NARRATOR: 800 million cars.
If you put them bumper to bumper,
they'd circle the earth about a hundred times.
That's how many cars are on the road today.
They come in all shapes and colors
but have one thing in common.
DAVID L. GREENE: Our transportation system
is almost entirely fueled by petroleum.
More than 95%.
A quarter of all the petroleum ever consumed
in the history of the world
was consumed in the last ten years.
So we are consuming at an accelerating rate.
JOHN B. HEYWOOD: What is scary is
that projections suggest that by 2050
there'll be two billion vehicles,
two and a half times as many as there are today.
NARRATOR: Many experts agree
there's an energy shortage and soaring gas prices
looming in the future...
(tires screeching)
(on TV): ...not to mention melting ice caps from global warming
and national security threats
from dependence on foreign oil.
Oh, can I change the station?
Why?
No, you can't-- this is important stuff.
It's scaring me; I don't like it anymore.
Oh, come on, don't be such a sissy.
(both laugh)
NARRATOR: Two brothers have embarked on a quest.
Where are we?
I don't know-- we're not in Kansas anymore.
I can tell you that.
NARRATOR: They want to find out
what's being done right now
that will keep our cars moving in the future.
Stand back!
NARRATOR: They're testing new technology
and alternative fuels,
and they're getting behind the wheels of vehicles
that might take us down a new and different road.
Join Click and Clack, the guys from Car Talk,
on their search for the car of the future--
right now on NOVA.
Captioning sponsored by EXXONMOBIL,
DAVID H. KOCH,
THE HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE,
THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
and VIEWERS LIKE YOU
DIRECTOR: Okay, let's go.
(lively bluegrass music playing)
Stand by.
Ready...
Open 'em up...
RAY: Hello, and welcome
to Car Talk, from National Public Radio,
with us, Click and Clack, the Tappit Brothers.
Are you ready to take a call?
LITHGOW: For 30 years, Tom and Ray Magliozzi
have helped radio listeners solve their automotive problems.
FEMALE CALLER: I have a Ford Ranger pickup, and I love the truck,
but I hate the gas mileage it gets.
Well, see, if you drove less, you'd like it better.
(all laughing)
(starter grinding)
(starter dies, Tom groans)
LITHGOW: Today, Click and Clack have a car problem of their own.
(starter grinds, dies)
I don't think so, man-- it's not going to start.
Come on, it'll start!
LITHGOW: Tom's beloved roadster,
a '52 MG, is back in the shop.
(starter grinds, dies)
Oh, it sounds like a sick cow.
(laughs)
No, you know, this car's done for.
It really is time
to move on and look for another vehicle.
This... this isn't going to do it anymore.
Another car?
What could be better than this?
Almost anything!
But where would I find
another car?
Take a wild guess.
LITHGOW: To replace a relic from the past,
Tom and Ray head for Detroit,
searching for the car of the future.
Each year, in the Motor City, car makers shop
their latest models in what must be
the world's largest showroom.
It's a sideshow Vegas would envy.
This is a pretty damn spectacular show.
It sure is.
Let's go find your dream car.
Let's go find the car of the future.
Or maybe the car in your future.
RAY: I thought you were interested in these models.
TOM: I am.
I meant the cars.
(laughs)
RAY: So how many horsepower is this thing, guys?
You must know, right?
What is this, five?
Yeah, 500.
A mere 500.
TOM: It looks like my MG.
RAY: Yeah, right!
Not the MG engine, the whole MG!
(laughing)
This is an absurd amount of horsepower
to have in anything, I would think.
Ridiculous.
But...
Absolutely ridiculous and stupid.
But people want to buy them.
They're wackos.
LITHGOW: To lure buyers, cars and trucks have become
bigger and more powerful every year.
Since 1985,
average vehicle weight has increased 1,000 pounds.
Horsepower has almost doubled.
JOSEPH B.
WHITE: If you look anywhere in the world,
not just the United States, you look anywhere in the world,
people will buy the most horsepower they can afford.
There's something kind of primal and elemental
about having a powerful machine at your beck and call
and at your command.
The car companies know this-- they're selling emotion.
If we just needed an appliance to get from A to B,
we'd all be driving around in Toyota Corollas.
LITHGOW: As weight and horsepower increase, cars are consuming
more gasoline than ever before, despite its growing cost.
Even a former Texas oilman seems to get it.
PRESIDENT BUSH: For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil.
And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable
to hostile regimes... and to terrorists.
AMORY B. LOVINS: If you think about where your money goes
when you put your credit card in a pump,
some of your oil money is going directly
to arm people who are trying to kill us.
LITHGOW: Burning oil is also changing the chemistry of the atmosphere.
LOVINS: Coming out of your tailpipe
are all those carbon dioxide molecules.
Those go up in the air.
They'll stay there for about a hundred years,
messing up the climate.
LITHGOW: Increased carbon emissions are creating climate changes
that scientists warn us are dangerous.
GREENE: We're going to have to find other sources of energy
to power the transportation system,
and we're going to have to make it more energy-efficient
at the same time.
