Detroit auto show buzz? Electrifying

Automakers are starting to see the light, and consumers should see electric cars in showrooms within two years. And I'm not just talking about the long-awaited but still nowhere-to-be-seen Chevy Volt.

Ford realized it needed to pick up the pace, and set out to make an electric car prototype within just six months, a very short developmental time by Detroit standards. Here's a link to a video featuring a test drive of the car.

And it's not just Ford jumping into the game, according to this New York Times article, "Toyota, which has so far focused its efforts on hybrid models, will display a battery-powered concept car at the Detroit show. Nissan’s chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, has promised to sell an electric car in the United States and Japan as early as next year.

Two Japanese automakers, Mitsubishi and Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, are also testing electric cars. And Chrysler, the most troubled of Detroit’s three auto companies, has vowed to produce its first electric car by 2010."

So it appears consumers won't be limited to just the Chevy Volt. Choice is a good thing, and hopefully automakers serve up an array of vehicle types. If they're all subcompact, four-person cars, that will leave a void in the marketplace.

We need electric vehicles that help people do work. Electric trucks. Electric vans.

To really give a boost to the U.S. economy from this trend, manufacturing investment needs to be made here. That means building the batteries on U.S. soil. So far, Chevy has promised to build a battery factory in Michigan. But there needs to be more, a point that the NY Times article makes.

American auto executives have warned that without homegrown suppliers, the country could potentially become as dependent on Asian-made batteries as it is on oil from the Middle East and elsewhere.

“Automakers cannot afford the batteries until they are produced in a certain volume,” said Brett Smith, an industry analyst at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. “But they can’t be produced in volume until companies make a big manufacturing investment.”

Ford says its car should get 100 miles on a six-hour charge. The Chevy Volt will go 40 miles on its charge, but will have a gas engine to recharge itself.

NY Times Op-ed: Four technologies that may save Detroit

Sebastian Thrun, a professor of computer science at Stanford, and Anthony Levandowski, a product manager at Google, submitted an op-ed column to the New York Times on four ideas that they think may save Detroit.

Their ideas center around making cars - and driving habits - more efficient. The authors note that these are projects they are working on, so take them with a grain of salt.

1. Use dedicated short-range communication, or Wifi, to enable cars to communicate with traffic lights and other roadway infrastructure. This would allow for more efficient acceleration, braking and improved traffic flow.

2. Solar-electric hybrids. The only problem I see with this is that most cars spend a lot of time parked in the shade or in a garage.

3. Robotic cars that drive in tight formation. This would help decrease drag and would free up drivers for tasks like e-mail. And maybe safely talking on your cell phone while driving? Or shaving.

4. Cars that go online. Sensors at parking meters would tell you where the open spots are. Make dinner reservations. Order takeout. I don't know, there's so much you can do with a smart phone these days. Why bother putting technology in cars that will be obsolete in a matter of a few years?