Detroit Auto Show 2009: Green Rules- Response (8)

This article was posted about the Detroit Auto Show and I think it gives a very good summary. Many other articles merely talked about a single car or company. I also happened to watch a TV program on the show and thought it was very interesting.

It is clear that many car companies are beginning to understand how their less fuel efficient vehicles have been hurting the environment and have been forcing consumers to pay more at the pump. I noticed that more than half of the vehicles shown were fully electric or hybrids. I even saw a fuel cell vehicle, however this is not mentioned in the article. I think one reason fuel cells are having a difficult time is because they are more expensive to make than electric vehicles and hydrogen is not easily available.

The article mentions tax breaks for green-technology. I think that there should be around a 10% tax break for gas vehicles that get more than 30 mpg. There should be a 20% tax break for hybrid vehicles. Finally, there should be a 30% tax break for electric and other alternatively fueled vehicles.

The reason for these tax breaks, is they will help people work towards alternatively powered vehicles, specifically electric. This will slow carbon emissions and help the economy because money won't be wasted on foreign oil. Some people expect oil prices to climb soon.

I think that Toyota's new Prius is a little disappointing. The car gets 50 mpg but this is not a huge improvement from their last model. On the other hand, This might be a chance for American car companies such as GM and Ford to get one up with their upcoming plug-in electrics. Although Toyota already has many hybrid on the market, I think that the Volt and Fusion will be very strong when they are released.

After seeing and reading about all of these new cars I think that Tesla's Roadster is the top performer. It has the longest range of any plug-in electric car that has been proposed. It also is the fastest and most powerful electric car out, and this makes it more popular than the others. The only drawback to the Roadster, is it is the most expensive at $109,000. Tesla has already sold over 150 of these cars to environmentally-interested celebrites and other people with money to spare.

I think that Tesla will continue to make profits with this car and I am very interested to hear that they are producing a $57,500 version and possibly a model under $30,000. I think it is great that Tesla is making popular and soon cheaper cars. If Tesla manufactures these newer models in large numbers, it is possible that they might be bought by one of the "Big Three." If they gain a lot of profits, and are not bought-out, there might be a "Big Four."

Overall, car companies are selling "greener" vehicles (though it is up to the comsumers to buy them). In my opinion the new Toyota Prius is a little bellow my expectations, but it is the strongest currently sold. Tesla is my bet for the future if it can scale up production. It is great that American companies are making progress as well.

Detroit Auto Show 2009: Green Rules (8)

This article is from http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=Q4XHGL1DIERKSQSNDLPSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=212900435&pgno=1&queryText=&isPrev.

The article was posted on Juanary 16, 2009 and it decribes automakers pledging they will offer even more alternatives to gas-guzzling models, with many planning electric-only vehicles (EVs) within three years.

General Motors plans to start selling its hybrid Volt sedan in the U.S. next year. At the auto show this week, GM unveiled a concept luxury sedan that uses the same Volt technology, the Cadillac Converj.

Now GM wants to be a leader in hybrid and EV technology, and plans to open a battery research lab in Michigan. GM said it's hiring more engineers to work on battery technologies, is partnering with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on its research efforts. It will also open up a Michigan plant to assemble battery packs based on lithium-ion batteries supplied by LG Chem Ltd. of Korea.

GM stuck its latest Hummer models into the back corner of its floor space at Detroit's Cobo Hall. With all the attention on fuel efficiency and green technologies, the Hummer's presence was probably embarrassing.

GM has said it will spend $758 million on Volt technology by 2012 and will battle the Toyota Prius within a few years.

The Prius has a big head start, though. At Monday's show press preview, Toyota debuted the 2010 model, which was redesigned for more fuel efficiency and aerodynamics, is about one inch longer and wider, and will offer 50 mpg with combined city/highway use. Toyota said it hopes to sell 400,000 of the vehicles this year, putting it in the production range of the Camry and Corolla.

Ford, which has offered the hybrid Escape SUV for several years, will start selling a hybrid Fusion sedan this spring. Between the two models, it expects to sell 55,000 hybrid vehicles.

The hybrid Fusion will get about 41 mpg on the highway and 36 mpg in the city, which compares to 34/22 for a nonhybrid Fusion, he said. The price difference between the two is about $3,000, but that doesn't include savings from green-technology tax breaks. The hybrid version will offer the same deluxe features as the Fusion SEL.

Making its debut at the Detroit auto show this year is Tesla, a 5-year-old Silicon Valley company founded by Elon Musk, who founded and sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion. Among Tesla's early investors were Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who each own a Tesla Roadster.

The Roadster is the only highway-capable, all-electric vehicle on the road. The only problem is the $109,000 price tag. But thanks to green-minded Hollywood stars, wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and Manhattan bankers, Tesla has sold 150 Roadsters and has 1,100 orders. Tesla plans to open retail stores in Chicago, Miami, and Seattle this year, said senior communications manager Rachel Konrad.

The Roadster doesn't use any gas and doesn't even have a tailpipe; it's powered on 6,831 lithium-ion batteries. Tesla is developing a $57,500, four-door EV sedan for availability in late 2011, and also is planning an under-$30,000 model, Konrad said.

Green efforts weren't entirely about hybrids and EVs. GM debuted the futuristic-looking Spark, which gets 40 mpg and is the company's first "mini" vehicle. It will sell first in Asia and Europe, with a U.S. debut planned in the 2010 or 2011.