(horns honking)
LITHGOW: The AltWheels Festival in Boston
is a different kind of car show
that celebrates alternative energy
and efficient transportation.
If the Detroit car show is about primal thrills,
AltWheels is about social responsibility
and concern for the future.
Like the green movement itself, AltWheels is small
but bursting with enthusiasm
about every conceivable technology
that might curb our dependence on oil...
...including, perhaps, Tom's dream car.
I love it!
This is right up your alley.
I could tell as soon as I saw this
that this is the kind of vehicle that you would love.
What makes it run?
Um, the motor scooter.
It's gota gas...
It's got a gasoline engine it's running, yeah?
Oh, it's got a gasoline engine!
RAY: So, the only thing alternative about this
is that it's dangerous.
(laughing)
(engine purring)
(laughs) Wait, where's the accelerator?
This is the accelerator.
Is there a reverse?
No!
(laughing)
(laughter continues)
All right, let's go around the block.
LITHGOW: Creating the car of the future is no small feat.
Whatever their environmental benefit,
we expect our cars to be reliable, practical and safe.
(laughing)
The car of the future also needs to store a lot of energy
in a small space, and nothing does this better than petroleum,
which comes from plants and tiny plankton,
like these, that were buried in mud millions of years ago.
Over time, these ancient fossils
were transformed into energy-rich molecules
of hydrogen and carbon, or hydrocarbons,
that are refined into gasoline.
And you're getting a hundred miles a gallon?
It doesn't seem like quite enough to justify the danger.
This is the kind of car you want to leave to your first wife.
(all laughing)
How you doing?
Hi, guys.
LITHGOW: Car companies have great hopes
that hydrogen will someday replace carbon
and power cars that are emissions-free.
So, you fill up a tank-- the tank must be in the back.
Yeah.
Right?
One tank?
Yeah.
One tank.
Can we see it?
LITHGOW: These companies
have invested billions to produce small fleets
of prototypes like this one.
If you got a very narrow suitcase, you're in good shape.
LITHGOW: But until more hydrogen cars are on the road,
it'll be hard to find places to fill the tank.
But they're not going to start... investing
in making the fuel available unless they have a commitment
from Ford and the other companies
that they're going to...
It's a chicken-and- the-egg kind of thing.
I mean, you have to start building the cars...
You got to get those chickens out there...
You got to get the chickens out there.
So the chickens are first?
This is a time-honored question, you know.
This is an age-old question you're about to answer here.
LITHGOW: This chicken-and-egg question has no clear answer.
History shows that cars and gasoline evolved together
over many, many years.
There's about 170,000 gas stations in the country now,
so we have a very established infrastructure
of internal combustion engine
that everybody knows and loves in their vehicles today,
and they go to the local gas station
and they fill up their gas tank, and that's a system we know.
JOSEPH ROMM: We have a fueling infrastructure of gasoline
that was built over the course of many decades,
and it has been paid off a long time ago,
and it is delivering gasoline very cheaply.
So, to deliver an alternative fuel
other than gasoline is no mean feat.
(wind gusting, whistling)
LITHGOW: Changing an economy based on petroleum
is an almost insurmountable task,
but a small island nation is hoping to do just that.
Iceland has 1,000 times fewer people and cars than the U.S.
Still, rush hour in Reykjavik is no joke.
(horns honking)
In a country where gas costs almost eight dollars a gallon,
Iceland's dream is to stop importing oil
by replacing conventional cars with hydrogen vehicles,
if and when they come to market.
In the meantime, a small fleet of buses
has been warming the population
to the new technology.
TOM: This is a nice bus, but it's a bus.
Well, it, it's just a... yeah.
It's just a bus.
Oh, yeah.
No, there's nothing different about it,
except that... it's... a fuel cell bus,
which is pretty interesting.
Yeah, but... it sounds the same.
No smell, though, you notice that?
No smell.
No smell.
Which is very nice, especially in the city.
There's a little smell, but I think that's you.
(both laughing)
RAY: We're curious-- when we
go back to the station, can we see you refuel the bus?
Yeah.
Yeah?
Is there a brick wall we can stand behind?
If you dare.
LITHGOW: Like gasoline, hydrogen is volatile stuff.
Remember the Hindenburg?
That disaster almost ruined hydrogen's reputation for good.
But at the world's first public hydrogen fueling station,
it's stored safely in pressurized tanks.
Let's hope so, anyway.
RAY: All right, wait a minute now.
(laughing)
TOM: I want to get a look at this.
Okay, go ahead!
(both laughing)
We're not afraid!
Really?
No, no.
LITHGOW: Pressurized hydrogen is pumped into storage tanks
on the roof of the bus, where it's combined with oxygen
in layers of thin membranes called fuel cells.
Hydrogen atoms are broken apart,
releasing electrons that flow through a circuit,
providing electricity that propels the bus.
The only emission is water vapor.
GREENE: There's been a lot of progress in the technology,
but hydrogen vehicles
are not anywhere near ready for the market yet.
They're too expensive,
the fuel cells are not durable enough
and, of course, we have problems
of how do you store sufficient amount of hydrogen
on board the vehicle.
