Electric car hype hiding a quiet revolution

BERLIN—Electric cars and hybrids may be capturing headlines and the imagination of green-leaning consumers around the world as one automaker after another announces plans to push into the brave new world of fossil fuel-free mobility.

But away from the spotlight, carmakers have been quietly delivering significant cuts in CO2 emissions with some re-engineering of internal combustion engines, technology advances, weight reduction and aerodynamic improvements. Increasingly stringent fuel economy standards in Europe and the United States that were mandated due to climate change concerns have been the main catalyst. Yet with rising fuel prices and a waxing awareness of global warming, consumers have also been clamoring for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

“Carmakers have finally gotten the message and have made a good start in making cuts in CO2 emissions but only after they were forced to,” said Dorothee Saar, an industry analyst at the German Environmental Aid Association (DUH) in Berlin ahead of the Frankfurt international car show starting on Tuesday.

“Before 2008 they had only voluntary targets that were largely ignored. They’re moving forward now because they know if they don’t cut emissions they’ll pay heavy fines. They’re doing better but there is still a lot of untapped potential.” In the European Union, CO2 emissions fell 3.7 percent last year to 140 grams per kilometer after dropping 5.1 percent in 2009. Average emissions are down from 186 grams in 1995. The EU is on track to meet a 130 grams target by 2015 set in 2008 in the face of heavy resistance. The limit will be 98 grams in 2020. In the United States, notorious around the world for its gas guzzlers, the Obama administration announced plans in August to raise fuel economy requirements by 53 percent by 2025. The proposal requires companies to reach an average fuel efficiency across their US fleets of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

“The industry has done what they have agreed to with the CO2 reduction goals but the problem is that they are aiming at moving targets,” said Philippe Houchois, car industry analyst at UBS in London. “The CO2 targets get tougher all the time. “Everyone has made good progress because they have to with the regulations,” he added. “There are no obvious laggards. But as the requirements continue to move, they are going to have to have sell more electric cars to be able to meet the targets.”

That is an important reason why many carmakers are turning to electric cars even if they now only represent a tiny slice of the global business—where about 50 million cars are sold each year. Until now only a few thousand have been electric. Even hybrids represent only a small slice of the pie so far.

Out of an estimated one billion vehicles on the roads worldwide, only 47 million alternative vehicles are running as hybrids, on hydrogen or electric power, according to a recent report by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership. Electric cars, a key part of a low-carbon economy, have been on the minds of consumers with a green consciousness for years.

Green will be a major theme at the Frankfurt Car Show with an entire building—Hall 4—devoted to electric mobility. “Never before have the stars of the Frankfurt Car Show been so revolutionary, so green, so efficient, so quiet and so super clean as in 2011,” wrote Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday. Tesla Motors made a splash in 2004 with its battery-powered Roadster while Mitsubishi’s i MiEV and Nissan’s Leaf followed. Nissan with its French partner Renault has sold 8,500 Leaf cars since it was launched in December 2010.—Reuters