60 Minutes: The Race for the Electric Car

Here's a nice read with a lot of good information on the electric car race.
(CBS) The price of oil is up, gas guzzling cars are out, and a race for a fuel-free, practical electric car is on.

It includes the usual suspects: Detroit, Japan, and Germany. But as correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, a surprising newcomer with no experience at building cars has entered the race: Silicon Valley.

The jury is still out on whether electric cars can ever be really practical, but the computer geeks in California are betting that their inventiveness can beat out Detroit's cumbersome bureaucracy in producing a viable e-car.

One of the reasons electric cars have never taken off has been battery technology. A few years ago, someone wondered: why not use the batteries they put in laptop computers called lithium-ion batteries? That's when the environmentally-conscious hi-tech industry in California jumped in.

The first all-electric sports car is called the "Roadster" and is made by Tesla Motors, a small start-up in Northern California.

The chairman of Tesla, Elon Musk, says the Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 in four seconds. It is propelled by over 6,000 finger-sized lap top batteries, and not a single drop of oil.

Musk made his fortune by inventing PayPal, the online banking service. He launched Tesla five years ago, with no experience at all in the car business. Now he has over 1,000 orders for the Roadster from people like George Clooney and Gov. Schwarzenegger. They can afford it.

Musk says the Roadster sells for $109,000, and tells Stahl, with a smile, that the car is "a deal." "And our car's twice the efficiency of a Prius. So a Prius is a gas-guzzling hog by comparison with our cars," he says.

Musk says the Roadster can go over 200 miles before you have to plug it in to any ordinary wall outlet. It can take anywhere from four to 30 hours for a full charge.

"It’s very easy. It’s like plugging in a hairdryer. It’s so simple," Musk explains.

From the beginning, Musk wanted to prove that innovative and nimble Silicon Valley could build a better green car than lumbering, bureaucratic Detroit.

"Out of Detroit everybody thinks that Detroit is dumb," comments Bob Lutz, the vice chairman of General Motors.

"Or they think you’re hide-bound," Stahl remarks.

"Yeah. Same thing," Lutz says.

Lutz is the man in charge of developing GM's new products, and he says he owes Tesla and its Roadster a debt of gratitude. "If a small Silicon Valley start up believes that they can do a commercially viable electric car, are we going to sit here at General Motors and say, 'Well, a guy in California can do it, but we can't?' Well, that didn't sound very good."

Lutz admits that's embarrassing.

And so, the race was on, with Lutz overseeing the research and development of the Chevy Volt, which is a four-door family electric car.

The Volt is not purely electric - it's called a "plug-in hybrid." It'll drive on battery power alone for 40 miles; go beyond that, and a small gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the battery while you keep driving.

"Seventy eight percent of trips in the United States are under 40 miles a day," Lutz tells Stahl. "If all those people had Volts, you would have 78 percent of Americans basically never using another drop of gasoline."

Everything about the Volt, he says, works like a conventional car, except there's no noise. "There's one thing we can do, for people who miss the sound of the engines, we sell them a CD…with various engine sounds. So you'll be able to pick a Ferrari V12 or, you know, Le Mans Corvette," Lutz explains.

GM is already touting the car in TV ads, even though they don't yet have a working prototype. "The real trick on the car is software. The car needs to know where home plate is. So if you, for some reason, have gone from work instead of directly home, you've gone shopping, and you're starting to run out of battery on the way home, the computer will tell the gas engine, 'Look, he's five miles from home, only run for three minutes, because he only needs enough to get home,'" Lutz explains.

What about safety? In 2006, Dell was forced to issue the biggest recall in electronics history when its lithium-ion batteries burst into flames. Lutz says GM has solved that problem with its batteries, but they need a lot more testing to check how durable and reliable they are in extreme weather and real-road conditions. Still, Lutz insists the Volts will be in dealerships by 2010.

"We've spoken to people who say, 'Lutz is crazy.' … they cannot do this by then. It's just not going to happen," Stahl says.

"Right. We'll see. Somebody's going to have egg on their face," Lutz replies.

The rest of the article continues onto page 2, here's the link;
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/05/60minutes/main4502448_page2.shtml

Honda, Citing Battery Limits, Avoids Rush to Plug-Ins

Masaaki Kato, president of Research and Development at Honda Motor Company, stands for a photo in the company's North American headquarters in Torrance, California, on Sept. 12, 2008. Photographer: Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg News

By Alan Ohnsman

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., first to lease hydrogen autos to U.S. drivers, said batteries haven't advanced enough to make rechargeable cars a good replacement for gasoline models and isn't following rivals who plan to sell plug-ins.

"For battery-powered vehicles to become more widespread, more popular in the market, we feel battery technology needs to advance further,'' said Masaaki Kato, president of Honda's research unit, in an interview at the Tokyo-based company's U.S. headquarters. Expectations for plug-ins are big and ``we don't know that that could be sustained right now,'' he said.

Honda is bucking an industry move toward lithium-ion batteries as record-high U.S. fuel prices this year and climate change concerns over carbon dioxide push carmakers to develop alternatives to gasoline power.

