Energy Secretary Rallies Industry for Speedy Auto Innovation

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, left, talks with Mary Stanek, General Motors director of environment and energy, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Washington — The U.S. auto industry should innovate constantly to meet the global market demand for fuel-efficient vehicles and to “keep the United States at the technological forefront of important industries,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu January 11.

Chu was speaking in Detroit, long the hub of the U.S. auto industry, where the North American International Auto Show is being held January 9–22. Chu said the 100-year-old event is especially important this year, coming at a moment when the U.S. auto industry is breaking out of a long decline with a 35 percent increase in output in 2010. Long trailing foreign importers in domestic auto sales, the U.S. manufacturers have regained market share and recovered from the severe economic setbacks of a few years ago.

The Obama administration helped the auto industry out of that slump, Chu said, while demanding that U.S. automakers innovate and restructure to regain competitiveness. Recovery is happening, but must continue if the nation is to hold a place as a leader in the competitive global market.

“More and more car buyers will live in emerging economies like China, India and Brazil,” Chu said to the Detroit Economic Club. “In recent years, China surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest auto market. By 2050, the number of vehicles on the road is expected to double to 2 billion.”

Chu said the Obama administration is taking a number of steps to encourage greater innovation and nudge automakers into a more competitive position. The administration is pushing for regulations to require the auto industry to increase vehicle fuel-efficiency and build the kinds of cars the world wants, Chu said. These requirements have a list of potential benefits, according to administration documents:

● Saving consumers money on fuel costs.
● Reducing the need for imported oil.
● Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2 billion tons during the life of vehicles sold through 2025.

The administration is also promoting further research to increase innovation in various aspects of auto manufacturing, hoping to further reduce vehicle weight with stronger and lighter metals and to improve design and capacity for electric vehicle batteries.

“I am pleased to announce that we are launching a new research center this year to dramatically improve battery and energy storage technologies for vehicle and grid applications,” Chu said. The energy secretary expressed hope that this center could produce not merely incremental improvements, but “technologies that would enable us to leap forward and could allow prototype testing in this decade.”

The federal government is supporting innovation by lending capital to companies developing next-generation, fuel-efficient vehicles, and to companies developing the retooled, advanced manufacturing facilities to produce these vehicles.