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Another Look at Fuel Efficiency
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Hybrids, he said, still depend to a large extent on gasoline even though they can also run on battery power.
Burns said that he expects GM to put a significant number of hydrogen fuel-cell cars on the road by 2015 and that those cars will have no emissions. Others think that hydrogen cars may be 30 or 40 years off.
"Anybody who expects to see fuel cells widely available in 10 years is dreaming," Toyota's Bastien said.
Regardless of how long hydrogen cars take to develop, some industry observers say that if gas prices continue to rise, automakers may have no choice but to build more cars that emphasize fuel efficiency over size.
"The nation has had something of a psychological shock. And that's good for us," said Jim Hossack, of automotive industry consultants AutoPacific Inc. "Our implicit energy policy has been, 'Abundant cheap gas for all. But please don't use too much.' That's a stupid policy. I've never heard a senator or congressman say high gas prices would be good for us. But the truth is they would be good for us."
Some are seizing on the price increase to make their case for other alternatives beyond the hybrids now available.
Late last week, a group of electric-car advocates created a group called Plug In America to promote the idea of using the power grid to operate vehicles. The electricity cost of charging up such a car, they said, would be the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon.
In a telephone news conference, former CIA director R. James Woolsey, a member of that advocacy group, expressed support for the idea, saying plug-in hybrids could be run on electricity from renewable sources such as wind or solar power, or with cleaner burning fuels such as ethanol. "We have a very good chance at making a substantial dent in our reliance on oil soon," Woolsey said.
The major automakers, however, have already rejected purely electric cars because they say there's is not enough consumer interest. And while they have been monitoring hybrids that plug into the electric grid, they have been reluctant to fully embrace the idea.
Goldstein, head of the local electric vehicles association, thinks that is a mistake -- both for environmental and business reasons.
"There's just a huge pent-up demand out there for electric cars. The technology is very, very attractive to people," he said. "There's a sea change taking place in the automotive market. But some manufacturers don't seem to get it. They're not listening to their customers."