LITHGOW: Iceland prides itself on helping to improve this technology
by testing it every day.
You go to a small society like Iceland,
where a lot of things are simpler
than in a big society like the U.S. or Europe.
You can actually test things out here.
That's actually how we think we can help the world.
LITHGOW: While vehicles are tested in Reykjavik,
the fueling infrastructure
is being developed in the countryside.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element
in the universe, but it doesn't exist in pure form.
It's made by splitting water molecules
into oxygen and hydrogen, and that takes energy.
Iceland gets this energy
from water that flows from melting glaciers
and from steam that rises from the ground.
(steam hissing)
TOM: Where are we?
RAY: I don't know.
We're not in Kansas anymore, I can tell you that.
But there's steam coming up out of the ground.
TOM: This is so weird.
(both laughing)
RAY: How do I look?
You look marvelous.
This is something.
LITHGOW: Iceland itself was created by volcanoes erupting
from a crack between two plates on the earth's surface.
Power plants harness this geothermal energy
to generate electricity that can be used to make hydrogen.
Now, why is Iceland engaged
in this geothermal power project, so to speak?
You know, geothermal and hydro
is Iceland's oil, actually.
Ah.
Sure.
Sure.
And, you know, Iceland is straddling
two tectonic plates:
the North American plate and the Eurasian plate,
and, gentlemen, we are just in the middle of the two plates.
RAY: Move over a couple of feet.
You might be standing in a bad spot.
ALBERTSSON: There is enough renewable energy sources in Iceland
to produce all the hydrogen this nation needs.
LITHGOW: Some day, Iceland may harness volcanoes to power cars,
but the transition to hydrogen could take 50 years.
SKULASON: A 50-year time frame is not a long time frame, actually.
When you talk about a full energy paradigm shift
in 50 years, that means a lot of changes for society.
LITHGOW: New technology does not spring full-grown from the womb,
and it's too soon to tell if and when
hydrogen transportation will come of age,
but Iceland's efforts may bring us closer to the answer.
They have vast amounts of renewable energy
available to them
and a very small population.
There's no way today we can do what they're doing,
but we will learn from their experience,
and we're going to gain from this effort that they're making.
LITHGOW: The future of hydrogen may be shaped here,
but for auto makers, its greatest potential lies
in larger countries
where transportation systems are not yet developed.
In China, bicycles are vanishing quickly.
Experts predict that in two decades,
China will have the same number of cars as the U.S.,
and gas stations are racing to keep up.
LOWERY: In China, we don't have a gas station on every corner,
and we're looking at opportunities for fuel cells
and hydrogen infrastructure in economies such as China,
where you're not taking over an entire infrastructure
and trying to start all over again.
LITHGOW: But for developed nations like the U.S.,
is there some alternative to gasoline
that doesn't involve reinventing the wheel?
It could be ethanol, or E85.
Like gasoline, it's a hydrocarbon,
but government studies show
it produces 25% less greenhouse emissions.
Ethanol is made from corn sugar.
If Iceland has volcanoes, we've got cornfields,
which can be harvested year after year.
In Brazil, ethanol produced from sugar cane now provides
40% of the nation's motor fuel.
ANNOUNCER: What if cars and trucks could be fueled by corn?
LITHGOW: Flex-fuel vehicles that can burn ethanol and gasoline
don't cost much more than conventional cars.
So that's all the good news.
Now the bad news.
It's not that great for the environment.
It's very energy-intensive
to grow corn and extract energy from it.
LITHGOW: Fossil fuels are used to make fertilizer
and pesticides to help corn grow
and are also needed to ferment corn sugar.
Some critics claim it takes more energy to make ethanol
than you get out of it, while others caution
that we can never grow enough corn to meet demands.
GREENE: There's simply not enough of it,
and we need a lot of it for food.
So that's not going to be the solution,
but it's going to be part of the solution, I think.
LITHGOW: Still, ethanol does have great potential.
LEE LYND: There's really not much question,
this is a good motor fuel.
The question is, how inexpensively can we make it,
and how much of it can we make?
LITHGOW: For 20 years, Lee Lynd has been trying
to answer these questions,
and, like many, he believes the solution involves
something else besides corn.
RAY: It's over here, right?
TOM: No, down here.
No, no, it's not down there!
Don't go down there; it's dangerous down there!
It's this way.
(Tom laughing)
Pay attention, will you?
Lee!
Hey, how are you?
Great.
How are you?
Good.
Did you bring the corn?
Of course I brought the corn.
You guys are armed and dangerous.
How are you, man?
Lookit, we, we're down
to about a quarter of a tank.
Will this be enough to get us home?
If not, we have a couple of cans
of Jolly Green Giant Niblets out there, too.
Maybe we can...
We're looking at making ethanol,
and we're looking at making it
from a different part of the plant.
So, the actual corn ethanol comes from the seeds--
same stuff we would eat,
same stuff we'd feed the cattle--
and there's a lot of the rest of the corn plant
and there's also a lot of other kinds of plants
that can be grown,
and what we're interested in
is called cellulosic biomass--
not a household word, perhaps.
