By: Jan Parisian

Jan Parisian — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:56:16 +0000

The history of the American auto makers’ ability to change has been abysmal.
Now its continued existence is in question. What can and will Congress do to
ensure the future of this iconic America industry? Can we stop political
posturing and act to address the problem now? The current situation presents
lawmakers with a unique opportunity to collaborate with the Big Three to
preserve millions of jobs while reducing both dependence on foreign oil and
harmful emissions generated by oil consumption. This will be decisive for Michigan.
If Congress decides to assist the automotive industry, conditions must be
applied to reflect current energy realities. First, Americans are acutely aware
that 70% of our oil is imported (much of which fuels our vehicles), while
natural gas, which is cleaner, more abundant and less costly, is ignored as fuel
for cars and light duty trucks. (The Pickens Plan addresses heavy-duty
vehicles.) In recent years American industry has perfected techniques to extract
natural gas from huge domestic gas shale and tight sands deposits. While these
new discoveries are only beginning to be developed, these new reserves are
projected to sustain us for over 100 years. Secondly, we have 250,000,000
registered vehicles on our roads; only 142,000 run on natural gas. Detroit has
made cars to run either exclusively on natural gas, or on both natural gas and
gasoline. While production has ceased in the U.S., it continues in other
countries.
We should mandate the following conditions for Detroit automakers to qualify
for rescue funding: (1) Make the vast majority of new cars and light trucks have
dual fuel capability (both natural gas and gasoline) so that the compressed
natural gas (CNG) option can be added at time of purchase. The rescue also
should help buyers pay for the additional cost of this option. (2) Make
available aftermarket conversion kits to enable the most recent car models to be
converted to dual fuel capability. By certifying these “kits,” unlocking the
on-board computers (ECUs) to enable effective running on CNG, and training their
service and sales personnel, manufacturers will free a vastly larger number of
cars from foreign oil. These conversion costs also should be part of the rescue
package because, in addition to reducing dependency on foreign oil, conversion
provides immediate jobs and income that will aid the auto industry’s 43,000
dealerships and parts suppliers. (While government should continue to promote
hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, etc., the number likely to be produced in
the short term will not save the industry.)
Given the likelihood that 10 million new vehicles may be sold annually under
condition (1), at best, it affects only 1/25 of registered vehicles. Thus,
condition (2) should be mandated for its potential to wean far more vehicles off
foreign oil. Since the number of CNG fueling stations is currently insufficient,
vehicles will continue to need gasoline capability, while a nation-wide CNG
fueling network is put into place. This infrastructure buildup has ramifications
not only for current CNG-based internal combustion engines, but also for future
local clean conversion of natural gas to hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles.
We have natural gas trunklines under virtually every American “main
street.” To connect feeder pipes from these lines to nearby fueling stations
should be relatively easy, and CNG pumps are readily available for purchase. If
President-elect Obama is looking to boost the economy by initiating a 21st
century version of Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), enacting
what is proposed here provides opportunity for hundreds of thousands of jobs,
reduces our dependence on foreign oil, and contributes to a cleaner environment.
The American people should tell Congress not to enact a rescue that allows the
Big Three to force us to maintain our oil habit by agreeing to minimal
miles-per-gallon increases. Timing is critical as negotiations are in progress
now.

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By: Jan Parisian