Honda's crystal ball: The future of the automobile

Honda hosted a Web conference Wednesday to discuss its view on the future of the automobile, encouraging consumers to "resist the temptation to pick winners and losers or to disparage competing ideas," said Robert Bienenfeld, senior manager of environment and energy strategy for American Honda Motor Co. in Torrance.

Addressing the twin challenges of reduced petroleum use and reduced greenhouse gas emissions requires the aggressive pursuit of all technologies, some of which have near-term benefits, others long-term, Bienenfeld said.

With nearly 100% of vehicles still powered by petroleum, improving the fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines is the first step, he said; the use of variable cylinder management (which shuts down engine cylinders when the load is light), more efficient transmissions, improved aerodynamics, decreased rolling resistance and reduced engine friction could improve gas fuel efficiency by as much as 15% to 20%.

"The challenge is finding the right combination of features and technologies while keeping costs under control."

Hybrids, he added, are both cost effective and fuel efficient, and they reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about a third over gasoline-only engines. Vehicles that run on natural gas can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 25% and operate on a clean and domestically sourced fuel.

While plug-in hybrids (such as the Chevrolet Volt), pure electrics (such as the Nissan Leaf) and fuell-cell electric vehicles (including the Honda Clarity) "offer important advantages," Bienenfeld said, they also present "serious challenges" since 50% of U.S. electricity is from coal, and coal will continue to "remain a significant part of the U.S. energy mix for decades."

Bienenfeld added that plug-in electrics produce about the same well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions as a similarly sized hybrid, though they are good from an energy security viewpoint because they consume no gasoline.

"The important thing today is that we agree on the fundamental priorities: reduce our dependence on petroleum and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Bienenfeld said. "By establishing these social priorities rather than favoring specific technologies, companies like Honda will have the freedom and flexiblity to pursue all promising alternatives. No single technology will achieve all of our societal and environmental aims."

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: American Honda Motor Co.

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Comments

[Arnold Galtine]

Definetely, we can't deny the great contribution of Hybrid cars in helping the environment and as far as I know TopSpeed.com called Honda as the “car of the new generation.” But despite of this great benefits, still when talking about the cost efficient the hybrid cars are still pricey and only few can afford it...but still and lets keep our finger cross that someday the automakers could actually made a car that is actually environmental friendly and wallet friendly also..;)

[Susan Carpenter]

Honda has announced plans to bring a pure electric to market in 2012. When I asked Bienenfeld about the viability of an electric-diesel hybrid for the U.S., sort of like the Chevy Volt but using diesel instead of gas, he said it wasn't likely because diesel is so much more expensive in the U.S. than in Europe and hybrid technologies already come with a premium price point.

[Sean B]

And no word on more fuel-efficient diesels.

[JF]

Ernie:

Perhaps you missed this sentence in the article "fuel-cell electric vehicles (including the Honda Clarity)". The FCX is in itself an electric vehicle with its own power source on board. If Honda felt EV's were a viable alternative, they would have the car ready to go and could build it very fast. The original FCX has been around for quite a few years, the Honda EV was around way back in the late 90's. Certainly between 1997 and today, Honda could design another EV, do you agree? Please do not let ignorance guide your thoughts. If you do not agree with Honda's view on the future of the automobile, I respect that, but please be informed.

[Ernie Hernandez]

In other words, Honda has no electric vehicle on the horizon. What will their story be when they do have one? "Oh... we discovered that electric vehicles do make sense for a certain portion of the population so we felt an obligation to provide those consumers a Honda choice."