China's BYD showed off a few hybrid models and one all-electric vehicle, the e6, which it plans to start selling in the United States in 2011.

Ford Promises an Electric Future- Response (7)

After Ford declined the government bailout, it was a little unclear as to what direction they were planning to head in. This article made it more clear and it confirmed that Ford will be manufacturing electric cars.

There is however a lack of information on Ford's new car. Both Tesla and General Motors have already done significant work in creating and starting to put their cars on the market. Because Ford is still in an early developing stage, they haven't entirely committed towards the production of the car. From what I know so far, Chrysler has made very little progress towards electric cars.

The article mentions that Bill Ford originally planned to make more fuel-efficient cars and possibly electric cars. It is not completely clear why he abandoned his goals, but it is possible that he was pressured by others in leadership positions at Ford to manufacture less fuel-efficient vehicles, such as SUVs and trucks, because they thought they were more profitable.

The Ford Fusion is expected to be one of the most fuel efficient hybrid on the market in 2011. I think that they will competitive with the Toyota Prius as the two cars with the highest miles per gallon.

While the Fusion will have great mileage, I believe that it will not even be competitive with the Chevrolet Volt or Tesla Roadster. Both of those cars are plug-in electric which means that they will not initially use any gasoline. I would expect that the Fusion will be the cheapest of the three, however, the amount paid for gas will eventually accumulate. While fuel efficient cars are a good short-term goal, they still attribute to global warming; plug-in electric cars are optimal.

Ford Promises an Electric Future (7)

This article was at http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/fords-electric-future/?emc=eta1.

When Bill Ford became the CEO of Ford a decade ago, he promised fuel economy improvements and other green efforts, but he later had to back away from them. He eventually decided to pass the chief executive job, hiring Alan Mulally to run the company.

On Sunday, Ford announced an “expanded electric-vehicle strategy in line with the nation’s growing interest in them.”

Within the next three years, Ford is planning to release two electric-vehicle projects, along with its next generation of hybrid vehicles (including a plug-in hybrid).

The first project is a collaboration with Tanfield, a British electric automaker, to produce battery-electric versions of the Ford Transit and Transit Connect, commercial vehicles sold in Europe. The second is a small battery-electric passenger car made in conjunction with Magna International, a Canadian automotive supplier. The car, which is scheduled for production in 2011, will be powered by lithium-ion batteries and have a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge, Ford said.

Recently, the Ford Fusion Hybrid has been garnering praise, after Ford announced that the car’s E.P.A.-rated gas mileage would make it the most fuel efficient mid-size sedan on the market when it goes on sale early this year.

Nice job with your blog so far, Liam! I can totally picture you making important political decisions later on in life; your articles are rich in information, your notes are well written and easy to understand, and your responses show that you have obviously been thinking about the article and all different aspects of it. I liked how you didn't just instantly agree with all the articles you read, instead arguing some parts: i.e. Michael Moroney feeling it's far fetched to believe 10% of all registered vehicles could run on electric by 2020. [That would be awesome, by the way!]
Keep it up!
ps. I took your poll(:

Kelsey Schwarz- Response to 4,5,6

I agree with Morgan, it's easy to tell that you are really interested in your topic and you enjoy researching it. I think that you're doing a great job. You're finding really good articles that are packed full with information. Reading your responses are my favorite part because you take your time to thoroughly think out what you read and you give in depth responses. Maybe you could talk with an owner of a car company or someone who manufactures cars to get an idea of what they think will come about in the future.

Aimee Response Reflection

Hayden, I like your comment about calling Obama a communist and a soviet. However, I think it was an interesting choice to involve politic in your I-search. Have you found any information about solar powered cars? Motorcycles are not cars, but are you going to include all vehicles as well now? Your notes are neat and informative, and your comments follow them. Keep it up!

Morgan's response # 3

You can tell how intrested you are in this topic, it shows through in your writting. One thing you need to work on is carying on the information from your acticles, not just repeating it,in that you can just make connections between your articles.

Is electric the road ahead?- Response (6)

I would have to disagree with Mr. Moroney regarding several points. I disagree with his belief that the Irish government’s recently announced target of having 10 per cent of all registered vehicles running on electric power by 2020, "seems a little far-fetched." I believe that it is entirely likely that by 2020, over 10% of the world's vehicles will run on electric power. This seems quite a reasonable goal considering that electric cars are already available and will continue to become more economically priced over the next 11 years. I think that once electric cars are affordable, people will quickly adopt them.

I think that it is only fair that electric car owners receive the most tax breaks as they produce the least carbon emissions. I also believe that electric cars are the most promising. Hybrid vehicles still produce carbon emissions so they do not deserve equal tax cuts. Biofuels cause the price of food to escalate because they have farmers devoting land to fuel-production instead of feeding people. Fuel cell cars are the most expensive and difficult to produce of all. Hydrogen production also requires fossil fuels and produces greenhouse gases.

Moroney also suggests that the electricity to supply electric cars comes from plants run by fossil fuels and therefore offers no great advantage over gasoline-powered cars. I think that there will be an increasing supply of renewable energy as technology advances and facilities increase in size and number. This includes large wind farms and large solar installations.

Overall, I think Moroney underestimates the advantages of electric cars over the other alternative vehicle types.