The fast-changing auto

Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

Car buyers got a glimpse of the future this week when newspapers wrote extensively about the automotive technology that will soon be coming onto the market.

The stories were sparked by General Motors’ announcement Tuesday that its Chevrolet Volt, a combination gasoline and plug-in electric sedan scheduled to hit showrooms late next year, should get 230 miles a gallon during city driving.

That announcement inspired reporters to repeat last week’s announcement by Nissan, which stated that its all-electric car, the Leaf, will do even better. Although it will be rated in kilowatt hours per 100 miles, the company said the Leaf, also scheduled to come out in late 2010, will get the equivalent of 367 miles per gallon.

The New York Times reported that Chrysler and Ford are also planning to come out with plug-in and electric cars, and that Toyota is developing a plug-in version of its gas-electric hybrid.

The mileage claims being made by GM and Nissan have not been verified by the Environmental Protection Agency. Nevertheless, the claims are a strong indication of the market automakers want to attract — the millions of people who are tired of high gasoline prices. That market also includes people who are concerned about cutting oil imports and cleaning the air.

For GM, this will be its first foray into truly fuel-efficient cars, which for years it claimed it couldn’t make and stay solvent. Unfortunately, it took bankruptcy, a massive downsizing and a federal takeover for the company to learn that just the opposite was true — it must be competitive on mileage to have any hope of surviving.

This is true even as the reality of regular hybrids, plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles becomes clear — much more electricity, now largely coming from dirty coal plants, will need to be generated. But as more plants powered by clean renewable energy come online, this problem will fade.

The first generation of any new technology generally presents multiple problems. But we’re confident that these problems can be solved, and that electric vehicles will prove to be a clean bridge between gasoline and the day when even-cleaner hydrogen-powered vehicles dominate our roadways.