Some think that a gas tax is the only way to get consumers to buy fuel efficient cars (Photo courtesy of the US Department of State)
Some in the auto industry are proposing a hike in the gasoline tax. The idea is this: if you want people to buy small cars, make gasoline more expensive. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Some in the auto industry are proposing a hike in the gasoline tax. The idea is this: if you want people to buy small cars, make gasoline more expensive. Lester Graham reports:
Car dealers and manufacturers say a higher gas price is the only thing that gets people buying more fuel efficient cars. So, a tax hike makes sense.
But, a guy who has a lot of sway on the idea of a gas tax hike is not going there.
Congressman Ed Markey chairs a House subcommittee on Energy and the Environment.
At a forum at MIT he said the plan is to stick with CAFÉ — the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards – to get better mileage cars.
“That’s the route that we’re taking rather and an increase in the gasoline tax. We’re moving towards a mandate and 35 miles per gallon is the minimum that we intend on reaching by 2020.”
And under the stimulus package, new tax credits amounting to thousands of dollars get kicked-back to anyone buying a fuel efficient car.
A proposed program would allow car owners to trade in their gas-guzzling clunkers and get a cash incentive towards a new, more efficient car. (Photo by Martin Hans, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
A proposed cash for clunkers program might jump start the auto industry and help the environment at the same time. Tamara Keith reports the idea is getting some traction in Washington DC:
Transcript
A proposed cash for clunkers program might jump start the auto industry and help the environment at the same time. Tamara Keith reports the idea is getting some traction in Washington DC:
The idea is: if you bring in your old gas guzzler, you’d get money to buy a new fuel-efficient car. The gas guzzler? Straight to the junk yard , getting older, smog belching vehicles off the road. John McEleney is the chairman of the national automobile dealers association. He says how much you’d get would be based on how fuel efficient the new car is. For instance, if you bought a car that gets 27 miles to the gallon:
“They might qualify for say a $3500 incentive. If they instead purchased a vehicle that was rated at 33 miles a gallon that incentive could then go to $5000.”
One big question is whether only American-made cars would qualify. That’s one of the issues congress and the white house will have to work out– Oh, along with figuring out where the money would come from. For the Environment Report, I’m Tamara Keith.
San Francisco expects to process 10,000 gallons of the grease every day (Photo by Rainer Zenz, source: Wikimedia Commons)
One city’s new program is taking the mucky sink-clogging grease from restaurants and converting it into fuel for its fleet of vehicles. As David Gorn reports, it’s the first effort of its kind in the nation:
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One city’s new program is taking the mucky sink-clogging grease from restaurants and converting it into fuel for its fleet of vehicles. As David Gorn reports, it’s the first effort of its kind in the nation:
It’s 6 in the morning, and a San Francisco sewage treatment plant is already in full gear.
(sound of a truck motor)
Workers are unloading a tankful of used cooking oil from local restaurants.
(sound of a man shouting)
But soon they’ll also be picking up something a little nastier from restaurants.
“Brown grease is culled out, pumped out by grease haulers and taken out of the city, often to landfills.”
That’s Karri Ving, biofuels coordinator for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. She says, instead of carting that grease off to a garbage dump, it will now be converted into biofuel.
“That material, that food material, is what we’re going to condense into a putty that gets converted into road-worthy biodiesel.”
Ving says San Francisco expects to process about 10,000 gallons of the
stuff every day.
Right now, cars get an average 27 and a half miles per gallon. By
2011, they'll have to get 30.2 (Photo by Ben VonWaggoner)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new vehicle fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. As Tracy Samilton reports, it’s the first change since 1985:
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new vehicle fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. As Tracy Samilton reports, it’s the first change since 1985:
Right now, cars get an average 27 and a half miles per gallon. By
2011, they’ll have to get 30.2. Light trucks, including SUVs, will
have to get 24.1 miles per gallon, up a mile per gallon.
Eli Hopson
is with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He says the change is not
dramatic but it’s still an important milestone.
“The car standards haven’t
changed. They’ve been at 27.5 for over twenty years. It is a big deal. It’s
been a long time in coming.”
Carmakers are prepared for the new standard and say they’ll meet it.
Future standards will be tougher.
Auto companies usually complain
when mileage standards are raised. But times have changed, especially
for Chrysler and GM. They might not be as vocal since accepting
billions in federal loans.
President Obama has outlined his plans
for the struggling auto industry. They
include restructuring GM and Chrysler
as well as help for auto workers and
communities hurt by slumping car and truck sales. Lester Graham reports lost in the details was the President’s bigger plan:
Transcript
President Obama has outlined his plans
for the struggling auto industry. They
include restructuring GM and Chrysler
as well as help for auto workers and
communities hurt by slumping car and truck sales. Lester Graham reports lost in the details was the President’s bigger plan:
In one sentence President Obama summed up his vision for the U.S. auto industry.
