Somewhere over the rainbow
To know what strange times these are in the automotive world, you need only contemplate the words: hydrogen-powered Hummer.
At first glance -- and second and third -- using hydrogen to power a 3-ton SUV seems a sadly comical misapplication of technology. Why not a bulldozer powered by hydrazine rocket fuel or a minibike shot through with plutonium fuel rods? Why not capture 3.5 billion fireflies and use their precious incandescence to power a Buick?
And yet, there it sits on the floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center, a big, Dalton blue Hummer with an enormous carbon-fiber bottle in the back. Such monstrosities can only come from monstrous egos, and sure enough, behind the H2H -- pushing it uphill, straining our credulity -- are California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and General Motors Vice-Chairman Robert Lutz, who made a personal appearance to deliver the vehicle in October. GM’s interest is obvious enough. The Hummer brand has become synonymous with a kind of ecological infantilism -- to drive one is to be seen as throwing a tantrum over inconvenient facts such as America’s addiction to foreign oil and global warming. Anything to paint this pig green is a help.
I support the Hydrogen Highway program -- whatever its current shortcomings -- but the H2H exemplifies a distressing contempt for seriousness. And by the way, GM claims the H2H -- powered by a 6.0-liter supercharged V8 supplied by a 6-kilogram tank of hydrogen -- has a range of 60 miles. My Aunt Fanny.
How green is my auto show?
Environmentalists looking for hopeful signs in the auto industry will find the Los Angeles Auto Show (open through Sunday) something of a letdown. One reason has to do with the show’s unfortunate timing just before the monster auto show in Detroit, known officially as the North American International Auto Show, a title that only hints at Detroit’s oxygen-consuming comprehensiveness.
In Detroit this week, show-goers will marvel at the General’s latest hydrogen fuel-cell concept car, the Sequel, a surprisingly handsome science experiment that its makers claim has a range of 300 miles, the magic number in alt-fuel circles. Also on the GM stand is an Opel Astra concept with a diesel-electric full-hybrid powertrain. GM has had a come-to-Jesus moment regarding hybrid powertrains and will offer them in numbers by 2007.
In fact, if anything, the L.A. Auto Show is a bit of a retrograde moment. Consider, for example, the Venturi Fetish, which its makers call the world’s first production electric sports car. About the size and weight (2,400 pounds) of a Lotus Elise, the two-seat Fetish is powered by a 242-horsepower electric motor with the oomph to accelerate the car to 60 mph in less than six seconds. It claims a range of up to 220 miles (see above regarding my Aunt Fanny).
Unfortunately, the car -- built in Monaco, where I reckon hand labor is pretty expensive -- sells for $660,000, which it hardly seems necessary to point out is stupid. Far from promoting battery-electric vehicle technology, the Fetish seems to discredit it.
Another sexy but deeply frivolous alt-fuel exercise is BMW’s H2R, a gorgeous single-seat racer with the silvery fluted surfaces of a zeppelin. Previously seen at the Paris Auto Show in 2004, the 6.0-liter, 12-cylinder H2R is the world’s fastest hydrogen-powered car, the holder of nine world records. BMW advocates burning hydrogen in conventional, piston-driven engines as opposed to running it into a fuel cell to produce electricity -- tempting, because fuel cell units currently cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and are fairly balky. In fact, BMW announced it would sell a “bi-fuel” gasoline/hydrogen version of its current generation 7 series sedan.
But how far does this get us toward the hydrogen economy? Burning hydrogen in an internal-combustion engine is not very efficient and, combined with the exorbitant energy costs of cryogenic hydrogen, such architecture is a lousy deal in terms of well-to-wheel efficiency. Meanwhile, cryogenic hydrogen is spooky stuff. Given my teenage son’s anguished relationship with the simple-to-operate toilet seat, I would rather him not pump a pressurized liquid at minus 253 degrees Kelvin.
The good news is that after years in the cosmic shadow of Detroit, the L.A. Auto Show has a new home on the calendar; the 2007 edition will be in November, avoiding the intramural conflict with Detroit. This is an opportunity to recast the show in light of the region’s progressive environmental spirit. After all, California is the first state in the nation to attempt to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, and for its trouble is being sued by the automakers. Los Angeles has some of the worst air pollution in the country. We spend precious tax dollars on a hydrogen infrastructure. It only makes sense for manufacturers to showcase green technology here.
