Freedom Car a 'fig leaf' or U.S. automotive future?

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February 2002

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Freedom Car plan a 'fig leaf' or U.S. automotive future?
Just as hybrid gasoline-electric powered vehicles are beginning to make an appearance on America's crowded highways and byways, the Bush administration and the Department of Energy have announced a new public-private joint initiative aimed at launching the first practical hydrogen-powered vehicle within a decade.

With Freedom Car, the Department of Energy joins auto makers Ford, General Motors, and Daimler-Chrysler in a partnership to develop technologies for hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles that will require no oil and emit no harmful pollutants or greenhouse gases. The exhaust from hydrogen-powered vehicles is water vapor.

"Under this new program," said DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham, last month at the Detroit Auto Show, "the government and the private sector will fund research into advanced, efficient fuel cell technology which uses hydrogen to power automobiles without creating any pollution. The long-term results of this cooperative effort will be cars and trucks that are more efficient, cheaper to operate, pollution-free and competitive in the showroom.

"This plan is rooted in President Bush's call, issued last May in our National Energy Plan, to reduce American reliance on foreign oil through a balance of new domestic energy production and new technology to promote greater energy efficiency," Abraham said.

The announcement was not met with universal applause. John DeCicco of Environmental Defense pronounced himself generally gratified to hear of any government support for hydrogen-power research, though he believes such work would continue with or without government intervention. What worries DeCicco is that the initiative may simply be meant to distract the public from the government's relative unwillingness to "hold industry accountable" for improving fuel efficiency. Since peaking in the late 1980s at 25.9 per gallon, fuel efficiency levels have actually declined to 23.8—at least partly owing to the popularity of SUVs and light trucks.

DeCicco says the freedom car could turn out to be a "fig leaf" meant to cover over the federal government's inattention to increasing fuel efficiency or its growing interest in extending oil exploration domestically. "The reasons why we have the Freedom Car announcement now," he says, "are not because we've gone as far as we can go [with hybrid technology] but because the Bush administration doesn't really want to go any further."

So far none of America's major car manufacturers have been able to successfully introduce an alternative fuel vehicle into America's gas-guzzling market, though Japanese automakers Honda and Toyota managed recently to bring two fuel-electric hybrid cars to market.

The "Freedom Car" program will replace the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program, a multibillion-dollar research effort between automakers and the U.S. government that sought to develop an affordable gasoline-burning family sedan capable of getting 80 miles per gallon by 2004. Automakers have succeeded in building a few highly fuel-efficient cars, but they would cost several thousand dollars more than comparably-priced vehicles if they went on sale, according to a government report.

Though DeCicco believes that government support can be useful in propelling research into alternative fuel development, owing to the current budgetary and economic environemtn, "I seriously doubt any new money will be here [for hydrogen research]."

The Bush administration proposed last year to slash the program's $141 million research budget within the Energy Department by $40 million, but Congress restored most of the funding.

The DOE reports that despite advances in the development and sales of electric and hybrid electric-gasoline vehicles, 95 percent of America's transportation sector remains dependent on petroleum, with transportation consuming 67 percent of all petroleum used in the United States. Perhaps even more significant, America's dependence on foreign oil has continued to increase, with some 10 million barrels of imported oil—per day—now required to meet the demand.

Fuel cell technology and mass production of vehicles powered by hydrogen produced domestically from renewable sources will be the main focus of Freedom Car research. Other teams will work to develop the hydrogen-delivery system necessary to support a nationwide fleet of next-generation vehicles. In other words, the corner hydrogen station. In addition, the program will continue to support petroleum-based technologies that have shown potential to significantly reduce oil consumption and its related impact on the environment.

The DOE describes the potential of Freedom Car as a future energy source too cheap to meter, not unlike the terms the department once used to describe the potential of atomic energy. "Families will no longer have to factor in the cost of gasoline in their budgets, in their vacation plans, or in what type of vehicle they buy," said the DOE's Abraham. " The gas-guzzler will be a thing of the past."—Kevin Clarke

For more information:
EVWorld
U.S. Department of Energy announces “freedom car” initiative:
Freedom car fact sheet

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