“I am absolutely committed to working with Congress and the auto companies to meet one goal: the United States of America will lead the world in building the next generation of clean cars.”
Some analysts say the market should decide whether consumers want fuel-efficient, clean cars. They point to headlines noting hybrid car sales fell off a cliff since gasoline prices went down.
But J.D. Power and Associates’ Michael Omotoso says yeah, hybrid sales are down – but not as much as everything else.
“Hybrid sales are actually doing well compared to overall sales.”
Hybrid sales in February were down 29% from last year, but overall light vehicle sales fell 40%.
Omotoso says hybrids are still selling because people expect gas prices will go up as the economy recovers.
A study from the US Geological Survey shows drinking water from almost one quarter of private wells is contaminated. (Photo by Alex Anlicker, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
A new report finds that almost one quarter of the private wells in the country are contaminated. Mark Brush reports on a new study that tested the quality of well water:
Transcript
A new report finds that almost one quarter of the private wells in the country are contaminated. Mark Brush reports on a new study that tested the quality of well water:
The government sampled wells across the country. And it found that twenty-three percent of the private wells tested had chemicals at levels that could cause health problems.
The United States Geological Survey published the report. Bob Gilliom is one of the authors.
He says most of the contaminants they found came from natural sources underground – such as arsenic – which is a poison:
“So certain parts of the country there was a relatively high incidence of arsenic concentrations that were greater than the maximum contaminant level identified in the Safe Water Drinking Act.”
Man-made chemicals were also found – especially near farms where nitrogen fertilizers are used. Around one quarter of all the wells tested in these areas had levels of nitrates considered to be unsafe. In the U-S – about 43 million people get their water from a well. And the government says it’s often up to the home owner to find out whether their water is safe.
At the London Road Car Wash, the first blast of soapy water is captured in a pit under the floor and used again. (Photo by Stephanie Hemphill)
Employees at the London Road Car Wash get a free lunch once a month -- paid for by recycling the trash they find in the cars. (Photo by Stephanie Hemphill)
Many business leaders are taking a serious look at their environmental impact. Companies from Ikea to Home Depot are following a science-based approach to sustainability called the Natural Step. Stephanie Hemphill visited one small business that’s rethinking its operations:
Transcript
Many business leaders are taking a serious look at their environmental impact. Companies from Ikea to Home Depot are following a science-based approach to sustainability called the Natural Step. Stephanie Hemphill visited one small business that’s rethinking its operations:
You probably wouldn’t think a car wash would be the kind of place that pays attention to the environment. But this one is.
It’s trying to become more sustainable — putting back what it takes away.
“What we’d like to do is, we’d like to be a closed system, a closed loop.”
Frank Nicoletti is the manager of this car wash in Duluth Minnesota.
“That’s the goal of the whole Natural Step is to be closed loop, meaning nothing goes in or out, and you just recycle the whole time. Of course, how feasible it is we don’t know. ”
Nicoletti is trained as a biologist. He’s the kind of guy who spends a lot of time watching the hawks as they migrate across the western tip of Lake Superior. It’s right across the street from the car wash.
His concern about nature is bubbling over into his business.
When a local non-profit group brought in Natural Step experts, Nicoletti and a dozen other business people signed up to learn how ecosystems work, and how they could operate their businesses more sustainably. They started looking over their operations from top to bottom to see how they could make them more earth-friendly.
One big change they’ve made at the car wash is switching to a biodegradable detergent. That’s not required by law, but it’s one of the principles of the Natural Step program — to reduce the use of man-made toxic substances.
“Everything that’s on line here is non-persistent so it breaks down in the environment.”
As cars move through the wash, the first flush of soapy water is captured in a pit the below the floor, and re-used.
The rest of the waste water is treated at the local sewage treatment plant, so grease and oil and other pollutants aren’t going into Lake Superior. Around the country, most car washes send their waste water to treatment plants, and Frank Nicoletti says it’s better for lakes and streams when people use a car wash instead of doing it on the driveway at home.
Here, the used oil from the lube operation is another part of that closed loop.
“We have two special boilers in our basement that actually recycles the oil and heats part of the building as well as heating all of the hot water.”
And the company recycles the cans and bottles they haul out of the cars they wash. They use the money from the recycled trash to give the people who work here a free lunch once a month.
“The amount of trash that comes out of these vehicles is unbelievable. We’re actually putting less trash in the garbage can now that we’re recycling, which is a great thing, and we’re also helping our guys out by giving them lunch once a month on these recycled cans.”
