2008 LA Auto Show: Eco Cars

By Evan Ackerman

Looking forward to this year’s LA Auto Show, I was hoping to see something to reassure me that things are seriously happening towards innovating our way out of a gasoline dependent transport economy. Aaaaand I didn’t really get that, at all. There were lots of impressive concepts, to be sure, and a lot of talk about sustainability and green initiatives and crap. But what are people actually producing? Nothing especially remarkable, with a few exceptions.

First of all, just about everything is a hybrid. Which is good, I guess… Or I should say, it’s better than things not being hybrids. The thing is, though, that just because something is a hybrid doesn’t mean it gets significantly better (or even good) gas mileage. At least, that’s the way it seemed from just walking around the show looking at the EPA estimated mpg stickers. Why is this the case? I think it’s because car manufacturers (and car buyers) are still for some silly reason concerned with maximizing horsepower, which is most of the time useless after a certain point. But maybe my 95 Volvo and I are just jealous. Most new cars were distinctly unimpressive when it came to gas mileage, whether they were hybrids or not.

Also, everybody’s got a fuel cell car or light SUV now, but most of them are sort of “hey look, we can do it too!” vehicles rather than a serious production effort. And of course, nobody’s been able to solve the crucial problem: distribution. I think BMW has had the most promising interim solution (and has for years) in the gas/hydrogen hybrid, but it wasn’t at the show… Rather, BMW was promoting a system to make gas engines up to 20% more efficient by dynamically controlling power output. That’s nice and all, but gasoline should be the past, not the future.

Is it too much for me to expect that automakers asking for a financial bailout should be trying new things and not just taking existing cars and retrofitting them with hybrid engines to eke out a few extra MPG? Maybe it is, I suppose it’s cheaper to do that than to make a serious commitment to a new technology that might not prove to be adoptable mainstream. But there is some good and important work going on, using technology that makes a substantial difference to efficiency and eco-friendliness. Have a look, after the jump.

We’ll start off with a car that I’ve written about before: the , a box that plugs into your natural gas line at home and creates heat and electricity while making hydrogen for your car. That still doesn’t help if you want to drive long distances (over about 250 miles), but at least it turns the Clarity into a practical commuter. If you live in the LA area, you can sign up to rent a Clarity for about $600 a month.