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"'Green Machines Tour' Comes Home"

Fuel-Efficient Vehicles and Technologies Showcased at Local Tech Forum

By Claudette Juska
August/September Issue, 2005

The Ecology Center’s Green Machines Tour continues to defy expectations. A mid-summer Technology Forum once again brought together a set of unlikely partners in pursuit of common goals. Co-sponsoredby the United Auto Worker’s Region 1A and the Ecology Center, the forum featured a press conference, a technology showcase, and a policy roundtable discussion [in photo below] all centered around new, environmentally friendly vehicle technologies.

“Expanding advanced-vehicle incentives in Michigan legislation and federal legislation would go a long way toward ensuring that Michigan retains its automotive leadership."
-- David Hollister, the Director of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth

The June 24 Green Machines Tour event, like other tour stops in the Midwest in the past year, is part of a traveling educational campaign that brings together environmental groups and labor organizations, historically at odds over fuel-economy standards, to promote hybrids and other fuel-efficient technologies that create good-paying union jobs and support a cleaner environment.

Forum participants included representatives from the UAW, the Ecology Center, the Apollo Alliance, Senator Levin’s office, the EPA, the Center for Automotive Research, the Michigan Economic Development Council, Environmental Defense, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, and a number of other federal, state, and local officials.

The forum, held at UAW Local 735 in Canton, Michigan, featured displays of UAW-made advanced-technology vehicles as well as engines, transmissions, and other auto components produced in Southeast Michigan.

Advanced Technology vehicles on display

Keynote speaker, David Hollister, the Director of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth, stressed the importance of policymaking in Lansing in shaping the future of the auto industry in the state. “Michigan is fortunate to have attracted important new investments in advanced, fuel-efficient technologies,” said Hollister. “But we can and must do more to keep Michigan competitive. Passage of the governor’s bond proposal, as well as expanding advanced-vehicle incentives in Michigan legislation and federal legislation, would go a long way toward ensuring that Michigan retains its automotive leadership.”

Ecology Center Auto Project Director Charles Griffith highlighted both the environmental and economic benefits of fuel-efficient technologies now emerging in vehicle components, while emphasizing the need for tax incentives for manufacturers and consumers of these products.

Griffith pointed to a new six-speed transmission on display -- made by UAW Local 735 members at GM’s Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti – as a shining example of the type of technology that U.S. automakers are developing to help increase fuel-efficiency and remain competitive in the global automotive industry. The new transmission, he said, will not only increase the fuel-economy of vehicles by up to 8%, but has also created over $600 million in local investment and preserved 650 UAW jobs that may otherwise have been lost.

Griffith further identified other auto companies in the region that are investing in similar technologies. Ford is investing $170 million in its Livonia transmission plant to make a six-speed transmission. Detroit Diesel is investing $275 million and preserving 1,300 UAW jobs by beginning production of new heavy-duty diesel engines [example at right] with advanced emission controls. DaimlerChrysler, together with Mitsubishi and Hyundai, is investing in new factories in Dundee that will build fuel-efficient 4-cylinder engines for smaller vehicles. The first of the new plants is creating $700 million in investment and will result in over 500 new UAW jobs.

All together the advanced technology auto components that will be manufactured in Region 1A will increase the fuel-economy of more than 2 million vehicles per year by anywhere from 4 to 20%. This roughly translates into the same amount of fuel savings that would result from putting 500,000 new hybrids on the road each year. (In 2004, less than 100,000 hybrids were sold nationwide).

While having an important impact on fuel-economy, said Griffith, the advanced technologies are also providing significant benefits to Michigan’s economy by creating a total of $1.5 billion in new investment, and preserving or creating over 2,300 UAW jobs.

Both Griffith and UAW Region 1A representative Jim Pedersen [at left in photo] agreed that increasing manufacturer incentives for these types of technologies would encourage more companies to invest in facilities here in Michigan and could lure new businesses into the region.

They point to a recent study by the University of Michigan Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation (OSAT) that found a tax credit for investments in U.S. facilities that produce hybrid and diesel vehicles and their components would create over 59,000 jobs and more than pay for itself through increased federal, state, and local tax revenues. This approach would also lower the cost of hybrid and diesel vehicles for consumers, improve fuel economy, reduce emissions, and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

All together the advanced technology auto components that will be manufactured in Region 1A will increase the fuel-economy of more than 2 million vehicles per year by anywhere from 4 to 20%.

According to the study, without such incentives the majority of hybrid and advanced-diesel vehicles will likely be imported, resulting in up to 200,000 lost jobs and $2.8 billion per year in lost federal tax revenues, with the majority of job and tax losses being concentrated in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.

More information about the Green Machines Tour, policy options, and upcoming events can be found at www.greenmachinestour.org.

Claudette Juska works with the Ecology Center’s Auto Project.

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