By David Steinkraus
Journal Times | Posted: Friday, February 8, 2008 12:00 am
CHICAGO - It is and isn't easy being green.
Until Feb. 16, you can go to the Chicago Auto Show and judge for yourself how well carmakers are doing in delivering on society's goals of protecting the environment and saving you money by increasing fuel efficiency.
What stands out is how far technology has come and how little pure technology can do without other changes.
Cars
Many of the alternative cars on display are still in the concept stage, and that applies largely to the hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Honda is bringing out a commercial fuel cell car although it isn't at the Chicago show. It also has models of its Civic and Accord hybrids on display along with a natural-gas-powered Civic and a model refueling station.
Toyota has a cutaway Highlander to show the components of its FCHV (fuel cell hybrid vehicle) system. Essentially, the FCHV uses the same power train as the company's popular Prius hybrid. It substitutes a quartet of 10,000 psi hydrogen tank for the gas tank and a fuel cell for the internal combustion engine. (Fuel cells generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen to form water, borrowing the flow of electric current to run a motor or charge a battery.)
Then there is the North American debut of Toyota's 1/X concept vehicle, a 926-pound, four-passenger car which has a roof made of plant fibers that provide a translucent roof and are a renewable material.
Chevrolet has a hydrogen-powered SUV in its display area.
Fuel crunch
The promise of greener cars does not seem to be moving as quickly as one might expect given the 2003 commitment by the Bush administration to shift to a hydrogen-powered economy.
In part, Toyota brought its fuel-cell concept vehicle to both educate people and address their expectations of a quick switch to hydrogen, said Jaycie Chitwood, senior strategic planner for Toyota's Advanced Technology Group. The primary hindrance to using hydrogen is getting fuel to consumers, she said. It's not the vehicles.
Toyota has had fuel-cell vehicles on the road since 2002. "We solved the big … engineering problems," she said, "There's still the issue of cost for the vehicle, for the fuel cell." Finding less exotic materials for the cells will reduce the cost, she said, while other costs will be reduced through mass production.
But hydrogen use won't become widespread unless governments are willing to subsidize the cost of refueling stations, Chitwood said. "There's not a business case for the fuel providers at this point."
"The fundamental issue is how much energy we consume and where does that energy come from," said Frank Fronczak, a professor of engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the fluid power research lab. Physics limits how much energy we can derive from a given quantity of fuel, so we need to make the most of every bit we get, or we can try to increase the supply, with the consequences that we already see, he said.
He's working on a hydraulic hybrid which uses a hydraulic motor rather than an electric motor to turn the wheels. The advantage, he said is that a hydraulic system can recover much more of the energy lost to heat when cars break. That energy, up to 80 percent of what's lost otherwise, can be stored and then used to start the vehicle moving again.
"The world has gone through changes in our primary fuel source from wood to coal to oil to natural gas. Eventually (change) will have to happen at some time down the road," Fronczak said. When it does is anyone's guess.
There are also about 300 million internal-combustion vehicles on the road, Chitwood said, 16 million new ones are sold every year, and they're lasting about 15 years. "So gasoline is going to be here for a long time."
Even the plug-in hybrid (a hybrid which can be recharged from the electric power grid and with enough batteries to run only on electric power for short distances) isn't a certain option. Toyota brought a prototype plug-in to Chicago.
"We're trying to actually figure out if there's a market," Chitwood said. "It makes a lot of sense in France." That's because France depends heavily on nuclear power for its electricity so plugging in a car doesn't generate more pollution or greenhouse gases. In the United States, where about half the electricity is generated from coal, the benefit is less clear, she said, and two California universities are testing the vehicles now to gauge how well they work outside the laboratory.
Veggie power
The other green-car option hard to miss at the Chicago show is diesel-clean diesels, not the soot-belching engines you've been stuck behind in a traffic jam. BMW is touting it, as is Mercedes-Benz where a clean diesel E320 will set you back $52,510.
