There's No Such Thing as a Green Car

Despite the fanfare, the GM Volt is inherently inefficient and manufacturing it generates enormous pollution.

Don't believe the hype. The GM Volt plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is a threat to those who care about liveability, equality, and the planet.

For more than three years, General Motors has been touting the Volt and its ability to run for 64 kilometres on electricity before switching to a gasoline engine. In January 2007, the Financial Times concluded that the Volt was designed to counter the “halo effect that Toyota gained from the Prius, which rivals the iPod as an iconic product.” In fact, the Volt was originally named the iCar. “I admit,” said former vice-chairman of GM Bob Lutz, “that it [the Volt] has a secondary benefit of helping to re-establish credibility in technology.”

The lure of technological advancement has always been part of the automobile’s formidable ideological prowess. Popular journals, magazines, and other media regularly portray the automotive sector as a forerunner of innovation.

But while automakers spend huge sums on research and development, the mode of transport is inherently inefficient. These 1,300-kilogram metal boxes carry on average one-and-a-half people, approximately 130 kilos – a mere 10 per cent of the vehicle’s weight. At the same, the car’s appetite for space is insatiable. Requiring about 90 square metres for home storage, 90 square metres for storage at destination, 180 square metres while traveling and another 60 square metres for repairs, servicing, or sale, an automobile occupies more than 400 square metres altogether – more space than most apartments.

Buses, trains, streetcars, and bikes, as well as pedestrians (and just about every other animal, plant, or mineral), use space and infrastructure more efficiently than personal cars, whether moving or at a standstill. At approximately four metres across, road lanes are about the same width as railroad tracks, yet rail carries 20 times the number of passengers.

Despite the environmental fanfare, the Volt’s electric battery merely relocates tailpipe pollution to the source: power stations. Yet more than half of all U.S. electricity comes from coal, which produces more carbon emissions and pollutants than regular oil. If the goal of the electric car is to limit global warming, using carbon-based fuels is puzzling.

Even with alternative fuels or better fuel efficiency, the private car will continue to be an ecological catastrophe. From steel and aluminum to paint and rubber production to automotive assembly, manufacturing the average automobile generates enormous pollution. A 2007 CNW Research study called “From Dust to Dust” concluded that half the energy a car uses in its lifecycle is in the production and destruction phases. Growing awareness of these energy costs prompted Norway to make it nearly impossible for car companies to advertise as “green,” “clean,” or “environmentally friendly” without proving that this was the case in every aspect of the lifecycle, from production to emissions to recycling.

The basic point is this: there is no such thing as a green car. It is not sustainable for individuals to hop into a one-, two-, or four-thousand-kilogram metal box for mobility.

Beyond ecological costs, car hegemony has a slew of negative side effects. Auto travel leads to significantly higher rates of injury or death than other forms of transportation. Additionally, infrastructure designed for the car undermines walking and biking, which are vital elements of a healthy lifestyle.

An incredibly expensive form of transportation, the car has an immense amount of time devoted to it. It’s been calculated that the average person in the U.S. works from January 1 to March 31 to pay for their automobile(s). April 1 has been declared auto-freedom day: the day people begin earning money for food, board, clothing, education, and the other necessities of life.

When the automobile serves as the primary mode of mass transit, the poorest are the hardest hit. Low-income U.S. families spend over a third of their take-home pay on transportation, twice the proportion of affluent families. The Volt, which starts at US $41,000, will not alter that. But it will give a boost to the image-conscious. Since the dawn of the auto age, the car has been a conspicuous symbol of status in a hyper-materialist world.

North America’s transportation system, based on individual ownership of vehicles, is inefficient and environmentally destructive, and it dominates cultural, economic, and political systems in a wide variety of negative ways. Will the Volt revolutionize transportation, or will its smoke and mirrors reinforce the dominance of the private car?

It may be time to look beyond private automobility.

Yves Engler's most recent book is Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid. For more information, visit YvesEngler.com.