Automakers who urgently need to find affordable ways to make cars environmentally sustainable are zeroing in on polluted, fuel-scarce China to help them take clean car concepts from the laboratory to the market, according to a news agency report.
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Mounting alarm over global warming and soaring crude oil prices was evident among car makers showcasing their latest green technologies at the Challenge Bibendum, held this week in Shanghai’s ‘Auto City’ – an industrial zone to the west of the city, the Associated Press (AP) said.
AP said the talk at the 2004 Shanghai event was all of phasing in various technologies over decades but, with crude oil prices now nudging $US100 a barrel, it’s of moving ahead with all technologies as soon as possible, especially in China, where environmental crises and fuel shortages resulting from its embrace of the car make it a microcosm of global trends.
“We used to talk about timeframes of short-mid-long-term. Now all of them are in play to figure out what are the different options for the different markets,” General Motors’ head of environment, energy and safety policy, Elizabeth Lowery, told the news agency.
Lowery reportedly said China’s huge market and strong growth make it “critical” to the effort to reduce dependence on petroleum and carbon dioxide emissions.
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By GlobalDataThe Associated Press noted that China now ranks second globally after the United States and is fast catching up in both oil consumption and vehicle sales – which jumped 25% last year to 7.2m units, including trucks and buses.
AP said China had made progress on reducing emissions but a gray haze nonetheless hung over sleek concept cars being driven around the parking lot.
AP noted that GM late last month announced plans for a $US250m alternative fuel research centre in Shanghai while Toyota and Honda produce hybrids in China – and GM plans to start selling one there next year.
The challenge, the news agency concluded, remains making the technologies affordable, and that hinges on boosting production volumes to reduce manufacturing costs per vehicle. Automakers are looking to the double-digit growth in China and other developing markets such as India to help realise those economies of scale, it said.
“What really counts is applying the right technology on volume vehicles,” Ford’s director of sustainable business strategies, John Viera, told AP.
Daimler’s chief environmental officer, Herbert Kohler, added: “The number one issue is commercialisation: To get the cost down.”
Viera reportedly urged the Chinese government to promote clean cars, both hybrids and others, with tax breaks and other policy incentives.
“When we have government support, we shall launch these products for Chinese consumers,” he told the Associated Press. “We need governments to be our partners.”
AP noted that, while some countries like Brazil encourage ethanol use, China has sought to curb an expansion in biofuel production to help protect food supplies and control prices – so automakers such as Ford, Daimler and Volkswagen are focusing on diesel, which can be processed from a variety of resources, including coal and natural gas.
“Our aim is to make diesel as clean as [petrol] engines and [petrol] engines as efficient as diesel,” Kohler told the news agency.
AP also noted that tyre makers and chemicals manufacturers are developing new materials to reduce vehicle weight, wind resistance and ground friction – factors that can account for about a third of the carbon emissions that cause global warming.
Even road contractors have a crucial role to play in reducing pollution, recycling materials and using paving that can maximise efficiency, Jean Beauverd, chairman of the International Road Federation and president of road building company Colas Switzerland, told the news agency.
“There is a general agreement that business as usual is not an option,” Beauvert told the Associated Press.
