| Fall 1998 AUTOMOTIVE TRAINING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM As we consider the future of the automobile in the next century, many interesting and challenging developments loom on the horizon. Automobiles are the largest selling consumer product in the world in terms of dollar value. In 1950 there were 2.6 billion people in the world and 50 million vehicles. In 1996 these figures increased to 5.5 billion people and more than 500 million vehicles. By the year 2000 the car population is estimated to be 550 million. The car population is expected to be 593 million by 2005,and more than 1 billion by 2020 to 2030. In 1993 President Clinton signed the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV). This signing initiated a cooperative program between the automotive industry and government agencies to develop a new generation of car by the year 2004 with the following criteria:
The PNGV requirements present a challenge for automotive manufacturers, especially the fuel economy requirement. Will the automotive manufacturers be able to meet these requirements, and how will they do it? These manufacturers are already working on many solutions to meet this challenge. Some of these solutions are the following:
Gasoline Direct Injection Many car manufacturers in the world are developing gasoline direct injection (GDI)engines. When the gasoline is injected directly into the combustion chamber, compression ratios can be increased significantly to improve engine efficiency and fuel economy. GDI alone may increase fuel economy be 30%. However, much higher fuel pressures must be available to inject the fuel directly into the combustion chamber, and this requires many changes in fuel system components.
Fuel Cell Vehicles It is no secret that Ford Motor Company and Mercedes-Benz have invested large sums of money in fuel cell development in cooperation with Ballard Power Systems Inc. In very basic terms the fuel cells being developed will extract hydrogen from liquid fuels and in the process generate electricity. The electricity drives an electric motor to power the vehicle. Fuel cell powered cars provide a vast improvement in range compared to electric cars. One of the obstacles to be overcome in the development of fuel cells is cost. In 1988 a fuel cell vehicle would have cost $20 million, and at present the cost of a fuel cell car has decreased to $200,000.00. Fuel cell cars are expected to begin arriving on the market by 2004. The Toyota fuel cell version of the RAV4 sport utility vehicle is expected to be the first fuel cell vehicle on the market. General Motors claims 80 mpg and a 300 mile driving range with their fuel cell car. Chrysler has joined forces with the General Motors Delphi fuel cell car program. Estimated production is 200,000 units by 2010. Mercedes-Benz predicts a production of 40,000 units annually by 2006.
Electric and Hybrid Vehicles A limited number of electric vehicles have already been marketed in certain areas of the United States including the General Motors EVI and the Ford Ranger light-duty truck. General Motors has now developed three versions of the EVI. The electric version of the EVI now has nickel metal hydride batteries in place of the previous lead acid batteries. These new batteries increase vehicle range to 160 miles per charge. General Motors plans to market a hybrid version of the EVI by 2001 and the fuel cell version of this car should be ready for the showrooms by 2004. The series hybrid EVI uses an electric motor to drive the front wheels, and a gas turbine generator system to recharge the batteries. General Motors claims this car has the world’s most efficient gas turbine generator system. This hybrid EVI accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 9 seconds. The range of this vehicle is 40 miles in the electric mode with zero emissions capability. In the hybrid mode the range is 348 miles. A parallel hybrid EVI uses an electric motor to drive the front wheels and an Isuzu direct injection turbodiesel drives the rear wheels. This hybrid has all wheel drive and four-wheel regenerative braking. The parallel hybrid EV1 provides 80 mpg using diesel fuel, and has a range of 550 miles. This car has a 0 to 60 mph acceleration time of 7 seconds. The fuel cell EVI has a fuel economy of 80 mpg (gasoline equivalent), and has as 300 mile range. The fuel cell version accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 9 seconds. The fuel cell EVI reduces NOx emissions to near zero and reduces CO emissions by 50 percent.
In this brief discussion we have talked about some of the changes that are presently taking place in the automotive industry. The question all of us in the Automotive Training Industry need to consider is; what effect will all these developments have on us? Obviously, the need for automotive training is going to increase dramatically with the tremendous increase in automotive technology. Automotive trainers face the greatest challenge ever in the next few years. How will we become familiar with all this new technology, and pass this information on to those in our classes? It will require the maximum cooperation of everyone including the automotive manufacturers, government agencies, school administration, and instructors. All types of training media must be utilized to meet this challenge. As we all know satellite training is now widely used by the car manufacturers. We need to expand the use of electronic media to provide more information and training for automotive technicians. Media such as the Internet need to be developed as a method of disseminating information quickly and inexpensively. Automotive industry experts indicate that 2 percent of automotive sales in United States and Canada during 1997 resulted from Internet activity. These experts predict that 50 percent of all new car buyers will use the Internet when selecting and purchasing a vehicle in the next 2 to 5 years. If the Internet can be an effective sales tool, it can also be a valuable training media!
As trainers, we make our livings communicating information to technicians. This makes our ability to find and manage diagnostic information crucial to our success. It demands we take additional steps to ensure that this valuable information is saved and easily referenced for future needs. Automotive Electronics Services’ award-winning AES Wave! information management software answers this need. This technician and trainer designed software allows you to save your hard-found diagnostic information to your PC and then presents it in ways suited to the needs of trainers. Trainers deal with many forms of information and the AES Wave! lets you manage it all: Waveforms from lab scopes; Graphics from the Internet or other software programs; Digital photos; Notes for training seminars; Text from e-mail messages. There is no longer a need to jump between numerous computer files and assorted notebooks looking for that missing tidbit of information. Just open the AES Wave! The printing capabilities offer another valuable business tool. Print diagnostic manuals, class handouts, portfolios, or customer handouts! You have complete control over graphic layout, fields and records to include, page numbering, margins, and more. Of course you’ll want to exercise the Spell Checker before final printing. The AES Wave! handles it all, including automatically creating a Table of Contents. You will know a trainer designed this software. Again, our success is dependent upon the ability to manage and communicate information. The AES Wave! manages your valuable information for you and helps you communicate it effectively! Recognizing the valuable resource automotive trainers are to our industry, AES is offering CAAT members a discounted price of $89 for the AES Wave! The regular price is $229. To take advantage of this discount, call Tom Mettner, CAAT President, at (630) 963-4051.
Nick Positano, CAAT Executive Director, met with the North American Council of Automotive Teachers’ (NACAT) Board of Directors to discuss how the two organizations could establish a mutually beneficial relationship. The outcome of that meeting was the drafting of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations, which is under final review by NACAT. We also prepared an article, which will apear inthe upcoming NACAT newsletter. We are enthusiastic about working with a group that shares many of our overalll membership goasl. In the future we expect some of their membership to join the family of CAAT trainiers in providing quality automotive technician in-service training and article contributions to the Automotive Emissions Repair Network (AERN). We are also planning on holding regional CAAT meetings in conjunction with the annual NACAT conference held in July at locations throughout the country. If you know of NACAT members in your area take the opportunity to reach out to them and welcome them to our expanded family.
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