At the Volkswagen booth, the less luxurious but also less expensive Jetta will appear in a diesel incarnation in the third quarter of this year.
Diesels have a reputation for good fuel economy, and their carbon dioxide emissions are lower. But the engines churn out more fine particles and more nitrous oxides which can form smog.
The new diesel Jetta has a filter for the particles and uses a trap to capture the nitrous oxide. There it's burned off using a very small amount of fuel, said Keith Price, public relations manager for Volkswagen of America, Inc.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has is still testing the vehicle's mileage, said Sean Maynard of VW's public relations staff.
Still, VW is expecting the diesel Jettas to sell well. The 2008s comply with environmental rules in all 50 states. For the 2006 models, 74 percent were already spoken for when they were delivered, Maynard said.
In the United States, up to 30 percent of the Jetta sales have been diesels, Price said. "Canada exceeds 50 percent."
But again the problem in going green is fuel. Diesels can burn not only petroleum-based diesel fuel but also renewable fuel derived from plant oils.
Just as Wisconsin farmers are hoping to supply ethanol plants with corn, so South Dakota farmers are looking at turning soybean crops into biodiesel.
The diesel Jetta is certified to burn B5, diesel fuel that is 95 percent petroleum 5 percent biodiesel made from plant oils, and the company's goal is to be able to use B20. But, Price said, commercial biodiesel varies greatly in quality.
Last year the National Biodiesel Board reported that 38 percent of commercial biodiesel didn't meet specifications in various ways-flashpoint, purity, water content, he said. "Until the industry gets up to spec, we're ready to go to B20, B15, whatever the industry is."
The way it looks on the floor of the Chicago Auto Show is that there is no magic solution to green transportation. Said Toyota's Jaycie Chitwood, "There is going to be no one single fuel."
Getting there
What: The 100th Chicago Auto Show
Where: McCormick Place, Lake Shore Drive at 23rd Street.
When: Friday to Feb. 16 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Feb. 17 from 10 a.m. To 8 p.m. (Box office closes one hour before the show does.)
Admission: $10 for adults, $5 for children 7 to 12 and people 62 and older. Children 6 and younger enter free when accompanied by a paying adult. Advance tickets may be purchased through http://drivechicago.com.
Transportation: Shuttle service will be provided on weekends only from the underground parking lot at Millennium Park.
Metra or Amtrak trains will take you downtown. From there you may take a cab or use public transportation. The Chicago Transit Authority maintains an Internet trip planner to help you select the bus routes you need. (From the Metra station that means two, one east to Michigan Avenue and then one south.) To use the planner, visit http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/tripplanner.html
Hint: The CTA also offers day passes which will can reduce the $2 per ride charge.
VIDEO: Watch video from the Chicago Auto Show at www.journaltimes.com
Things you may and may not see
The Honda natural-gas-powered Civic in its display costs $17,700 (MSRP), but even though it's clean its government-rated mileage is 24 city, 36 highway.
You can catch a ride in some Dodge trucks that will be driving an obstacle course to give people a sense of how the vehicles feel and handle. This course includes a climb up a 35-degree, 18-foot-high ramp.
As part of its truck announcement during the media preview, Ford representatives talked about an onboard computer system made particularly for contractors. Attach radio frequency ID tags to your tools and enter them into the computer system. Then, before you leave the shop, a truck's onboard computer will query all the tools inside to see if anything is missing from your list of what you'll need on the job. Obviously it will also tell you if you've forgotten anything on the job site at the end of the day.
There's a U.S. Army display that includes a couple of combat trucks such as the Bradley Fighting Vehicle with its turret-mounted cannon.
If you wonder why those cars remain shiny, their curves so well defined, their shiny skins reflecting lights so gloriously, it's because of the small platoon of people, mostly speaking Spanish, who circle the floor constantly equipped with polishing cloths and large dusters.