Not that the current L.A. show is completely bereft of green. Consider, for example, the 2006 Audi A3 Sportback. This tautly styled, four-door Euro hatchback would have been unmarketable in the United States only three years ago, but that was before Mini, which invalidated the notion that Americans wouldn’t buy small cars. The A3 Sportback is powered by a new, thrifty and powerful direct-injection engine, a 2.0-liter turbo (197 hp), linked to a six-speed manual. Sounds like fun.
Electric Avenue
Perhaps the greenest technology at the show is not a fuel cell, an engine or a transmission. It’s the lane-departure warning (LDW) system debuting as an option on the 2005 Infiniti FX45. This optically based system warns the driver when the car begins to drift out of its lane without a turn signal indicated -- and yes, Libertarians, you can turn it off.
LDW systems have been available for years in Japan and are overdue here; by some estimates, accidents caused by inadvertent lane departure account for more than half the automotive fatalities in the United States.
Next year Volvo will introduce its Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) that uses cameras on the side mirrors to alert drivers to objects they might not see.
So what’s so green? Each of these technologies is a step toward intelligent vehicle/highway systems (IVHS), as is range-keeping cruise control, available now on many luxury cars. In Japan, Toyota sells the Majesta, a luxury sedan with Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management, orchestrating the vehicle’s brakes, steering, stability and traction control with radar-ranging and camera sensors, a process called sensor data fusion.
Combined with drive-by-wire steering, throttle and braking, these safety systems now make it possible to put large numbers of commuting automobiles under centralized command, safely expediting traffic, greatly reducing the gas-wasting stop-and-go of rush-hour traffic and improving air quality.
It is more than a utopian, city-of-the-future vision a la Norman Bel Geddes. Such electronic crash-proofing would allow designers to think in radically different terms about issues such as vehicle weight, structure, packaging and compatibility.
The automobile need not be designed as a heavy, super-resilient steel box girded to run into things. Intelligent vehicle and electronic crash-proofing -- with its implications for automotive design and materials -- seems a natural adjunct to alt-fuel propulsion.
Golden State warriors
However, this edition of the L.A. Auto Show sticks pretty close to the script as an auto show for the hyper-indulged sybarites of left-coast society. Please enjoy the Ferrari Superamerica, a retractable-hardtop variant of the front-engine, 12-cylinder 575 Maranello with a photo chromatic glass roof that darkens at the twist of a knob -- mood lighting, as if anyone needed help getting in the mood in a Ferrari.
Also debuting is the convertible version of the new Ford Mustang, a gorgeous four-seat ragtop that, with a 300-horsepower V8 under the nostalgia-styled bonnet, sells for a nice round $30,000. Speaking of nostalgia, Chevrolet unveiled its HHR mini-wagon in Los Angeles, with styling drawn from the ’49 Suburban and splayed over the same platform as the new Cobalt. The HHR -- it stands for “Heritage High Roof,” though “Heavy Handed Retro” works too -- looks like a fit and fun family runabout, powered by either a 2.2- or 2.4-liter Ecotec engine (140 hp and 170 hp, respectively).
A redesigned Porsche Boxster, a new Viper Coupe, a Mercedes-Benz CLS55 with the space-warp technology from the AMG performance division ... there are a lot of L.A.-centric automobiles on display. Think of it as a preview of the Ivy valet parking lot 12 months hence. It’s a good show for imagining the short-term future of the city’s car ecology. As for the long term: answer unclear, ask again.
Automotive critic Dan Neil
can be reached at dan.neil@latimes.com.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Show stoppers
Here are five models not to miss:
BMW M3 Competition Package: It’s the stock M3 kitted out with 19-inch wheels, race-able rubber, 13-inch cross-drilled brakes and a “track” mode in the stability program to help you enjoy it all.
Bentley Arnage Drophead Coupe: Bentley revealed not the expected convertible version of the Continental GT but a ragtop version of the Bentley Arnage, which will suffice in place of the old Bentley Azure.
Mercedes-Benz CLS55: This thing reeks of movie executive -- perhaps the car detailers can get that out? The CLS nicely splits the difference between the intimacy of a sport coupe and the access of a four-door sedan.
Ferrari Superamerica: And what was wrong with the name “Supercalifornia”? This car is all about sun worship: Its salient feature is a rotating glass roof.
Viper SRT-10 Coupe: Finally, a practical Viper! Actually, this is the coupe version of the recently redesigned Viper roadster, and it looks much like the previous coupe, which is not a bad thing.
