Addressing environmental and fuel-consumption concerns doesn’t have to mean sacrificing comfort,utility and performance. Case in point: the GMC Graphyte concept car we drove recently, a vision of hybrid-powered SUVs for the near future that gets much better fuel economy without surrendering anything in seating capacity, towing ability or creature comforts.
Yes, Virginia, clean SUVs are a reality, no matter what your playmates in the pristine national wilderness may tell you. The more extreme advocates of green automotive technology have developed a shibboleth by which we may know them: “If all the SUVs out there were replaced with hybrids like the Toyota Prius, then...” That turn of phrase marks the Utopian visionaries who would insist we all drive the type of vehicle the speaker decrees best. Whether the speaker’s primary concern is the effect on global warming or national dependence on imported oil, we’ve got news for these automotive puritans: It ain’t gonna happen. Americans can be motivated to trade their gas hogs for cleaner machines, but they won’t give up their own lifestyle priorities to do so.
This is no knock on hybrid technology per se, but simply recognition that its benefits can be applied to SUVs and pickups, big sedans and sports cars, minivans and crossovers, and all the endless variations of automotive expression the creative human mind can develop. What’s best for each buyer will be decided in the dealerships, not some central planning office.
Toyota itself is already making this point, selling the hybrid Highlander and Lexus RX 400h and announcing plans to put a hybrid option under every hood it manufactures. No “If everyone drove a Prius...” argument is evident there.
On its surface, then, this GMC Graphyte with its “dual-mode” hybrid drivetrain just looks like more playing catch-up for General Motors. And to an extent, it is just that. Insiders at GM, like those at DaimlerChrysler and several other automakers, admit to not appreciating the emotional appeal of that segment to the populace that is lining up for the hybrid vehicles offered by Toyota, Honda and Ford. And it is emotion more than economics that motivates most such sales—people who believe the climate is changing, or that dependency on foreign oil is unsustainable, want to feel like they’re doing something to help the situation. Commuting in a hybrid delivers that psychic reward every workday.
On straight economics, these vehicles make little sense at today’s prices: Even if pump prices rose to $3 per gallon, few drivers could make up the higher price of a hybrid on gas savings alone, even if they keep it for longer than the six-year average for new cars. Hence the government expenditure of tax dollars to “incentivize” the purchase of these vehicles—the Bush administration is suggesting bumping the tax credit from $2,000 to $4,000 for the first-time buyer of such a vehicle.
There’s room to wonder how deep into the market the appeal of hybrid technology alone could go. Prices for today’s crop range from $2,000 to $4,500 more than the equivalent gasoline-only editions. J.D. Power and Associates estimates the segment of the populace willing to pay this extra freight out of personal motivation is about 3 percent to 5 percent. Roughly equivalent, in fact, to the percentage of new car buyers classified as serious enthusiasts and willing to pay extra for performance. There is even a similar halo effect, by which a carmaker profits from a green image for its entire range. In other words, what Corvette does for Chevrolet or the Z car does for Nissan among enthusiasts, Prius does for Toyota and Insight for Honda among environmentalists.
Power’s projections suggest 3 percent of Americans will be driving hybrids by 2011, which could spell market saturation for the technology unless something else dramatic happens. Consider, too, hybrids must share that segment of eco-driven consumers with new-breed diesels and other alternative fuel technologies.
Though it has only a small role in the consumer market for hybrids today, GM expects to become a major player in model years 2007 and 2008 when it rolls out its next-generation full-size SUVs and pickups. With the Graphyte concept, it begins to make the case that it has developed—in cooperation with DaimlerChrysler—the next generation of hybrid technology as well. Furthermore, it makes the case that SUVs benefit more than regular cars from the use of hybrid technology.
Whatever its looks suggest, the real concept part is the drivetrain. Graphyte’s engine is a 5.3-liter 300-hp Vortec V8 much like the small-block engine in today’s trucks, only with Displacement on Demand. DOD shuts off half the cylinders when their power output is not needed, much as is done in Chrysler’s latest Hemi V8s in cars. (Chrysler may add its version, which it calls MDS for Multi-Displacement System, to some of the lighter Hemi-powered trucks, which will eventually use the dual-mode hybrid technology, too.) Some tests show this system is good for 3 mpg in real-world driving, and operates as much as 40 percent of the time in Chrysler’s cars. In a heavier truck the savings might not be as dramatic, since the cylinders would deactivate less often.
The real trick stuff on Graphyte is found inside the automatic transmission case where GM has built two small, efficient electric motors into the system. Powered by a 300-volt nickel metal-hydride pack under the rear seat, the motors are computer-controlled from under the hood. The two motors are less expensive than using one large one as in the Prius system, GM says, and are easier to package, plus they deliver a fuel economy benefit.
Hybrid tech isn’t the only concept at work in this vehicle, though. Loading stuff into the Graphyte is made easier by a tailgate that drops vertically, so it can be used in tight spaces where neither swing-down nor door-like tailgates can be fully opened. It also reduces the need to reach over a standard tailgate.
GM hasn’t missed a trick inside Graphyte either, where the back seat folds in three separate segments to give the owner plenty of flexibility in mixing passengers and cargo. Up front the leather-lined and wood-trimmed luxury cabin has plenty of chrome accents and—the big sales point for a hybrid—a large LCD screen on the dashboard. It is for the navigation system and the “infotainment” systems. Among the latter we’d count the graphic display for the energy efficiency of the vehicle at any particular moment and averaged over time. The feel-good reward, as in Toyota’s hybrids, is thus delivered directly to the driver as he feather-foots his way down the highway. He will also be able to figure the true cost of towing that camper over the Rockies, of course, but it will give him something to talk about while enjoying the forest.