Yet.
Not yet-- thank you-- and so...
But right now, what we use is the kernel.
Is the kernel, right there, yeah.
Those guys.
RAY: Now, what's the difference between
cellulosic biomass and the kernels?
Good question.
This is cellulosic biomass.
The cob in here is cellulosic biomass,
and the whole stalk that held this up...
So everything that isn't the Niblets...
There you go.
is cellulosic biomass.
Exactly.
The stuff that we would ordinarily throw away.
LITHGOW: Cellulosic biomass
is the woody structure that props up the plant.
It's found in waste products like wood chips,
paper sludge, wheat straw and cornstalks,
as well as switch grass, a native plant that grows
without fertilizer and pesticides.
Like all plants, switch grass pulls
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to grow.
When the grass becomes ethanol that's burned under the hood,
the carbon dioxide is released back into the air
and reabsorbed by the next crop of grass.
If cellulosic ethanol can be manufactured
without burning fossil fuel,
net carbon emissions are essentially zero.
LYND: This is nothing but ground-up cornstalks right here.
RAY: Oh, it is?
This stuff is less expensive,
very cost-effective raw material,
so you might say, "Well, why aren't we doing this already?"
Answer?
Converting this stuff-- the cellulosic biomass--
into ethanol is more difficult than converting...
Ah...
...this stuff.
So how do you make it?
Can you take us into the lab and show us?
I'd love to; come on in.
You're not going to kill us afterwards, are you?
We're afraid if we learn too much, it might be dangerous.
So, the question is, how do we do this?
And it starts off with microorganisms,
very small living things
that you can only see with a microscope.
RAY: What's the big thing?
It looks like Tom's car.
Yeah, that is a lump of cellulose.
Okay.
And you'll notice that attached to it
there are the same sort of black rods.
Those are bacteria that are adhered to the cellulose.
In fact, there are some more of them
on that little particle there.
Oh, they're doing a job on him.
Yeah, they're kind of ganging up on that little...
LITHGOW: These microbes are tearing cellulose apart,
releasing sugar compounds locked within.
In fermentation tanks,
another microbial species turns that sugar into ethanol.
Lynd's goal is to combine genetic material
from the two species
into a single microbe that can make ethanol from cellulose
in one efficient step.
Why is that turning two steps into one step such a big deal?
I mean, what effect will it have overall
on the costs of what we're doing?
This would be revolutionary from an economic point of view
if you could get this into one rapid, efficient step.
And we think we can prove this in a few years
and other people are assuming this is decades away.
Aha.
And time will tell if we're right.
Thanks a lot, Lee.
Sounds great.
Hey.
Thanks for all the questions and all the interest.
I really appreciate it.
RAY: Great, see you later.
Bye-bye.
Oh, hey!
Huh?
Oh!
We're going to need these, I think.
All righty.
It's a long ride home.
Come on.
Take care, now.
RAY: It's a good thing there are smart guys
like Lee working on this stuff.
If they had to depend on you and me, it'd take centuries.
(laughing)
LITHGOW: Advocates argue that we have the land to grow enough biomass
to replace at least a quarter of the gas we now consume
with cellulosic ethanol.
They also believe it could replace gasoline altogether--
if cars were more efficient.
Surprisingly, today's cars aren't very efficient.
In fact, less than one percent of the energy in the tank
actually moves the driver.
90% is lost between the tank and the wheels,
and the rest is used to push the mass of the vehicle.
At the Sloan Automotive Lab at MIT,
John Heywood and his students are on a mission
to save energy by improving engine performance.
For more than a century,
gasoline engines have powered cars
by turning chemical energy into mechanical work.
Vaporized gasoline enters a combustion chamber.
A piston compresses the vapor until it's ignited by a spark,
creating pressure that forces the piston downward.
The spent gas is vented as exhaust.
Working together, pistons turn
the crankshaft that sends power to the wheels.
HEYWOOD: People say, "The internal combustion engine,
it's old technology; why don't we replace it?"
It's going to take a really long time
to change to something else, even if we've got
something else there, developed and ready.
And we don't yet.
Hey, John!
Hi!
Hi!
Long time no see.
LITHGOW: Lured by the smell of engine fumes,
Tom and Ray return to the lab
where they once spent time as MIT students.
Well, you know, the last time I was here,
I was with a classmate and Professor Keck,
and I blew the cylinder head off an engine.
(Tom laughing)
I hope they won't hold that against me.
Some of those things still happen.
I'm sure they do.
You folks have been working for a while
on improving engines,
and this is what you do here.
Yes.
And we want to know what you're doing,
what the future holds, where the frontier is.
Enlighten us, please.
We need all the help we can get.
Well, we're trying to help move the technology forward.
Some things we don't understand very well-- you know that.
This is where we're working on...
LITHGOW: One of the ways Heywood is improving engines
is by reducing friction.
Almost half the energy in the combustion chamber
is lost to friction
as pistons rub against the walls of the cylinder.
