Forward Drive: The Race to Build "Clean" Cars for the Future - Hardcover

Motavalli, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1578050359 ISBN 13: 9781578050352

Publisher: Sierra Club Books, 2000

Synopsis

Documents the race to build the cars of the future, tracing the history of automobile development and exploring new technologies, including the hybrid car that drives on both gas and electricity.

About this title

About the Author

Jim Motavalli is the editor of E: The Environmental Magazine and a journalist who has written for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Salon, and many other publications. He also hosts a public-affairs radio show and teaches journalism at Fairfield University. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Fairfield, Connecticut.

From the Back Cover

"Bravo! Forward Drive is the most comprehensive and comprehensible account yet of the coming fuel-cell revolution. Jim Motavalli shows us that peaceful coexistence between cars and the environment is no longer a matter of faith or wishful thinking, but solid science. If you are the least bit concerned about what comes out of your tailpipe, this book is an essential guide to the personalities, politics, and technology of a clean future."
-- Lesley Hazleton, author of Driving to Detroit

"Motavalli's Forward Drive takes us on a thrilling ride through the advanced-vehicle-technology landscape -- a literal Who's Who of the industry insiders and external change agents trying to bring us a cleaner and
greener car."
-- Charles Griffith, Ecology Center of Ann Arbor

"Jim Motavalli's Forward Drive does a masterful job of transforming what has been an all-too-technical debate into a high-stakes drama about how the automobiles of the future will affect our environment and our health."
-- Deborah Gordon, director, Yale Transportation and Environment Progam

"I learned more about the past, present, and future of the automobile from this book than I have from all my voracious reading on the subject."
-- Ed Begley Jr.

From the Inside Flap

fuel cars from major automakers are entering the U.S. market -- promising far better performance and range than the disappointing electric vehicles of past decades -- "clean" cars are no longer being relegated to side-show status; they're about to take center stage.

Forward Drive presents the fascinating story of the race to build the cars of the future -- ones that can help to address the problems (including global warming, fossil-fuel depletion, and urban sprawl) that have accompanied the rise and spread of traditional gas-powered cars. The book traces the history of automobile development, including early attempts to create practical electric vehicles, and it explores new technologies for clean cars, especially hybrid (gas/electric) drives and hydrogen-based fuel cells.

In his research, author Jim Motavalli conducted extensive interviews with fuel-cell makers, energy researchers, and key auto-industry figures at GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, and

Reviews

Despite Motavalli's position as editor of E: The Environmental Magazine, this is not a polemic describing the horrors of gasoline-powered cars. To be sure, Motavalli is firmly in favor of moving toward more fuel-efficient, less-polluting autos, but he is pragmatic enough to realize that such a change is not going to occur at the snap of some environmentalist's fingers. In his cogently written, well-researched account, Motavalli argues that market forces are ushering the U.S. into a clean-car era. Improvements in technology involving batteries and fuel cells, along with global warming, dwindling oil reserves and government mandates such as that of California's Air Resources Board, which calls for 10% of an automaker's fleet to be zero-emission by 2003, are all merging to create a market for electronic cars. But the most important factor driving increased domestic research into non-internal combustion engines (hybrid cars that combine gasoline with alternative power sources as well as hydrogen-propelled cars) is the fear that Detroit could be blindsided by the introduction of clean cars by foreign manufacturers, which American car makers believe could do the same damage to their market share as Toyota and Honda did when they began selling fuel-efficient autos a few decades ago. While Motavalli addresses environmental issues, his straightforward account is more likely to appeal to car enthusiasts who want the inside track on the status of electronic vehicles. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Why should we hate the conventional automobile, with its infernal combustion, and pay heed to alternative-fueled cars? Journalist Motavalli (editor, E magazine) counts the reasons. It is not exactly late-breaking news that gasoline-powered cars are grotesquely polluting and inefficient beasts, and Motavalli is confident that their miserable days are numbered. He sees a future driven by fuel cells; if the hydrogen powering them can be produced by renewable energy sourcesthe earths own heat or light or tidal energythis will form a neat zero-emissions loop. True, no such fuel cell is currently viable, and car makers are reluctant to cut into their profits by tinkering with something that isn't broken. While hes awaiting further developments, Motavalli outlines the history of the automobile industry in the US, the wayslegal and illegalit went about making this a nation of car junkies, derailed the trolley system, and sought to undermine the electric-vehicle movement. In a well-researched profile, he cogently and accessibly details the state of the alternative-car world, the near misses and brilliant failures of the electric car, the potential of hybrids using a fusion of internal-combustion and electrical systems, and the prospects for the fuel cell, particularly now that the big automakersnot wanting to be caught with their pants down as they were in the mid-1970s by the oil crisishave started to fund research. Those looking for an alternative at hand will be disappointed, for ultimately Motavalli has nothing to endorse but prospects; and while the obviously intelligent author keeps his story moving, there are stretches where the writing is as flat as a heart monitor with bad news. Sincere and brimming with information on clean cars, yet unlikely to inspire many new converts to alternative fuels. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Steering attention away from "electric" cars, this new volume focuses instead on the newest technologies that will produce cleaner, less wasteful, full-service cars. Motavalli interviewed energy researchers, early adopters of alternative-fuel vehicles, and key auto industry figures to produce this uniquely insightful look at the future of "clean" cars. Unfortunately, since the author is editor of E: The Environmental Magazine and this book is published by the Sierra Club, there is an inordinate amount of carping and finger-pointing at the auto industry for allegedly dragging its collective feet. But the author does outline new research into hybrid vehicles that use both small gasoline engines and electric generators. These have recently borne fruit as new products that overcome many of the problems of electric cars. In spite of its sometimes strident and reactionary indictments of auto manufacturers, this book presents the latest research, which is already producing "clean" cars for our roads. Recommended for public, transportation, and research libraries.
-Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Despite all our technological advances, the idea of a car powered by hydrogen, the most available element in the universe, with zero emissions and drinking water as the only by-product, still seems like far-fetched science fantasy. Motavalli, however, shows that we are now at the threshold of developing hydrogen fuel-cell technology. Joe Sherman (Charging Ahead, 1998) and Michael Shnayerson (The Car That Could: The Inside Story of GM's Revolutionary Electric Vehicle, 1996) have already touted the promise of battery-driven electric vehicles, but Motavalli argues that such cars have proved disappointing. He not only writes a syndicated automobile column but is also the editor of E: The Environmental Magazine. He recounts the surprisingly long history of alternative-fueled vehicles, details the environmental consequences of gasoline-powered vehicles, examines the outlook for automobiles in Third World countries, interviews "early adopters" of alternative-fueled cars and those involved in research and development, evaluates the role of "special interest" groups, and raises the broader issue of sustainable transportation. David Rouse

Edition details

• Publisher: Sierra Club Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1578050359
• ISBN 13: 9781578050352
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 273