Is the Hybrid Escalade an Oxymoron?

Some years ago, I'm not sure when, the prize vehicles awarded to heroes of major sports events made the unfortunate transition from snazzy convertible sports cars to the biggest, hulkiest, meanest SOBs - I mean SUVs - on the block. So it was no surprise when New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, after engineering one of the greatest upset wins in Super Bowl history 10 days ago (with a tremendous assist from his team's defense, I must add), was handed the MVP trophy and the keys to a brand-new black 2009 Cadillac Escalade.

But this is 2008, and there's a twist. It's a hybrid Escalade. And that's now officially a trend. The Super Bowl telecast also included an ad for the new GMC Yukon hybrid, and at Major League Baseball's All-Star Game last summer, I was there in person at San Francisco's AT&T Park to see game MVP Ichiro Suzuki receive a hybrid Chevy Tahoe SUV. (Full disclosure: in addition to clean energy and sustainability, I'm also passionate about sports in general and baseball in particular).

At that time, my book The Clean Tech Revolution (co-authored with Ron Pernick) had just been published, and at a bookstore appearance the next day I was happy to extol Ichiro's MVP award as a great example of clean tech having moved firmly into the consumer and cultural mainstream. I also noted that Fox Sports used biodiesel to power its satellite trucks and broadcast equipment at the game, and the related All-Star Fanfest displayed the Chevy Volt, General Motors' concept car that can be configured as an all-electric, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell, or flex-fuel vehicle.

But now, I'm not so sure that biggest-of-the-fleet SUV hybrids are such a good thing. Yes, it's good to see the mainstreaming of hybrid technology, but are hybrid Escalades, Tahoes, and Yukons really just the "lipstick on a pig" philosophy at work - dressing up a bad thing to look a little better, ecologically speaking? GM calls it (I'm not making this up) "intelligent indulgence." GM promises that the hybrid version will improve the Escalade's city gas mileage by up to 50 percent - from its current 12 mpg all the way to 18. Yippee.

The hybrid Escalade reminds me of the 15,000 square foot McMansion with solar panels, or the coal-fired power plant with incrementally reduced CO2 emissions. Sure, it's better than its more harmful, greenhouse gas-producing predecessor, but it also carries the implication that incremental improvements in the way we've always done things - or at least the way we've done things since the 1980s when SUVs and McMansions proliferated - will get us where we need to be on carbon reduction. They won't.

Want to hazard a guess as to the average increase in American home size since the early 1980s? It's 30 percent in square footage, and a whopping 50 percent in cubic footage - the actual amount of space that needs to be heated or cooled (can you say Atrium Living Room?). I learned that useful factoid not from a granola-crunching non-profit but from Jeff Sterba, CEO of PNM Resources, the largest utility in New Mexico, who spoke at last week's Clean-Tech Investor Summit conference in Palm Springs, California (I'll be blogging about the conference next week).

I'm not suggesting that we all need to ride bicycles and live in tiny hovels with uncomfortable temperatures. I do live in the modern world, and like to think of myself as a realist. Large families need roomy vehicles, yes. But they don't have to be the largest non-commercial vehicles on the road, plugging along at 12 miles to the gallon in city driving, if that. (And what percentage of all Cadillac Escalade driving is spent carting big families around? Very little, I'd guess).

I really do believe that technology, with adequate levels of investment and policy support, is the best hope to solve the global climate and resource crisis -- not expecting millions of people to undergo a radical lifestyle change. But I'd prefer to see technology deliver true innovation and game-changing results, like the Toyota Prius or the all-electric Tesla Roadster or possibly (to be fair to GM) the Chevy Volt - not just a 6-mpg improvement for Eli Manning's trophy car. We can do a lot better than that - and pretty soon, we're going to need to.

Comments

[Guitarsandmore]

I have some rich friends who have no children and still choose bigger and bigger SUVs and now looking at the hummer. It is a kind of madness based on trying to look powerful. If you live in the city and use your car to commute to and from work, never go off road or camp much, then why the hell do you need a big 4-wheel drive hummer? No reason!

This is the problem with the market driven economy. We are told not to buy fireworks because they are dangerous but no one has the balls to say all of this CO2 in the air from the SUV is also bad for us and should be banned as well. Make the SUV illegal, hybrid or not.
Regulate the auto industry!!!

[MajorKong]

I have to hand it to the car companies. They took the boring old family station wagon, called it a "sport utility vehicle" and now people think it's hip and cool to drive a station wagon.

