fuel economy, certainly not corn ethanol alone. And if biofuels are to play a positive role in decreasing carbon from our fuels, something Lutz seems to care about in this context, a simple “grow more corn” message is about the least helpful one possible.
As our report Biofuels: An Important Part of a Low Carbon Diet showed, not all biofuels are created equal, and the current way most corn ethanol is produced could actually be a net loser over gasoline in terms of carbon emissions. To ensure biofuels help lower our fuels’ carbon footprint, we need a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (.pdf), akin to what they are creating in California. This standard will give farmers the tools they need to ensure that ethanol is part of the solution to global warming, and that the full lifecycle impacts of using land for fuel production are accounted for.
 As for his "mouths of babies" line—I'll let Lutz speak for himself there. His comments totally belittle the very real complexities that must be addressed in order to make biofuels work, which range from potential effects on food prices, to increased global warming pollution from land use, to increased water use and pollution, and to nitrogen levels from fertilizer. Ultimately, GMs efforts to “do bold things”—creating a concept plug-in, two-muscle hybrids, and a bunch of Flex Fuel Vehicles that can jump through the loophole in federal fuel economy regulations—does not actually result in anything bold. It is simply putting a slightly greener face on GM’s business-as-usual approach.
If DCN members are really going to drive some change, we need to engage GM head-on—and they’ve given us a great opportunity. General Motors has set up an online program called GMnext that, according to their website, is “a dialogue-based campaign that engages people via social media and interactive experiences. As a platform to showcase GM's commitment to transportation solutions employing technologies that are relevant to consumer needs, GMnext will demonstrate our focus on solutions to the challenges that will shape the future of transportation.”
Please head over to our latest HybridAction and engage in GM’s dialogue to let them know it’s time for GM to turn its bold words into real action.
An interesting thing happened over the past couple of weeks. Both our Senior Engineer Jim Kliesch and I needed to rent a car (his for business, mine for pleasure), and we both wanted hybrids. After reading over the information on hybrid rentals in our November issue, Jim tried his luck with a big name company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Washington, D.C. Heading to Florida, I “went local” in Ft. Lauderdale and found Sunshine Rent-A-Car.
 Jim needed to get from D.C. to Pittsburgh and back, and called the local Enterprise office rather than the national 800 number. He expressed his desire to rent a hybrid vehicle, and was told that he could reserve one and they would most likely be able to accommodate him, especially since transferring vehicles from other nearby rental locations is a common practice.
When Jim arrived to pick up his hybrid, there were none to be found. No specific arrangements had been made to ensure that a hybrid vehicle was on-site waiting for him. Jim was offered his choice of other vehicles and ended up in a Mazda 6. I’m sure a number of you have had similar experiences with large rental companies when it comes to car choices. These larger rental companies base reservations on the class of the car rather than the model. In the days of 99 cent gas prices, if the rental company didn’t have a compact in, they’d just “upgrade” you to a larger car, and all was right with the world. But now that drivers are seeking out more fuel-efficient cars, and want to use hybrid rentals both to save gas, and, in a number of cases, to actually try the vehicle out to see if they want one—that class-based business model has some holes.
And it might be that the smaller rental car companies can help show the way.
 My November research on hybrid rental companies did not include any information on Florida rental options, so I used a search engine and looked up “hybrid rental car Florida” to see what I could come up with. Sunshine Rent-A-Car’s hybrid page popped up, saying they had both Highlander Hybrids and the Prius. At first, when I tried to use their online reservation center, I could not find a specific hybrid option (which turned out to be my mistake as I didn’t scroll down), so I contacted them directly—and I’m glad I did.
They do indeed have specific rental options for hybrids. Indeed, due to their high demand (a representative told me that they have “100 percent rental” for their Prius fleet, meaning they’re never sitting on the lot, not quite as much for the Highlander Hybrid), they have specific codes for their hybrids, and will only post them as available on their website if they are actually due back at the rental location during the time you want to pick up your reservation. (Rent as early as you can if you want a hybrid was the advice I received.) I was able to get the last Prius they had on the lot at that time. They told me they would be holding it for me—and indeed they were! The white ’07 model that was waiting came complete with a Florida Hybrid HOV sticker in case I needed it.
I have an ’05 Prius, so I was curious as to whether there were any significant differences. My wife and I found the steering to be a little tighter on the rental, and we netted 49 mpg on our trip from Ft. Lauderdale down to the Keys and back. Both the improved handling and mileage may be more because of the age of our Prius, and the fact that we were driving the flatlands of Florida rather than the hills of Virginia—but it’s still worth noting.
A small fun aside is the fact that the house we headed down to, the bayside residence of my in-laws in Islamorada, is the very location that gave UCS the legal standing to be part of the Supreme Court case on global warming pollution and cars. My mother-in-law is a UCS member, and her property is most-certainly threatened by the effects of global warming pollution.
So, long story short, my hybrid rental experience was certainly a smoother one than Jim’s. While the larger companies may certainly be getting better at recognizing the need for specific consumer choices in vehicles, they do seem to be generally on a learning curve. In this case, going local where a smaller fleet could be tracked more accurately, definitely paid off, as my $15.00 total gas bill can attest to.
