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Limitations on our future automobiles do NOT have to be consistent with the economic carnage that is happening to us right now. That is why I take issue with the June 8, 2009 email article from Whiskey and Gunpowder that says the following:
“The collapse of General Motors and Chrysler signifies more than the collapse of US car manufacturing. It spells the end of the motoring era in America per se and the puerile fantasy of personal liberation that allowed it to become such a curse to us.”
While I highly respect the opinions and sometimes irreverent approach of the daily W&G email, I have to disagree on this one. Detroit and the auto industry still have savior technologies which can keep the ole auto spirit alive. Maybe cars won’t roar as much; maybe it will use far less gasoline per mile, but the automotive experience doesn’t have to be an extreme downer either; as small and mini-cars are NOT in the public's best interest stricty from a safety position.
W&G believes the auto industry will fail simply because “car-making is only one facet of a larger network of systems that is coming undone, namely a revolving-debt, cheap-energy economy.”
True, I can’t deny that revolving debt is a curse to us all, and that reaching peak oil does make energy no longer cheap, but W&G still underestimates the American automotive ingenuity to build larger but light weight cars that can get great mileage, and function with multiple energy resources..
Think Savior Technologies
I believe the auto industry can help solve the energy issue, which is a major factor in our lives, by using the savior technologies it already has in its arsenal. Are they 100% perfect? No, every engineer understands this, because engineering is an evolutionary process; the public does not. The public has been lied to by the media into thinking that American ingenuity has been surpassed by the anything and everything foreign. Bullpucky and balderdash! That's simply not true!
Sure we need to build cars that are cost effective by being more efficient; and, in that manner, the need for extensive credit can be reduced in the long term. In other words, use technologies to remedy the negative effects of expensive energy, and the cost of that same energy will go down, not up, simply as a response to a supply & demand event.
Forget full electric cars for the moment. Fact is the automakers are already working on plenty of cost efficient, IC (internal combustion) engine technologies. My upcoming article will address improvements in thermal efficiency, lean burn systems, ethanol boosting, stratified pre-combustion chambers, cylinder deactivation, variable valve timing, turbo-charging, turbo-compounding, etc.
Here's what's important: These and all other emerging technologies could make IC engines alone produce startling fuel efficiency numbers without any high-cost technological breakthroughs; and, in that manner, without losing the characteristics that have made IC engines traditional favorites in the 3%-5% of the time when extra torque and horsepower are required.
Savior Tech #1
The first savior technology involves the maximization of IC engine efficiency. One of the best improvements to IC engines, in my opinion, is the HCCI technology, which means “homogeneous charge compression ignition.” It operates similar to a diesel and literally approaches the efficiency of a diesel, but on gasoline. And it’s far cleaner because it burns more thoroughly. It does not require a larger engine size or an expensive battery replacement every 7 years either.
If GM, Chrysler and Ford do not add this type of IC improvement to their car and truck lines, they ought to be excommunicated.
Savior Tech #2
The next savior technology involves the Electrification of the Automobile. In this venue, you will find an array of everything from a full electric car to a partial electric or hybrid. The freedom of choice is the public's to make. Some require long-term charging, until battery technology improves; and it will. For now, the solution is to extend the range of electrics via a small, IC or diesel engine, not for direct power, but merely to charge the battery. Right now, most hybrids use the IC engine to co-power the vehicle, but that will likely disappear in a short time.
Other Savior Techs and Beyond
Other automotive technology systems on the table use natural gas, hydrogen, fuel cells, even compressed air to power cars and trucks. The list goes on. More important, these technologies are not 20 years away; meaning, they’re here now; and as far as the American auto industry is concerned, a dearth in technology does NOT exist. So, get that out of your head.
Final Examiner Comments
Allow me to quote a great line in the movie, "Cool Hand Luke," heard when he got caught escaping from prison. “What we have here is a failure to communicate,” said the warden. Likewise, the auto industry has failed to make its case amidst all of the financial issues brought on by stupid legislation, bad monetary policy, unfair trade agreements and a healthcare system that is noncompetitive because the government and the AMA support the rule of a medical monopoly. And the public has failed to listen to the truth.
Technology is the solution to automobiles and transporting within our way of life. Poor government and company mismanagement, on the other hand, has been the real problem. That's why we have a failure to understand the auto industry is merely in its change of life; meaning, it’s not dead. It's just having severe hot flashes. Even Toyota is struggling to make money, and now will cut production.
In time, transportation will merely change with the needs of society and become more responsive. It will still be here, though, unless you like walking or paying exhorbitant taxes to ride a bus or a train.
Bottom line: The problems of the industry are managerial and financial, not technological. So, the collapse of General Motors and Chrysler does NOT signify the entire collapse of US car manufacturing. Neither does it spell the end of the motoring era in America per se. The motors will simply be different. So, your personal liberation via the automobile will remain for some time, regardless of how it’s powered.
Comments
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it."
Upton Sinclair
The quote:
“The collapse of General Motors and Chrysler signifies more than the collapse of US car manufacturing. It spells the end of the motoring era in America per se and the puerile fantasy of personal liberation that allowed it to become such a curse to us.”
is from James Howard Kunstlers blog orginally.
Even if your technology improves gas mileage a bit, this will more than be canceled out due to the developing world such China and India using much more than what is saved here. Also you admit to peak oil, declining oil production. So then, how do you reconcile all of these factors?
Wonder how much clues does the writer have?
Savior tech -- haha -- I can't wait for Jesus to come back to life.
I wonder why the heck "Savior Tech" is not saving GM right now. Where the f_v_c_k is Savior Tech in the past 10 years?
The auto industry is not going to solve any energy problem -- it is the cause of our energy problem. Until it went away -- dead -- expired -- it's not going to solve sheesh.
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