[jdm58]

I can agree with you to a point, and would wish that everyone would get on the smaller/lighter/fuel efficient bandwagon too.
I drive a Prius, and am seeing many more around since gas went up. However, there are many who absolutely refuse to give up their perceived "safety", roominess, ability to have three different DVD's playing in the back rows simultaneously to keep the kids quiet, that come with the SUV. Most commute travel, and city travel, is stop and go. This is where the Hybrid technology excels. I get 45-47 mpg average in my Prius when driving, but when stopped in traffic, or when just exelarating, where the most fumes are emmitted by standard gas vehicles, this drops to "0" when stopped, and "99" when coasting i.e., NO CO2 emmisions.
So, if those who seem attached to their big behemoths are not in turn emmitting smog in traffic, then it's a big step in the right direction. What GM and Ford should do is stop offering the version that is NOT Hybrid. The public is no more willing to take bigger steps in curbing global warming than they are at converting to Universal Healthcare, no matter how much the rest of us who are committed to the idea try to convince them. ANY step at this point is HUGE.

[seamusnh]

"Most commute travel, and city travel, is stop and go." That depends on where you live and work. My commute is 32 miles each way, all highway with hardly any stop and go. I also need AWD as it snows a lot here in the Northeast. I am guessing a small Subaru may be the right choice for my....

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

How about, it's an oxygen-depleter FOR morons?

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

The fact of the matter is that the concept of the 'green' automobile is a big lie that would have made Goebbels blush. Until we realize that cars are the problem not the solution we will not make any progress on energy or global warming.

[67bug]

My screen name says it all. Great mileage and fun to drive!

[drblack]

I remember that my 1984 Honda accord hatchback weighed 850 Lbs. I was shocked when i read it and had to double check it.
My 1992 Toyota Tercell got 33 MPG, bought it used in 96 for 3800 and drove it into the ground after 9 years.
I carried all sorts of big equipment in both of those cars. Hatch backs are great for hauling stuff.

[drblack]

Yes. Only a Pig would drive one and think they are an environmentalist.
Drive the new 10 ton 40 cylinder Hummer hybrid.
Imagine how much gas we would have saved if small cars of the early 80s had stuck around.
We can develop off the grid power.

[realitytrumpsbull]

I'd like to see Take II with the original Civic/CVCC but with one of those more modern 600cc cafe bike engines. More horsepower, probably less weight, still 4 cylinders. I'll just bet that that would move pretty well.

The thing about light cars is that they tend to ball up like a used plastic bag if you really run into something, hence the Escalade preference. But, do you NEED a tank? For that matter, do you really need a cage, or are you competent to operate a motorcycle? Better mileage, easier to park, lower cost of operation. Good stuff.

[Cathexis]

Wow ... who'd have thought ... an RTB post with which I can mostly agree! ;-D

Yep ... a lightweight, good-mileage 4-cylinder motorcycle is a definite improvement on many fronts. But I still think we have to wean ourselves from petroleum-powered vehicles.

[DavidJames]

Clint,

Your book sounds interesting.

Regarding the lipstick covered pigs.

18 mpg for the hybrid Escalade? As an American automotive fan, this is more than a little embarrassing and one gigantic ripoff!

Seems like our automotive designs should be trending toward 1000 lb automobiles, not 6000 lbs. Looking at hybrid vehicles in general, it appears that the more they weigh the lower their mpg is. A Prius(@ 2900 lbs, a little more than half an Escalade)gets 50 to 60 mpg in the city or on the freeway.

If we need to go from 20 mpg to 200 mpg in a short period of time, hybrid Escalades or any other lipstick covered behemoth are the wrong way to go. I think this is just a phase the automotive industry is going through.

Regards,

[JScott]

And if you look closely at these McMansions they are really full of empty space (ie to make windows coved with 18 in deep walls. Then specialized rooms are plucked on (ie dens, libraries, lofts media rooms) to make it 'appear' that homebuyers are getting more value and making them feel rich and usually arranged haphazardly so funiture arrangement and flow are really poor so LIVABILITY IS NOT INCREASED only sq. ft. has.

[drkazmd65]

What you said JScott,

The wife and I just bought a c1900 shotgun style rowhouse (recently refurbished and updated c2003) with somewhere in the ballpark of 1500sq ft (not including the walk-in basement).

Good windows, good lighting, excellent location, good heating/cooling, excellent linear layout and 9.5ft ceilings. AND all for about 2/3 (or less) of an equivelent townhome, and less than half the cost of a small "McMansion".

Added bonus,... we don't need a 'staff' to keep in clean and cozy!

And don't get me started on the benefits of Hybrid monster SUVs,... is reall attempting to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I'll keep my little Mazda any day of the week.