 A “Green” Geneva Auto Show: There was a definite green emphasis at this month’s Geneva Auto Show. Amid a dominant green color-scheme, Saab unveiled its 9-X BioPower E85 concept which uses GM’s next-generation lithium-ion hybrid system. Notably, the concept features active aerodynamics that adjusts the vehicle’s roof and underbody components at cruising speeds. Volkswagen also rolled out a few new vehicles, including the Golf TDI Hybrid hatchback concept which may hit the showrooms in the upcoming year. The diesel hybrid is expected to achieve better fuel economy than the current generation Toyota Prius, though its price tag would be much higher. For more information, check out the Hybrid News Center.
- Developments at Mercedes may reflect battery “breakthrough”: Mercedes will release the S400 hybrid sedan—the first lithium-ion hybrid vehicle in the U.S.—in 2009. The vehicle will precede the brand’s two-mode M-class luxury SUV, which is expected the following year. The automaker anticipates incorporating its newly developed lithium ion battery on a broad range of hybrid vehicles by 2010. The company will also start testing a fleet of Smart lithium-ion electric vehicles with an 80 mile range within two to three years. To learn more, visit the Hybrid News Center.
- Hyundai and Kia hybrids finally coming: After years of delay, it finally looks as if the Koreans will be entering the hybrid market. Hyundai plans to release a hybrid model of its Avante―sold as Elantra worldwide―next year. This will be its first mass-produced hybrid. Hyundai plans to release this new hybrid in the latter half of 2009. Then the motor company will expand its hybrid lineup to include sedans such as the Sonata by 2010. Kia Motors is also researching a hybrid version of the Mohave, a large sport utility vehicle (SUV), and Lotze, a mid-size car. Kia plans to market the hybrid vehicles by 2010. For more information, check out the Hybrid News Center.
If you’re cruising around in a hybrid today, you should say thank you to the state of California. California helped pave the way for vehicles powered by electricity when it enacted the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program in 1990. These regulations have helped to spur technological advancements in electric motors, batteries, and the vehicle design used in the hybrid and other advanced vehicles on the road today. The ZEV regulation requires that automakers produce a certain percentage of zero emission vehicles for sale in California.
Although it has evolved since it was first enacted in 1990, today’s program provides a solid balance between advancing future technology and getting near-term advanced vehicles on the road. Indeed, California’s suite of vehicle standards—the Low Emission Vehicles (LEV) program for smog-forming emissions, the clean car standards for global warming pollution, and the ZEV program—represent a great balance for ensuring that existing emissions-reduction technologies are put to the most effective near-term use while “pushing the envelope” to bring more advanced technologies to market.
 Yet, this program may soon be changing. In February, California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff released a proposal to significantly weaken the the ZEV program. If adopted, the plan would dramatically reduce the number of “pure” zero emission vehicles such as hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric vehicles on California’s roads from 25,000 to 2,500 between 2012 and 2014. The reduction would be offset with 75,000 more “enhanced advanced-technology, partial-zero- emission vehicles,” such as hydrogen internal combustion vehicles and plug-in hybrids. As UCS Senior Vehicles Analyst Spencer Quong noted,
The proposal would jeopardize California’s long term efforts to address global warming and delay critical investments in hydrogen infrastructure, fuel cells, and the battery industry. Conventional technologies can get us part of the way there, but California needs game-changing technology that dramatically reduces pollution over the long haul.
Spencer’s analysis (.pdf) shows that “pure” zero emission vehicles are crucial to meeting the state’s goal of cutting global warming pollution by 80 percent by 2050. In fact, the analysis shows that California actually needs to ramp up the number of “pure” zero emission vehicles on the road in 12 years in order to meet the state's target. So, instead of weakening the regulation ARB should ramp up with more aggressive numbers in order to put some 379,000 “game changing” ultra-clean vehicle technology on the road by 2030.
California’s vehicle emissions standards have been a tremendous tool not just for the state, but for every state who wants to push forward with a climate solution under the Clean Air Act. Given the reluctance of this administration to abide by the directives of the Supreme Court in regard to global warming pollution and vehicles, this is the time for California to be moving forward even more aggressively, not the other way around. If you’re a California resident, you can weigh in on this issue yourself here.
Who’s Got Hybrids Now?
 We’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to share this fun picture from Rich McConaghy of Beaverton, OR. Rich says that his 2005 Toyota Prius is “great for those little hops around town as well as for bundling up the whole nest and heading out on the bunny trail with our friend Peter Cottontail.”
Unfortunately, we don’t have other costumed DCN members posing with their hybrids (hopefully we’ll be able to correct that next Halloween). But, keeping to the animal theme, we have a host of pictures of DCN members and their pets. Here are just a few:
 Richard Hake of Woodland Hills, CA says that his bloodhound, Clementine, loves to ride in the roomy cargo area of his 2004 Toyota Prius. Richard “enthusiastically recommends the Prius for its economy, comfort, safety, and energy conservation.”
 Charles Mattouk of Coral Gables, FL says that his dog loves the Toyota Prius. Charles enjoys driving his Toyota Prius Gen. 2 because “not only is the gas mileage great, but it is such a fun and reliable car too!”
 Minna Win of Broomfield, CO is “extremely pleased with the reliability and quality of [her Honda] Insight. She’s says that the car has enough leg and head room for passengers. In fact, she’s easily “hauled a 40lb bag of dog food (in the trunk) with [her] two big dogs plus a human passenger.”
If you own a hybrid or know of anyone who does, please remember to tell them to submit their testimonials today!
That’s all for this month, and enjoy that Spring mpg boost for those of you with hybrids in colder climates!
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