Transportation is the Achilles Heel of our national economy. It runs entirely on oil, two thirds of which we import. Given the fact that global oil production might be peaking while consumption is not, this is a major issue: not only in economic terms, but for our national security as well.

The issue has two sides: supply and demand. In the previous plank of the platform we have dealt with supply. Here we will deal with the demand side, which means reducing consumption.

Some reduction can be achieved through conservation: driving and flying less, consolidating trips, shutting the engine down instead of idling, and so on. This helps, but the bulk of the problem is structural. The U.S. is the most mobile nation on earth, and our way of life has been established on the basis of cheap and abundant fuel. We cannot, overnight or even over a decade, significantly modify housing or work patterns built around automotive transportation.

Neither is there a ready replacement for the huge vehicle inventory we have built up and use, as well as the infrastructure built to fuel, repair and maintain it. We can, however, vastly improve its efficiency.

Let it first be said that improving efficiency does not mean legislating higher mileage standards. We have had those for decades and have evaded them by creating new categories of vehicles not subject to the standards. A more spectacular failure is hard to imagine.

The solution is not more legislation or a higher gasoline tax. Oil prices will rise even if our domestic supply is increased as recommended in the previous plank. Market forces will take care of that. What we need is something already available, and that does not burden the consumer: better automotive design.

A number of known and tested technologies are available today which can substantially improve automotive fuel economy without loss of functionality and comfort. Among these are a switch from gasoline/ethanol to diesel, low-friction tires, electrification of engine auxiliary functions, lighter materials, better aerodynamics, and many similar improvements. The U.S. Department of Energy, among others, has a full list, together with costs, test results and related fuel efficiency improvements.

A number of these technologies have been introduced piecemeal in various car and truck models, but a vehicle design incorporating all of them has never been attempted. Developing such a design would have two major benefits.

First, it would in short order demonstrate how much can be achieved in terms of fuel economy while requiring no fundamental change to our fuel mix, our transportation infrastructure and our patterns of automotive transportation. Second, it would provide almost immediately a completely new generation of vehicles which, while providing major improvements in efficiency and emissions, could be mass produced in our existing plants.

The design and development of the new vehicle line would be supported with government funds, on the sole condition that a minimum number of such vehicles be produced and put on the market. This funding would cover the design and testing of a maximum efficiency platform in several vehicle sizes. Participating automotive companies would be free to sell the basic platform “as is” or to add individual styling, amenities and features, as long as the required number of baseline vehicles are made available to the public.

Under those conditions, the program would be open to all U.S. vehicle producers, with the reservation that all vehicle components for domestic consumption be produced within the country.

The program would be run along the same lines as U.S. military vehicle production was during WWII. Specifications would be developed jointly in public-private collaboration, aiming at fuel economy, low cost and ease of maintenance; prototypes would be developed and tested; production would then be parceled out to the participating corporations. The products could be as successful as the famed WW II vehicles, including the original Jeep.

The next plank of the National Interest Platform will then be:

“Initiate a collaborative government-industry automotive development program, combining all known technologies into a line of vehicles with maximum fuel efficiency and low cost”.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 9:14 pm and is filed under The National Interest Platform. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.