That’s another part of the Natural Step. It says a sustainable business will make sure its employees can meet their needs. And since they started recycling the trash from the cars, a lot of the workers are recycling at home now too.
Frank Nicoletti says he’d like to make the business fit in with nature even more — by rebuilding the roof.
“I’d love to make butterfly garden up there, and that will actually clean the air. Because the butterfly migration and the dragonfly migration through the lakeshore here is just huge. I mean, there are days when the dragonflies are going by, you can see a million — of different species.”
When they’ve finished a year’s worth of training and work, the car wash and the other businesses trying out the Natural Step approach will share their experiences with others in the community.
Frank Nicoletti says it’ll be like a pebble dropped in a pond. There’s no telling how far the ripples will go.
For The Environment Report, I’m Stephanie Hemphill.
Tesla's Roadster Sport - a 2-seat sports car priced at $100,000 (Photo courtesy of Tesla Motors)
If you want a clean electric vehicle to cruise the highway today, you really only have one option – a small, Silicon Valley company named Tesla. Tesla has plans to be a big player in the auto industry, but so far the company has only built a few hundred cars. Dustin Dwyer looks at whether Tesla can make it in one of the toughest industries around:
Transcript
If you want a clean electric vehicle to cruise the highway today, you really only have one option – a small, Silicon Valley company named Tesla. Tesla has plans to be a big player in the auto industry, but so far the company has only built a few hundred cars. Dustin Dwyer looks at whether Tesla can make it in one of the toughest industries around:
If you’re trying to get attention for a new vehicle, a big auto show is one of the best places to get it.
And even this year, as GM and Chrysler hobbled into the Detroit auto show on federal life support, and all carmakers scaled back, there was still a lot of hype.
Here’s GM’s introduction for the Chevy Volt.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the future of automotive transportation has entered the building.”
That’s how the big players make their announcements.
Tesla is not a big player.
CEO Elon Musk made his big announcement in a hotel conference room in front of a bunch of geeky auto analysts.
“A big announcement that I’ve just gotten this morning permission this morning to make is, um” (takes drink)
Here he takes a drink of his water.
“…that Daimler has given us permission to acknowledge that they are the automotive partner that we’re working with.”
That means Tesla is going to help make an electric version of Daimler’s tiny Smart Car.
Musk is not much of a salesman. But maybe he doesn’t have to be. While all the big carmakers are seeing huge sales drops, Musk says Tesla sales keep going up.
“And, well, actually we can’t produce them fast enough and we’re sold out through November of this year.”
Now, Tesla – at most – makes 30 vehicles a week. And its only car, a sporty roadster, sells for more than $100,000.
A company like GM sells thousands of cars a week, and people who aren’t movie stars can actually afford some of them.
But Musk says he wants Tesla to be more than just a small time player.
So now the company is working on a four-door sedan that will sell for about $50,000 – still pricey for most of us, but half the price of its two-seat roadster.
Here’s the thing though, right now, Tesla has the electric vehicle market all to itself. But all the big companies are working on their own electric cars.
So when Tesla comes out with its four-door sedan, the competition will be much tougher.
Michael Robinet is an auto industry analyst with the firm CSM Worldwide. He says Tesla’s small size is a problem.
“Economies of scale is one of the main drivers of this industry to get cost out of the vehicle and be competitive. And that’s where the major vehicle manufacturers are going to have a leg up in the future.”
Some who follow the auto industry think Tesla’s future could be as more of a partner to existing companies, like what Tesla is doing with Daimler.
But Elon Musk insists Tesla will continue to make its own cars. And it can succeed.
“You go through sort of stages of denial, I guess. You know, when we first said we’d make this car, people said you can’t make this car. It’s not going to work, the technology’s not going to work, and even if the technology works, nobody’s gonna buy the damn thing. And we’ve shown, hey, we can make the technology work and people really want to buy it. So, okay, then they go to the next stage, ‘Oh, well, sure, okay, people will buy that car, but they won’t buy a sedan.’”
Tesla plans to unveil the new sedan later this month (March 26). The car is expected to go on sale in 2011.
In the meantime, Tesla has not been completely immune to all the problems facing the auto industry. Tesla had trouble raising money last year to finance the new sedan. So it turned to the federal government for a 350 million dollar loan.
At least in that one sense, Tesla is already acting like a major player.
Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (N.E.V.'s) can go up to 25 mph. The City of Chicago would like to see more people using them for short-distance errands. (Photo by Mike Rhee)
Hybrid cars are all the rage nowadays.
