Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles
Encyclopedia
United States Council for Automotive Research
United States Council for Automotive Research LLC is an umbrella organization for collaborative research that comprises Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation. Its goal is to further strengthen the technology base of the U.S...
(USCAR
USCAR
USCAR means:* United States Council for Automotive Research* US Climate Action Report* United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands...
), which comprises DaimlerChrysler
DaimlerChrysler
Daimler AG is a German car corporation. By unit sales, it is the thirteenth-largest car manufacturer and second-largest truck manufacturer in the world. In addition to automobiles, Daimler manufactures buses and provides financial services through its Daimler Financial Services arm...
, Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
and General Motors Corporation. On track to achieving its objectives, the program was cancelled by the Bush Administration in 2001 at the request of the automakers, with some of its aspects shifted to the much more distant FreedomCAR
FreedomCAR
The FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies is a U.S. national Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program developing more energy efficient and environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies that will enable the U.S to use less petroleum...
program.
Results
The PNGV program "overcame many challenges and has forged a useful and productive partnership of industry and government participants" , "resulting in three concept cars that demonstrate the feasibility of a variety of new automotive technologies" with Diesel-electric transmission.GM, Ford, and Chrysler all created working concept vehicles of 5 passenger family cars that achieved at least 72 mpg . GM created the 80 mpg Precept
General Motors Precept
The General Motors Precept was a 2000 low emission vehicle concept car aimed at meeting the fuel economy goal of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles between the US Government and GM, Ford, and Chrysler. GM was able to meet the fuel economy goal with the Precept, creating versions...
, Ford created the 72 mpg Prodigy
Ford Prodigy
The Ford Prodigy was a low emission vehicle 72 mpg-US diesel-hybrid concept car launched in 2000 and aimed at establishing U.S. leadership in the development of extremely fuel-efficient vehicles while retaining the features that make them marketable and affordable...
, and Chrysler created the 72 mpg ESX-3.
Researchers for the PNGV identified a number of ways to reach 80 mpg including reducing vehicle weight, increasing engine efficiency, combining gasoline engines and electric motors in hybrid vehicles, implementing regenerative braking, and switching to high efficiency fuel cell powerplants. Specific new technology breakthroughs achieved under the program include :
- Development of carbon foam with extremely high heat conductivity (2000 R&D 100 Award)
- Near frictionless carbon coating, many times slicker than Teflon (1998 R&D 100 Award)
- Oxygen-rich air supplier for clean diesel technology (1999 R&D 100 Award)
- Development of a compact microchannel fuel vaporizer to convert gasoline to hydrogen for fuel cells (1999 R&D 100 Award)
- Development of aftertreatment devices to remove nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust with efficiencies greater than 90 percent, when used with diesel fuel containing 3 ppm of sulfur
- Improvement of the overall efficiency and power-to-weight ratios of power electronics to within 25 percent of targets, while reducing cost by 86 percent to $10/kW since 1995
- Reduction in cost of lightweight aluminum, magnesium, and glass-fiber-reinforced polymer components to less than 50 percent the cost of steel
- Reduction in the costs of fuel cells from $10,000/kW in 1994 to $300/kW in 2000
- Substantial weight reduction to within 5 to 10 percent of the vehicle weight reduction goal
Criticisms
Ralph NaderRalph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
called PNGV "an effort to coordinate the transfer of property rights for federally funded research and development to the automotive industry". http://www.nader.org/releases/63099.html PNGV was also criticized by some groups for a focus on diesel solutions, a fuel that is seen by some as having inherently high air pollutant emissions. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYH/is_5_5/ai_71836367
Elizabeth Kolbert in her article in the 2007-11-05 New Yorker Running on Fumes, noted that renewable energy is the main problem, and that "If someone, somewhere, comes up with a source of power that is safe, inexpensive, and for all intents and purposes inexhaustible, then we, the Chinese, the Indians, and everyone else on the planet can keep on truckin’. Barring that, the car of the future may turn out to be no car at all."
See peak oil
Peak oil
Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. This concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, projected reserves and the combined production rate of a field...
.
External links
- Review Of The Research Program Of The Partnership For A New Generation Of Vehicles: Seventh Report, the National Research Council'sUnited States National Research CouncilThe National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...
final report on PNGV - Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles Organization
- (PNGV)
- "Updating Automotive Research", commentary on PNGV and FreedomCAR by Daniel Sperling, professor of civil engineering and environmental science at University of California, DavisUniversity of California, DavisThe University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
- DOE vehicle technologies homepage
- USCAR Website
- "Supercar: The tanking of an American dream"