Environmentalists push automakers for greener alternatives

Automakers will roll into the Los Angeles Auto Show on Friday with a new lineup of concept cars powered by alternative fuels. But activists complain car companies are still moving too slowly to curb the dependence on foreign oil.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG will unveil vehicles that run on hydrogen, while other companies, including DaimlerChrysler AG and Volkswagen AG, will show vehicles powered by E85 ethanol, electric-gas hybrid engines, biodiesel, natural gas and low-sulphur diesel fuel.

Environmentally friendly cars will be a highlight of the auto show, which gained prominence this year after it was moved from January toearly December to occur before the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Organizers said 21 new models will make their world debuts at the Los Angeles show, which runs through Dec. 10.

Many of the alternative-fuel concept cars on display may not become available to the public for years, in part because some fuels such as hydrogen are not readily available.

"Consumers are angry that they don't have greener choices in the showroom, so at least on the concept car front, automakers can say, 'hey, we're working on it,' " said Jason Mark, vehicles director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Automakers are also sending a message to the oil industry and government policy-makers that more progress must be made on building the infrastructure needed to deliver alternative fuels.

"It's a little bit of, 'here's our chicken, where's your egg?' " Mark said.

Mark and others also argue that carmakers should make more fuel-efficient cars now by using available technology instead of waiting decades for new systems to prove themselves.

A consumer group called "Jumpstart Ford" plans to demonstrate outside the auto show on Wednesday to say the vehicles on display provide too little, too late.

"While the public is being shown eco-demonstration vehicles at this week's auto show, the automakers' efforts sadly fall far short of the response needed in order to effectively break America's oil addiction," the group said in a prepared statement.

Expanded range for hydrogen

Advances in hydrogen fuel cell technology will be of special interest at the show.

Ford said it will show off a hydrogen-fuelled Explorer sport utility vehicle that can travel about 560 kilometres on one tank farther than any other fuel-cell vehicle. The vehicle, a prototype built for the U.S. Department of Energy, has a centre-mounted hydrogen tank as well as space for six people and their cargo.

Ford has logged more than 27,000 kilometres testing the Explorer, including 2,504 kilometres during one 24-hour period, which Ford called a record for any fuel-cell vehicle.

BMW, meanwhile, is displaying its new Hydrogen 7, powered by a 12-cylinder combustion engine that it touts as "the world's first hydrogen-powered performance sedan."

In the past, travel range was a problem with the hydrogen vehicles due to limited fuel storage. Ford likely overcame that with a large tank in a bigger vehicle, said Simon Ng, director of the alternative energy technology program at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Ford says the Explorer can store 10 kilograms of hydrogen, five times more than the amount carried by a hydrogen-powered Mercedes-Benz in use as a police car at Wayne State, Ng said.

The unveilings in Los Angeles are further steps toward bringing hydrogen vehicles to market, said JoAnn Milliken, acting hydrogen program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Integrating these new technologies into a system is major progress," she said.

Still, a mass-produced fuel cell vehicle is 10 to 15 years away, Ng said. Major obstacles include the lack of fuelling stations and high costs, he said, adding that the Mercedes in use at Wayne State cost more than $1 million US to produce.

U.S. Energy Department estimates show a mass-produced fuel-cell engine would cost about four times as much as a conventional gasoline engine. Ng said oil companies won't build fuelling stations without the cars being on the road, and the car companies won't build cars without a way to refuel them.

Milliken said the Energy Department is paying for part of demonstration projects to build hydrogen vehicles, and tax credits are offered as incentives for the industry to bring products to market.

"There's likely to be more incentives down the road as we get closer to achieving the targets," she said.