Battery Makers Say Washington Must Do More to Help U.S. Electric-Car Industry
Unless Washington raises a new manufacturing backbone for green vehicles, a panel of battery makers said Wednesday, Americans had better get used to seeing this label on their low-emissions cars: "Not made in the U.S.A."
That's because the credit tap has run dry in America and many of the parts American automakers are buying for use in tomorrow's ultra-fuel-efficient and alternative-fuel cars and trucks are manufactured abroad.
Speaking at an Electric Drive Transportation Association conference in Washington, D.C., the panelists said the automakers will continue to buy parts from abroad--up to 90 percent of the parts they need, according to one estimate--as long as there's no low-cost way to make them in America.
And though their emphasis was on the energy storage systems that will power hybrids and electric vehicles, the problem doesn't end there. It runs through the entire supply chain, the panelists said.
Take the scenario of Michael Andrew, government affairs director for Johnson Controls-Saft, a joint venture between U.S.-based Johnson Controls Inc. and French battery maker Saft.
The company builds what Andrew calls "plug-and-play" battery systems that can be dropped into a car with little complexity. For the U.S. market, Johnson Controls would like to build these systems on American soil to reduce transportation costs and time to market.
But to make the plug-and-play product, Johnson Controls-Saft needs special manufacturing equipment and diagnostic tools. By and large, Andrew said he has to buy that stuff from Pacific Rim companies that are serving their own domestic markets.
So while the product is made by company that is half American, it's having to pay foreign companies for most of the expensive equipment it needs to make batteries.
Fixing the Problem
The solution, as Andrew sees it, is for Washington to create a strong domestic market for fuel-efficient and alternative-fuel vehicles in the United States. One way the U.S. government could do that is by ordering thousands of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for government fleets.
The purchases would not only save the government millions of dollars in fuel costs, but they would give investors and suppliers enough confidence to build manufacturing here. Andrew and other panelists said that, in turn, would bring prices of PHEVs and EVs down while simultaneously making them more desirable to Americans.
Unfortunately, the current government program isn't doing enough to help the industry, said panelist Charles Gassenheimer, chairman of battery developer Ener1.
While the U.S. Department of Energy if offering up to $25 billion in loans to build or upgrade manufacturing plants that will make fuel-efficient and alternative-fuel vehicles, to meet President-elect Barack Obama's goal of a million plug-in hybrids by 2015, Gassenheimer estimated the government would have to make at least $35 billion available.
- Posted by
- Scott Doggett December 4, 2008, 11:52 AM
- Permalink
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Battery Makers, Electric Cars, Electric Drive Transportation Association, Electric Vehicles, EV, Fuel Efficient, Johnson Controls-Saft, PHEV, Plug In Electric Hybrid
What a crock! If you picked the least ready for prime time method of replacing hydrocarbon fuels batteries would be the clear winner. Maybe in another 50 years when the technology actually works for something over say 40 miles (can you say Chevy "Dolt") it would be worth taking a look at. If we are smart by then the hydrogen economy will be 40 years old.
I'm eager to see more stories from the Conference... but generally not happy about the one-sided nature of the 'electric' car conversation happening in the US.
Cars are not iPods- and to paint a future where batteries alone power vehicles is misleading. As is promoting the notion of 'plugging in'. The future is going to be an integrated electric drive system powered by a combination of energy storage devices.
This is a long road- and yes, we do face enormous challenges in the US creating a domestic energy storage manufacturing base. Batteries seem lost, and fuel cells / capacitors could be our best bet. I can't see li-ion batteries coming from anywhere other than Asia at this point.
So- I'm looking forward to seeing this conversation evolve.
Garry G
Editor
The Energy Roadmap.com
http://www.theenergyroadmap.com
Garry G
The problem involves more than just not ready for prime time batteries. The electric grid, upon which the entire notion of electric vehicles rests, is already an antiquated ( President Elect has its modernization as a high priority), wasteful (nearly $20 billion lost in tranmsission yearly) inefficient ( 58 seperate entities) system that relies on the highest pollution generating fuel (coal) and 20% imported natural gas for generation. The notion that this is good policy for the future is ludicrous. It is also the case, as you point out that the batteries will be imported so the trade off is very little savings in liquid hydrocarbons - a lot more coal - and more imported energy devices. Hardly what one could call progress. Lithium is also an ecologic disaster to mine and disposal is a mess.With hybrids running around 2% of market and saving very little in hydrocarbon usage what percentage of vehicles do you figure electric plug-ins will account for? At $40000 the chevy "Dolt" may sell 5000 a year of what use is that?
Can't figure out why anyone would advocate this as a means of attaining energy self-sufficiency.