The Second Transportation Revolution

By James S. Cannon

The second transportation revolution has begun. The gasoline-burning automobile, the first revolutionary change in personal transportation, served us well throughout the 20th century. But it will, and must, give way to a host of advanced transportation technologies and new energy sources that promise us cleaner, better performing cars powered by sustainable fuels. The transition to the cars of the 21st century now underway will be no less profound than the replacement of the horse by the gasoline car a century ago.

Electric cars are perhaps the most alluring prospect of the second transportation revolution. Quiet, efficient, pollution-free, and ultimately powered by energy from the sun, electric vehicles hold great promise as the transportation technology that will rule the next century. The electric car marks the final step in the metamorphosis of the automobile - the replacement not only of gasoline, but the conventional mechanical drive train as well. An electronically powered and controlled propulsion system is several times more efficient than what is used in conventional cars today and, aided by computers, it provides an unheralded level of vehicle safety and performance. More than 4,000 registered electric vehicles now cruise U.S. roadways. Though expensive and with some technological wrinkles to work out, they nevertheless prove beyond a doubt that electric vehicles are a "real world" option.

There are several types of electric car. Nearly all electric cars on the road today are supplied with electricity stored in batteries. Battery systems make sense. After all, automotive batteries have been widely used since the advent of the electric ignition motor in 1912. Every gasoline- burning car on the road today has an electric battery used to trigger ignition of the internal combustion engine and to power an ever-increasing array of electronic gadgetry from power windows to CD players. Powering a car totally with batteries is an obvious next step in the gradual electrification of the conventional car. There is a growing list of major automotive manufacturers now selling battery equipped electric cars, including S-10 and Ranger pickups from General Motors and Ford respectively.

It should be straightforward to remove the gasoline combustion engine and add more batteries to produce a vehicle powered solely, rather than just initially, by electricity. This step has not proven to be so easy, however. Batteries are very heavy - 100 pounds of lead-acid batteries are needed, for example, to hold the energy contained in one pound of gasoline. Batteries are also bulky and they frequently require 6 to 8 hours to recharge, a major annoyance to a population accustomed to refueling a car in a few minutes. These drawbacks in batteries have inspired a search for alternative methods of providing electricity to electric vehicles. Fortunately, there are several competing technologies now entering the scene.

A second approach - called hybrid technology - combines on-board power generation and electrical storage technologies, offering what may prove to be superior performance compared with vehicles powered solely by batteries or by conventional engines. In hybrids, small combustion engines powered by any type of fuel, including conventional gasoline or diesel, are used to generate electricity on-board the vehicle. The electricity can either be used directly to power the vehicle or stored in a battery for future use. Hybrid designs are much smaller and lighter than battery powered vehicles and much more efficient and cleaner than conventional cars. They are also a snap to refuel.

In December 1997, Toyota began selling the world's first commercially available hybrid car, the Prius. It gets 66 miles per gallon and its tailpipe emissions are below the super ultra-low standards established in California. Many other hybrid models are nearing commercialization by other automotive manufacturers.

A leading challenger to both battery-powered and hybrid vehicles is the hydrogen fuel cell car, a third type of electric vehicle. Like hybrid systems, fuel cells generate electricity on-board the vehicle itself. An electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen occurs in a fuel cell without combustion. There are no moving parts in the fuel cell itself and the only products from the reaction are electricity and water. Because fuel cell systems, including hydrogen storage, are lighter, more compact, and easier to refuel than batteries, fuel cells may provide a more attractive technology for electric vehicles. Hydrogen is produced today cleanly from natural gas in a process called steam reforming. In the future, however, hydrogen will be produced by the electrolysis of water using renewable energy. Several sustainable, pollution-free hydrogen production systems using solar or wind power are now operating in the United States and Europe.

The U.S. developed the world's most advanced fuel cell technology in the 1960s as part of the space program. Fuel cells maintain a key energy source for the Space Shuttle. The first ground-based fuel cell vehicle did not take to the road until 1993, however, when a bus built by Ballard Power Systems of Vancouver, Canada, and a car built by Energy Partners, Inc., in Florida were unveiled. Several other fuel cell vehicles have been built since then, including three cars by Mercedes in Germany, one car each by Toyota and Mazda in Japan, and six buses in Canada. Nearly every automotive manufacturer worldwide has jumped into fuel cell research.

All three types of electric vehicle - battery, hybrid, and fuel cell - offer a glimpse of a radically different personal transportation future, one that ultimately is powered by renewable and pollution-free energy resources. Together they offer a solution to the environmental and energy supply problems that, eventually, are sure to undermine the viability of today's conventional cars.Cannon to speak in Houston

James S. Cannon is President of Energy Futures, Inc., a Colorado-based energy and environmental consulting firm. Mr. Cannon has written several books and studies examining alternative transportation fuels, including Harnessing Hydrogen: The Key to Sustainable Transportation. He will speak at the Greater Houston Partnership's Environmental Subcommittee breakfast on April 21 and at a colloquium on April 20.

For more information on the breakfast, call the GHP at 713-844-3656. For information about the April 20 colloquium, please contact Jane Elioseff at 713-528-377CEC Notes