Let's lead the pack in a new auto-tech boom
By Senator Richard G. Lugar
As submitted to the Indianapolis Star
February 5, 2006

Elwood Haynes built one of America’s first gasoline-powered automobiles in Kokomo. The year was 1894 and steam was all the rage as the transportation power of the future. But the lighter gasoline-powered horseless carriage was destined to change all that. Within a generation, Henry Ford developed assembly line production of the Model-T, forever altering the world.

Now a century later, Henry Ford’s great-grandson William C. Ford, Jr. has announced a major restructuring plan to restore the company’s financial health, closing plants and laying off 30,000 workers. General Motors, Chrysler, parts maker Delphi and others have announced similar measures as the industry faces a major crisis.

If, as many experts believe, the U.S. auto industry must transform itself, Indiana can play an important role at the center of the re-invention of the American-made car.

Currently, the U.S. passenger car fleet averages 22.4 miles per gallon, while popular SUVs, vans and pickup trucks average only 16.2 mpg. Even utilizing all the available technologies, fuel efficiency could not be improved enough to affordably maintain our standards of transportation and to reverse our growing dependence on foreign energy.

Crude oil prices have more than doubled in recent months and prospects are that prices will remain high. Supply is limited while demand is increasing in wealthy countries and even faster in developing countries, especially China and India. We import 60 percent of our oil. As President Bush said last week, “America is addicted to oil.”

Clearly, we need breakthrough ideas to bring about truly dramatic increases in fuel economy and to end our over-reliance on foreign fuel. Where will these ideas come from? Why not Indiana as the great car and advanced car component innovator? I propose Indiana as the “Silicon Valley” for the automobile of the future.

Hoosiers have always been great builders and practical innovators. A century ago, Carl Fisher envisioned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as an automotive testing ground, and ever since, the Brickyard has fostered innovation, from the rear-view mirror to pure-ethanol fuel. We have legions of companies big and small that build engines, parts and electronic components—including two-thirds of the nation’s diesel engines and 20 percent of its transmissions.

We have cutting edge research at Purdue’s School of Engineering and Technology, Rose-Hulman and numerous other Indiana universities. Electricore, a non-profit consortium formed in 1993 by parts maker Delco Remy, electric car innovator AeroVironment, GM’s Allison Transmission division, and Purdue, has managed $150 million in development projects.

The gas-electric hybrid technology has strong roots in Indiana. As Remy International and Electricore’s Bill Wylam recently told John Ketzenberger of the Indianapolis Star, “Probably the greatest concentration of resources for hybrids exists in Anderson, Kokomo and Indianapolis.” Wylam should know: he once led 300 engineers dedicated to developing hybrid technology, according to the Star.

“Silicon Valley” in California had a critical mass of companies, spin-offs and venture capitalists to become the heart of the computer boom. I believe Indiana has the critical mass of large and small companies, innovative entrepreneurs, and automotive venture capital to lead a new auto tech boom. Indiana’s high-tech jobs of the future may be designing and building the world’s most efficient automobiles.

Silicon Valley had one other ingredient: businessmen and engineers with vision and verve. The Henry Fords, Thomas Edisons and Wright brothers of our times could easily be living, working and experimenting in Indiana if Hoosiers apply similar gusto to this challenge.

Imagine: why not another race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to test not whose car can go fastest, but whose can go farthest on a small amount of fuel? Why shouldn’t Indiana, a major agricultural state, be the birthplace of the car that runs best on biomass ethanol? Why can’t Hoosiers take advantage of the research already underway in our state to pioneer a new generation of light, high-capacity batteries, or a car chassis that slashes weight without compromising safety?

I believe that Indiana, the Crossroads of America, has the potential to break away and lead the pack.