Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Past and Future of the Auto Industry

As I note over at the Guardian, the need for federal bailout money is pushing GM and Chrysler in the direction of more fuel efficient vehicles. GM has experienced what you might call a foxhole conversion to the belief in hybrid or electric vehicles:
This commitment to green technology is a new-found virtue. Only four years ago, GM killed its plans for an electric car, even though sales of Toyota's Prius hybrid were on the rise.
Delaware's offer of $94,140 to AutoPort seems more forward looking, though frugal in comparison:
Delaware's governor Jack Markell isn't waiting for Detroit to create the automotive future. Yesterday, Markell awarded a modest economic development grant to a local company, AutoPort, to convert gasoline-powered vehicles to a new technology called Vehicle to Grid, or V2G, which is being developed at the University of Delaware. V2G enables vehicles to store electricity at night when demand is low and return it to the grid during hours of peak demand. The small but bitter irony, though, is that the company is converting Toyota Scions being shipped into the Port of Wilmington – not the unsold Saturns and Pontiacs piling up at the nearby GM plant.
$194k may seem like pocket change compared to the billions being used to bail out GM and Chrysler, but at least it's an investment in the future and not the past.

1 Comments:

Blogger Brusli said...

Hello
Couldn't agree with you more!
I am from Slovenija, EU, and here we are striving to become a part of the electric car's 2nd revolution...
Have you noticed betterplace.com, check it out, they've developed V2G more then others, and allready have deals with automakers in place. Chrysler and GM should both consider joining the cause.

Anyway, I would really appreaciate if you could do some networking for us, and maybe connect us with the newly financed Delaware company?

best regards
Vladimir, vladimir@ketnaa.com

9:21 AM, March 03, 2009  

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