Using a laser to observe the process,
Heywood tests different lubricants and piston geometries
to find small ways to save energy.
Anywhere you see white, like here, is oil.
HEYWOOD: And what we want is where the rings are, it's dark,
you want a little oil to lubricate the rings...
Just enough.
Keep friction low, but just enough.
If there's too much, it'll go into the cylinder
and we'll lose some oil.
Right.
So that's what we're learning about and it really feeds back
into designing all of this better
and improving fuel consumption.
LITHGOW: Over several decades,
automotive engineers at Sloan and other labs around the world
have increased engine efficiency by 30%.
HEYWOOD: Engines and transmissions have got steadily more efficient,
year by year by year by year by year, so it's better technology.
Then the question is: What do we do
with these more powerful and more efficient engines?
We've put them into increasing vehicle performance
so our vehicles accelerate faster, more aggressively,
and we've put them into larger vehicles, heavier vehicles.
We're better off because these vehicles are more efficient.
Had they not been more efficient,
we'd be even worse off.
But we haven't gained; we've sort of stood still.
ROMM: Technology by itself does not increase fuel economy.
The role of technology is to enable smart regulations,
is to enable reductions in oil consumption and greenhouse gases
through federal action, not in place of federal action.
LITHGOW: History shows regulation does increase fuel economy.
After the 1973 oil shortage,
Congress created mileage standards
forcing auto makers to build more efficient vehicles.
By 1987, average mileage had increased dramatically.
But that caused oil prices to fall,
which in turn led to public indifference.
ROMM: In the 1970s to early 1980s,
we doubled the fuel economy of cars.
And then starting in the mid-'80s, we stopped.
LITHGOW: Mileage standards remained unchanged
from 1985 to 2007,
and truck and SUV sales almost doubled.
Because these vehicles have lower standards than cars,
average fuel economy today is actually a bit less than it was
20 years ago, despite hard-won gains in engine efficiency.
Many people buy heavy, inefficient vehicles
because they feel safer.
Amory Lovins is a champion of a revolutionary approach
to making cars that are efficient and safe.
LOVINS: I'm a recovering experimental physicist,
and I'd been thinking about the physics of cars
and why are they so inefficient that,
you know, your car is using a hundred times its weight
in ancient plants every day, and yet only 0.3 percent
of that energy ends up moving the driver.
This didn't seem very good.
LITHGOW: In 1982, Lovins founded
the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado think tank.
Among the 50 full-time staff
are a handful of automotive engineers
who have helped Lovins rethink the physics of the car.
MAN: One would argue if you had half the car, you would need
half the battery and half the motor to push it around.
LOVINS: And half the money to pay for it.
And half the money to pay for it-- exactly.
(laughter)
LITHGOW: Lovins realized that cars could be more efficient
if he could find ways to make the engine move less weight.
LOVINS: We started digging into how to make the car lighter,
with better aerodynamics, with lower rolling resistance.
We ended up concluding it was quite straightforward
to triple the efficiency of a car at roughly the same cost.
LITHGOW: Lovins' group replaced the conventional auto body
with 14 lightweight components that lock together to form
a reinforced shell with half the weight of steel.
From the tapered roof line to the smooth underbody,
every surface is streamlined to reduce drag.
LOVINS: If you directly save a pound in a car,
you actually save more like a pound and a half,
from needing less engine to accelerate it,
less brakes to stop it,
less suspension to hold it up and so on.
LITHGOW: The "Hypercar" reduces weight without reducing size
by making parts with tiny carbon fibers
that are heated with nylon
to form a composite stronger than steel.
The wings and much of the fuselage
of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner are made
with carbon composites, which will save 20% in fuel.
Race cars are also made with carbon composites.
After hitting a wall at 160 miles an hour,
the driver in this car walked away.
INTERVIEWER: How are you feeling?
Uh, a bit shaken, but I'm okay, as you can see.
Oop, sorry!
All my bits are intact, so it's good.
Goes to show how strong the cars are.
LOVINS: With such light but strong materials,
you can make cars that are big,
which is protective and comfortable, without also
making them heavy, which is hostile and inefficient.
Therefore, you can save oil and lives and, indeed, money
all at the same time.
LITHGOW: Today the Hypercar is still just an idea,
embodied by this one-of-a-kind prototype
sitting in the corner of Lovins' shop.
Car makers have spent a hundred years
perfecting ways to mass-produce cars from steel,
and Lovins has failed to convince them
to make a radical change in materials.
Carbon fiber is expensive,
and molding it into parts is labor-intensive.
Undaunted, Lovins is now developing machinery
that can mass-produce parts at an affordable price.
Drawn by curiosity and skepticism,
Ray has come to the Rockies, leaving Tom in bed with a cold.
My brother didn't want to come out here, I knew it.
Too cold.
He saw the weather forecast, figured he'd call in sick.
He had that phony little sniffle.
Hey, Amory!
Ray!
Hey, welcome.
Thanks for inviting me.
Oh, pleasure.
We've got such cool stuff to show you.
