Small Company Says Little Guys Deserve Auto Tech Loans, Too

In a new wrinkle to proposed government loans to the Detroit 3 to help develop more energy-efficient cars, a small, would-be electric vehicle company took out a full-page ad in The New York Times today directed at congressional leaders saying in effect, “Hey, we’d like some of those loans, too.”

Last year, Congress approved, but did not fund, loans to automakers to help them develop more fuel-efficient technology. The Detroit 3 have been lobbying to get the loans funded. General Motors in particular has been touchy about not calling the loans a handout. In a response to a recent blog, a GM spokesman makes some fair points, and also objects to the term “bailout.”

The company that took out the Times ad is AFS Trinity Power Corp., based in Medina, Wash. According to the company’s web site, it has developed a prototype based on the Saturn Vue Greenline hybrid, which the company modified to a plug-in hybrid. A plug-in hybrid can be recharged with household current. Today’s hybrids, including the Saturn, use the onboard internal-combustion engine to recharge their batteries.

General Motors is developing its own plug-in hybrid Saturn Vue, so GM is  probably not too thrilled to see AFS promoting its version, which AFS calls the “XH-150,” while knocking the Detroit 3 automakers at the same time. AFS claims its modified car gets 150 mpg, running mostly on battery power.

AFS stands for American Flywheel Systems, which has been experimenting with prototype cars since at least the early 1990s, according to an Automotive News article (subscription may be required). AFS says that today, it does not use flywheel technology, which uses a spinning wheel to store energy, in vehicles designed for consumers.

The company’s ad takes aim at the Detroit 3, and questions the idea that the same companies that supposedly ignored or slow-walked fuel-efficient technology for years should now in effect be rewarded with loans to develop fuel-efficient technology.

The ad also questions the supposed political motivations behind the proposed government loans: “Securing Michigan’s and Ohio’s electoral votes is obviously at the heart of the current draft of the legislation that is so strongly skewed toward providing funding for the big automakers in Detroit.”

What’s unclear from the ad is who supposedly stands to gain those electoral votes, in return for the government loans. The ad also muddies the water by listing 38 other small companies it says are engaged in developing electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles and related systems.

The (very) fine print at the bottom of the ad says that the ad was paid for solely by AFS, and that the listed companies are only cited as examples of innovators in the field of fuel-efficient technologies. But on the face of it, the ad looks as if it was sponsored by all those companies. Apparently that’s not the case.

Companies listed in the ad include archrivals Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, which are engaged in a lawsuit with each other over trade secrets. Global Electric Motor Cars is also listed, even though it’s a subsidiary of Chrysler.

The ad proposes that small companies get 25 percent of any loans that are funded by Congress. That might not be a bad idea, but by itself, a close reading of the AFS ad raises more questions than it answers.