General Motors Corp. sparked interest in a new generation of electric cars with its Volt, a sedan due by 2010 that will travel 40 miles solely on lithium-ion batteries before needing a recharge. Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's largest automaker, and No. 3 Nissan Motor Co. are also readying small electric cars powered only by batteries.

A production version of GM's plug-in Volt is to be shown tomorrow in Detroit.

"GM and Toyota are slugging it out for attention as technology leaders in this area,'' said Phil Gott, a powertrain analyst for market forecaster Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. "Honda doesn't want to get in the middle of that. They've also been fast to market with many technologies, and don't have anything to prove right now.''

'Impossible to Imagine'

Vehicles using lithium-ion power wouldn't satisfy most consumers, since such batteries are costly and still hold less than half the energy of gasoline by weight, Kato said.

"We just don't see it providing the type of driving performance you get with a gasoline-powered vehicle,'' Kato said Sept. 12 in Torrance, California, speaking through a translator.

For example, the Japanese government's advanced battery development program has a goal of boosting energy storage capacity by seven times and cutting cost to 2.5 percent of the current level, said Kato, who is also senior managing director for Japan's second-largest automaker.

"That gives you a pretty clear example of what type of gap we're facing relative to a gasoline vehicle,'' he said. "At this point, I'd say it's impossible to imagine a date at which such a breakthrough could occur.''

Refining Fuel-Cell System

While Honda may offer a plug-in at some point, for now it will continue refining the fuel-cell system in its new hydrogen- powered FCX Clarity sedan, Kato said. Based on advances the company has made with the vehicle, including improving range to 280 miles, ``we believe it's easier than battery innovation,'' Kato said.

Such a choice isn't unusual for Honda, said Michael Omotoso, powertrain analyst for market-research firm J.D. Power & Associates in Troy, Michigan.

"This fits in with their reputation for conservative product decisions,'' Omotoso said. ``They opted not to offer V-8 engines and stayed out of big trucks, and they're doing well this year because they focused more on small cars.''

Source:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1gUi10kXBsM

The smart money is on Honda

Jeremy Cato, September 10, 2008 at 11:01 AM EDT

Honda or General Motors? When it comes to hybrids, who's got it right?

I'm leaning to Honda's simple approach over GM's attempt at a moonshot.

Here's the background. On Monday, unauthorized photos of the Chevrolet Volt, GM's plug-in hybrid, were leaked to the Web. Among other places they popped up on http://www.thecarconnection.com/. GM officials say they had planned to release the photos themselves later this month to coincide with the company's centennial celebrations next month.

Production of the Volt is due to start in November of 2010. If GM pulls this off it will be an amazing technological achievement.

That's because the Volt is really an electric car with a range of about 56 km. It will have a lithium ion battery pack and a small on-board gasoline engine. GM expects owners mostly to re-charge using a wall outlet, but if you get stuck you'll be able to charge up the batteries using the on-board gas motor.

GM actually does not call the Volt a hybrid at all. It is, instead, an “extended range electric vehicle.”

No auto maker has ever managed what GM is attempting. Most troubling of all is the fact the batteries are unproven. GM insists it has all the problems licked and that running prototypes are already being tested. We'll probably see one next week in Detroit at the company's centennial celebration in Detroit.

Even if GM manages to overcome all the technological hurdles, there is the little matter of price. Most believe – me among them – that the Volt will sell for something approaching $35,000 or $40,000. Why? All the new gizmos and gadgets for one. For another, GM will be selling Volts in very small numbers – at least at the outset.

I give GM full marks for being daring, but frankly Honda's approach is less risky and more likely to work as a profitable business.

I am talking about the Insight hybrid Honda showed last week. It is a smallish five-door hatchback due to go on sale next April and it we are led to believe it will sell for about $20,000, perhaps less. The Insight is smaller than the current Civic Hybrid which lists for just under $27,000.

Honda expects to sell 200,000 Insights a year worldwide. Moreover, this Insight is the first of several more hybrids from Honda. A smaller sports hybrid, the CR-Z, will come next and there is talk that around 2012 a hybrid Fit will be added. In each case, Honda will be using hybrid technology that the company has been refining for a decade, since the first two-door Insight hybrid went on sale.

Honda just keeps grinding away at overcoming the technological hurdles, rather than trying to manage a fantastic breakthrough. On top of that, Honda's very clear and oft-stated strategy is to put hybrid systems into compacts and subcompacts because that's where the green technology achieves its greatest efficiencies.

Unlike Toyota and GM, to name two, Honda has no interest in installing hybrid drive trains in luxury sedans and SUVs. And Honda research and development people say a pure electric vehicle, or something close to it, is not ready now and won't be for some time; the battery technology is not there and is not likely to be for many years – not in a reliable and affordable way, at least.

Honda's position here makes the most sense to me. I agree that hybrid systems are best used in small cars which are most often used for city driving – where stop-start technology saves fuel and cuts emissions and regenerative braking constantly recharges the batteries.

Oh, and I like Honda's recent track record overall. Remember, Honda reported a record profit of US $1.68 billion for the quarter that ended in June. GM and Ford, to name two, have lost billions this year.

Honda doesn't need a moonshot to be successful, but GM does. Put all the various factors together and it seems to me the smart money should be on Honda.

Source;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080910.WBdriving20080910110140/WBStory/WBdriving