RAY: Geez, I'm really impressed,
because I thought this was going to be
like a carnival car,
you know, some little tiny little thing
that you'd have to get shoe-horned into.
This is a real car.
LOVINS: This will carry
five modern-size adults in comfort.
RAY (laughs): Super-sized adults.
LOVINS: And up to 69 cubic feet of cargo.
In fact, we figure this could cruise on the highway
at 55 miles an hour on the same power to the wheels
that today's SUVs use on a hot day to run the air-conditioner.
(laughs): Really?
That'd be pretty neat.
This is the most complex
and heavily loaded part of this car.
It's the whole side assembly.
Oh, it's where the doors would go.
Yeah, exactly right.
Yeah, and I'll bet you can lift that with one hand.
You think?
Yeah.
I don't know, I'm a weakling.
Oh, it's pretty light.
Yeah.
It's a few pounds, it's...
Isn't that amazing?
Yeah, it is amazing.
Which means any part, any of the 14 body parts
can be lifted by one worker with no hoist.
So you don't need jigs and robots and welders.
It just snaps together, and you glue it.
Then it's stronger than the original material.
So you just got rid of the body shop.
Neat.
That's why this is so revolutionary for manufacturing.
Well, I did bring a piece of test equipment from my lab.
Can I use it?
You wicked fellow.
(laughs)
Stand back!
Uncle.
It's strong.
(laughs): It's strong.
Geez, and, you know,
there are a couple of tiny little scuffs.
And then...
nothing got telegraphed to the back.
The back is completely unscathed.
LITHGOW: The case for carbon fiber is very strong.
But until costs are reduced, ultralight cars
will not be on the sales lot anytime soon.
For those who want efficient cars now,
one answer is to buy a hybrid.
LITHGOW: The Prius was the first commercial success,
and now other companies are getting into the act.
A hybrid is a gas-powered car
that also has an electric motor and a battery pack.
When the car idles, it uses electricity
instead of wasting gas and spewing fumes.
The gas engine is used at speeds when it's most efficient,
and it charges the batteries at the same time.
Batteries are also charged through braking wheels,
when the car slows to a stop.
The result is a car that gets the same pickup
as a regular car, but burns less gas.
Because hybrids have batteries and a motor,
it takes a bit more energy to manufacture them.
But over their entire life span,
hybrids still consume 30% less energy
and produce 30% less carbon
than non-hybrids of the same size.
But hybrids still burn gas.
At his shop at UC Davis, Andy Frank is changing that.
In actual fact, we're not...
LITHGOW: Andy and his students are building
a hybrid that can charge its batteries through a wall socket.
This connects the car to the electric grid
so it can get energy from distant power plants.
Andy is the inventor of the "plug-in hybrid,"
and for 20 years, he's been developing
and improving his concept.
Compared to standard hybrids,
the plug-in has more batteries and a larger motor,
but needs less space for the engine and the gas tank.
Like many, Andy hopes this evolutionary design
will cause an energy revolution.
FRANK: This kind of a car
can transition us off of oil and onto electricity.
It's a major change
in that now you can get electricity from the grid.
You can take it from your home,
you can take it from almost anywhere.
So this is a huge difference
in terms of the energy source for transportation.
LITHGOW: With an overnight charge,
the batteries hold enough juice to go 60 miles--
more than the average daily commute.
And for longer trips, it's got an engine
that extends its range to 600 miles.
RAY: When we stop
at Motel 5, for example, we plug the thing in overnight.
That's right-- borrow a little energy from, uh, Motel 5.
TOM (laughing): They won't even notice...
a 50-foot...
a 50-foot extension cord.
Well, or if you're a long ways, it may be longer.
(laughter)
"You want your room on the second floor?"
"No, no, we'd prefer to be on the first floor!"
Got to be on the first floor!
But that's the whole point.
Whatever available 110-volt socket
is all you need to charge this car.
LITHGOW: Skeptics say that all plug-ins do
is shift the pollution source
from the tailpipe to the smokestack, but studies show
that cars powered from today's mix of power plants
could reduce greenhouse emissions by about 40%.
Further reductions are possible if electric power gets cleaner.
TOM: Even if you have
to build power plants, you're not using any gasoline.
That's right.
That's the whole point.
You're shifting off of gasoline onto an electric society,
and once you walk into the electric society window,
you open the door to the possibility
of direct renewable energy.
Electricity can be generated in a lot of different forms.
And, in particular, it can be generated
with solar cells on top of your roof.
It could be generated from wind.
In other words, today's sunshine
will give you tomorrow's driving.
And you put that energy...
store it in the batteries.
I think the... one of the things that this kind of car motivates
is the possibility of personal wind and personal solar.
RAY: My brother's been responsible
for a lot of personal wind.
(laughing)
FRANK: So, now we're cruising on electricity alone.
RAY: It's great!
It's great.
And people don't care, as long as it does
what they want it to do.
But you know what it does do
that's better than your car?
It's faster.
RAY: It's faster-- yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it gets better mileage.
That's correct, too.
And it doesn't pollute as much.
FRANK: The most important thing is the ability
to use renewable energy directly from the sun.