But Mike Rhee reports another car could take the concept of green-friendly vehicles a step farther:
Transcript
Hybrid cars are all the rage nowadays.
But Mike Rhee reports another car could take the concept of green-friendly vehicles a step farther:
These new types of cars are called neighborhood electric vehicles, or N-E-V’s for short.
Now, to me, they look like souped-up golf carts.
But don’t say that to Matt Stewart.
“It gives them a bad name.”
Stewart is the senior automotive equipment analyst, kind of like the car expert, for the City of Chicago.
It owns four of these small electric vehicles.
And Stewart doesn’t like comparing them to golf carts because he says N-E-V’s are much more sophisticated.
“They can go faster than golf carts, I think golf carts are allowed to go up to just under 20 mph, these go between 20-25 is the top speed. They have safety glass windshields, they have mirrors, they have turn signals, brake lights, headlights, and then they have automotive certified safety belts.”
OK, so N-E-V’s are not golf carts–They’re road ready.
And fully electric.
The vehicles are charged with just a regular wall plug and can go up to 40 miles on a single charge.
And this year, Chicago’s approved these vehicles to drive around nearly everywhere in the city.
“Hi, Garrick.”
“How you doin’?”
Garrick Mueller is a truck driver for the city of Chicago.
We’re standing in this huge warehouse that’s filled with fire engines, garbage trucks, and of course, some N-E-V’s.
Mueller says he uses this little vehicle all the time to move around the warehouse.
We buckle in.
“We’re all set, you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright.”
“This is wild.”
“Isn’t it? It’s pretty neat.”
“OK, so we’re about to go on a regular street.”
“Yeah, Elston Avenue, we’re going to make a right. People look at you, they’re like, what is that? See right there– the cops looking at us? They’re like, ‘What is that.’ It’s like when you see a new car on the street you’re like, ‘Wow, look at that.'”
“Now, the ordinance they passed would allow everyday people like you and me have one of these at home. What do you think about being able to drive this around your neighborhood?”
“You know, I like it. I would definitely drive one of these. I mean, the doors come off in the summer, if you had kids and stuff, you could go to the ice cream parlor, have them seat-belted in and go right to the ice cream, you know, it’s nice.”
“That’s actually the goal.”
That’s Eileen Joyce.
She’s assistant commissioner of Chicago’s vehicle fleet.
Right now, Joyce says the city’s testing out the N-E-V’s for its lighter travel needs.
Say a worker needs to drop off a box of pamphlets at a concert.Or a few employees need to drive downtown for a meeting.
Granted, those kinds of trips are the minority compared to most of the city’s work with large vehicles like garbage trucks and snow plows.
But Joyce says the city wants to show residents how useful these vehicles can be, and, if they catch on, she says it could make a big impact on reducing pollution here.
She imagines N-E-V’s parked in driveways and garages everywhere.
“Plug it in overnight, go and run errands, go to the grocery store, the library, Blockbuster, return something, and come back and plug it in without using any fuel or emitting any emissions into the air.”
Joyce says 39 states permit these smaller vehicles to be used in some form or other.
Some businesses have already started using N-E-V’s for things like food and pizza delivery.
So, you may not have seen one yet, but it probably won’t be long before you do.
Despite the decline in new car sales, Sales Manager Joe Marken expects more business on the
repair and maintenance side of of the dealership.
(Photo by Julie Grant)
The Don Joseph Toyota Dealer in Kent, Ohio is spending about 12-million dollars to
renovate its repair and maintenance facility.
(Photo by Julie Grant)
Not too many people are buying new cars these days. But that’s not all bad news for auto dealers. Julie Grant reports that more car owners are starting to spend money on repair and maintenance:
Transcript
Not too many people are buying new cars these days. But that’s not all bad news for auto dealers. Julie Grant reports that more car owners are starting to spend money on repair and maintenance:
(sound of construction)
Now there’s a sound you don’t hear every day anymore. Especially at a car dealership. It’s construction.
This Toyota Dealer in Kent, Ohio is in the midst of a 12-million dollar expansion.
Sales manager Joe Marken says they’re renovating the repair and maintenance garage. That’s where he’s starting to see the most growth.
“People are looking at, ‘do I want to encumber myself with a 60 month payment of some sort, or do I want to spend X and know that I can get a year or two more years out of whatever I’m doing?'”
Marken says lots of people don’t know if they’ll have a job in the next year or two.
The National Automobile Dealers Association expects more people to spend money on parts and service nationwide this year.
They say there’s an upside – maintenance improves gas mileage and resale value of the vehicle.
Some think that a gas tax is the only way to get consumers to buy fuel efficient cars (Photo courtesy of the US Department of State)
