"Fueling the Future" - Part 1 (Gasoline Addiction)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007SUSIE GHARIB: The government said gas prices set a new record high this week, averaging $3.10 a gallon nationwide. That's why American consumers are trying to find new ways to squeeze every mile they can out of a tank of fuel. And they're not the only ones. Car and truck makers are working to improve fuel efficiency as well. So we're beginning a three-part special series looking at that effort, called "Fueling the Future." Tonight, a look at what's driving the technology towards fuel efficiency. And as reporter Jonathan Silvers explains, it's a drive that begins in every city and town in America.
JONATHAN SILVERS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The town of East Haddam in southeastern Connecticut is a tranquil place, largely free of 21st century goods and services. There are farms and general stores, church suppers rather than fast food and not one big box store. There are however, cars and like everywhere else in America, there is anxiety over fuel. Gasoline prices hit a record high this week and the summer driving season hasn't even begun. Along with his neighbors, Charlie Leigus is bracing for another rise in fuel prices.
CHARLIE LEIGUS, FORESTER, EAST HADDAM, CT: East Haddam is a hardworking community and as the Department of Energy has just basically announced that they expect fuel prices may reach record highs within the next couple of weeks, it truly is going to have a severe impact on the quality of life for people in a town like this. We've had these incredible fuel crisis over the past 30 years. We are in the midst of one now. Thirty years ago, the automobile industry was talking about producing engines with higher fuel efficiency and a higher, better economy. And it's interesting that today 30 years later, we're still receiving engines from the automobile industry with the same economy.
SILVERS: Some reasons for this were on display last month at the New York international auto show. While consumers outside were coping with a pricey fuel supply, the auto makers inside were promoting power and performance. Business as usual, says Csaba Csere, editor of "Car and Driver" magazine.
CSABA CSERE, EDITOR, CAR AND DRIVER: Most of the car makers aren't working that hard to get us past the gasoline addiction. I think they're working on technologies that can use gasoline more efficiently, that can use diesel more efficiently, that can use some alternative fuels, such as ethanol and bio-fuels. But there really is no alternative to one of these liquid fuels in the near term.
SILVERS: That troubles everyone, including activists from the environmental group Freedom from Oil. They infiltrated the auto show and scaled the exhibit hall to unfurl their contempt for Toyota's Tundra, a battleship of a vehicle -- the truck that's changing the climate, reads their take on the ad slogan. It was a good stunt, but misinformed. The Tundra's emissions levels and fuel economy are among the best in its class. That's true for much of Toyota's fleet. Last month, Toyota became the world's largest auto maker. Since 2000, global auto output has risen by three million vehicles a year. Toyota is responsible for fully half the increase. Daniel Yerace is senior principal engineer for Toyota technical center in Ann Arbor.
DANIEL YERACE, SR. PRINCIPAL ENGINEER, TOYOTA TECHNICAL CENTER IN ANN ARBOR: We try to provide a full range of vehicles so that people that want to drive more fuel-efficient vehicles can drive them, and people that have a need for say, an SUV can drive those. What we're really focused on is making sure that the vehicles that we make and produce are the most competitive.
SILVERS: Toyota is determined to change the cars we drive. A decade ago, it released the Prius. The name today is synonymous with hybrid electric vehicles. And it's not only hybrids that Toyota is committed to. The company is developing technologies for conventional gasoline engines that improve performance and efficiency.
YERACE: I think the things are a lot more evolutionary than revolutionary. We are looking at the incremental things. Where are the weaknesses of the current internal combustion engine and how can we apply new technologies to those engines to make them more efficient? Things that maybe in the past we hadn't really considered because we thought they were of small value are now being pushed to the forefront, because we're looking for that extra edge all the time.
SILVERS: According to Csaba Csere, this is a critical philosophical difference between Japanese and American manufacturers.
CSERE: It's unfair to give them credit for all of their gains in the marketplace because of fuel economy. Yes, they're innovative. Yes, they're efficient. Yes, they're high-tech. But all that innovation technology has not been geared towards fuel economy. It's been geared towards making a better car in every way.
SILVERS: Jonathan Silvers, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.