Right.
If I can ever get my home nuclear reactor kit
to start working, I've got it made, right?
LITHGOW: It costs four times less
to power Frank's plug-in from the grid
than it does to run it on gasoline.
But if plug-ins become the car of the future,
will there be enough electricity to keep them all running?
GREENE: Our existing electric utility system
could handle tens of millions of plug-in hybrid vehicles
if they would be recharged during off-peak times,
such as at night.
LITHGOW: With today's batteries,
plug-ins can only go so far on electricity,
but Frank believes they're a viable step
toward more efficient transportation.
FRANK: I'm hoping that the car companies
really get serious and start building these things,
because the sooner they get it out
in the hands of the public, the sooner we can begin
to transition ourselves off of oil.
LITHGOW: Martin Eberhard is convinced
that cars can be powered by batteries alone.
He's the founder of Tesla Motors,
and his electric sports car is built to prove
electrons are a hands-down winner over gasoline.
EBERHARD: A gasoline engine is terribly inefficient.
It's below 20% efficient, typically.
An electric car like ours is, you know,
in the neighborhood of 85% efficient.
It's that kind of difference.
So it would be, like,
135 miles to the gallon equivalent.
Big difference.
In a car that does zero to 60 in four seconds.
LITHGOW: The Tesla Roadster can go 250 miles on a single charge.
But it takes a lot of batteries
to go even that far, and they come at a price.
EBERHARD: The Tesla Roadster costs
$92,000 right now.
You can buy options and spend more if you like.
The great big hairy goal we have is to create
the next great American car company.
It's insane, right?
I mean, we're up against some big guys out there.
LITHGOW: The first 600 roadsters are being handmade overseas.
At Tesla headquarters in Silicon Valley,
engineers are refining hardware and software
for the next, more affordable, model.
EBERHARD: A lot of the complexity that you find in a typical car
has moved out of mechanical things
and into electrical things and software.
LITHGOW: The mechanics of the Tesla are stunningly simple.
The electronics module is the brain that controls
the battery pack, which accounts
for about a third of the cost of the vehicle
and powers a 75-pound motor that drives the rear wheels.
EBERHARD: If you look in our motor, there's one moving part.
And that drives a very, very simple transmission.
But to make that motor do its thing
requires a fairly large box of fairly sophisticated silicon
and a lot of software behind it
to make it do what it needs to do.
So a large amount of the drive train development
was pretty natural to do right here in Silicon Valley.
LITHGOW: The power supply is filled with lithium-ion batteries
that have revolutionized portable computers
and electronics.
EBERHARD: Well, first of all, lithium-ion batteries
are just the best battery technology today.
Lithium is readily available and fully recyclable.
The significant advantage with lithium-ion is
it's not a heavy metal,
so in the handling process, you don't have a health hazard.
It's already broken.
They have it on the lift.
(all laughing)
Practically the first thing
we put in this building was the lift.
You know, we have the same lifts in our shop,
except ours are all covered with grease.
Where's the grease, Martin?
Where is the grease?
So this is all carbon-fiber body,
and even the structure behind, you can see carbon fiber.
So this, this is the battery pack.
That's right.
And it's got little batteries in it.
Yeah, quite a few little batteries.
I might have one here-- hold on.
Yeah?
There you go, yeah.
Just like that.
And how many of these are in there?
6,831, approximately.
How do you arrive at that number?
You couldn't round it off to 7,000?
I don't mean to throw a wet blanket
on the whole issue here,
but I know there was some talk
about some laptops that were catching fire...
We were actually quite concerned about what would happen
if one of these batteries were to catch fire, early on,
and we set about designing the battery packs
so that if one battery catches fire,
it doesn't set the neighbors on fire.
What is it about lithium-ions that makes them so special
and makes them so different from other batteries?
Energy density.
How much energy can I fit into a small package?
Lithium-ion batteries are about four times the energy density
of previous car batteries.
And that's a phenomenal difference.
That's like a four-times-bigger gas tank.
So that's where the driving range comes from.
It comes at a price today... uh, but, uh,
I think that the driving range
is one of the most important things
to make electric cars become acceptable.
I'm in.
Put your seatbelt on.
Yeah.
Say your prayers.
You don't mind if I don't look?
LITHGOW: Perhaps foolishly,
Martin lets his multimillion-dollar prototype
out of sight without a chaperone.
RAY: See ya!
First time driving?
(Tom laughs)
LITHGOW: Tom's next car might be a two-seater with no tailpipe,
if he's got the money.
You know, we could probably be in Mexico
in about two hours with this car.
(Tom laughs)
LITHGOW: Pushing the envelope of technology always brings a cost,
but if alternative vehicles are going to curb our oil addiction,
they must be sold not by the hundreds but by the millions...
at an affordable price.
This is a challenge for large auto makers,
but to meet it, they must make big changes in what they sell.
The question is whether the car companies can shift
from selling horsepower and start selling high fuel economy.
We're starting to see that.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, the 2007 Chevrolet Volt Concept.
LITHGOW: Meet the Chevy Volt,
a hot new contender in the green car sweepstakes,
a car that's designed for a world without oil.
ROBERT LUTZ: So, if your daily driving is 40 miles a day or less
and you charge the vehicle every night when you get home,
you will never need to buy gasoline
during the entire life of the vehicle.
(applause)
LITHGOW: Under the hood of the Chevy Volt
is an electric motor that can be powered
in several different ways.
Lithium-ion batteries charged from the grid
give it a driving range of 40 miles.
Batteries can also be charged by a generator
that burns ethanol or gasoline,
extending the range another 600 miles.
The motor can also be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
The Volt is a prototype built to promote the idea
that affordable, practical cars
can be powered from diverse energy sources.
But it's not for sale-- yet.
The problem is, batteries are not included.
RAY: So tell us, when's this going to happen?
Or is it going to happen?
Both are good questions.
I think General Motors would seriously like
for a car like this to happen.
Of course.
The question is, they don't have the battery technology-- yet--
to make it work.
And because they don't have the battery technology,
this is essentially an imaginary car.
It's a very nice imaginary car, but it's an imaginary car.
LITHGOW: How long the Volt will remain an imaginary car is unclear.
GM says batteries must get cheaper, safer
and more reliable before the Volt becomes a reality.
If you can tell us without killing us...
(all laugh)
When can we expect to see this car?
We will be ready when that battery's ready.
There's no question in my mind...
So five to seven years?
But, but most importantly is
when General Motors brings a product out
like the Chevrolet Volt, it has to be a product
that the battery will last ten years,
that will be safe for the customers
and it will meet all their needs.
They don't want any compromises.
All right, Tony, tell us when it's coming out!
ROMM: I think General Motors should be taken seriously.
I think that if they build it, people will buy it,
plus the competition-- Toyota, Honda--
will introduce plug-in hybrids, I have no doubt.
So I think that there is much more reason to be optimistic now
than in a very long time.
LITHGOW: GM hopes to start producing the Volt
by the end of the decade,
but today, it stands alone in a sea of beefy trucks
and high-powered road machines.
Will cars like the Volt ever replace them?
Tom and Ray aren't so sure.
RAY: It's right next to the, uh,
Ford Mustang with 550 horsepower.
LOWERY: And the Camaro convertible.
Isn't that great?
America's all about choice.
So if you want a Camaro, you can have one.
No, no, but if we're about hugging trees...
With 500 horsepower?
Who the hell needs 500 horsepower?!
Obviously not you.
Why do you make such (bleep)?
(all laugh)
I mean, it's ridiculous!
You mean, these popular vehicles that are on the floor?
These popular vehicles-- 500 horsepower!
Here's a good question: have they...
It creates a little excitement, doesn't it?
You're good, Beth.
TOM: Thanks a million.
Thanks for your time.
Thanks.
Sorry for giving you a hard time.
It's okay.
I'm used to it.
I'm sure.
(laughs)
Thanks a lot.
LITHGOW: After a century of making cars fueled by gasoline,
how quickly can car makers change their course?
FRANK: We've got to get alternative vehicles into our society
as quickly as possible,
because when shortages start to occur,
we will have economic disruption like you cannot believe.
We can't wait.
We have to reduce our emissions starting in the next few years.
If we don't, we're going to find it virtually impossible
to avoid catastrophic warming.
LITHGOW: But is there too much at stake
to be left in the hands of car makers and consumers?
GREENE: We're not able to rely on individual decisions
in the marketplace to solve the problem of climate change,
to solve the problem of oil dependence.
It takes collective action.
It takes government action.
It's asking a lot of the auto industry
to force the change all on its own.
It's not really their job.
If we decide we really wanted to reduce dependence
on petroleum as a society,
then we have to have the collective will to do so.
And that includes making sure
we have the right government policies in place,
that we have the right vehicles in place, the right fuels,
and the customers understand that that's really a priority.
LITHGOW: But will customers buy these new kinds of cars
if car makers build them?
How willing are we
to embrace change in something so fundamental to our lives?
LOVINS: Ultimately, as citizens and as consumers,
we're responsible for the world we create.
If we don't like the way it's turning out,
let's change it.
Individual choices and actions matter.
They really do.
And it all adds up.
LITHGOW: If we do embrace change,
future generations may look back fondly on today's cars
as dinosaurs from a bygone era, relics from the Age of Oil.
This is an achievable goal.
It'll take time-- we can't do it tomorrow,
we can't do it even in five years.
But every year that we work on it,
the situation will get better.
RAY: So let me know, are you ready to move on
and get something new?
I mean, are you...?
Well, I've seen a lot
of very interesting technology,
and I know what I want.
Really?
What's that?
I want you to turn that into a plug-in hybrid.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, sure.
Let me see, we'll throw in some fuel cells, maybe.
We'll throw some carbon-fiber panels on it.
Come on, let's get out of here, will ya?
Ethanol tanks, fuel cells-- what else do you want?
That'll do.
When do you want it?
How about tomorrow?
Sure.
5:00?
5:00 is fine.
Works for me!
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org
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