DuPont CEO Proposes Detroit 3 Collaborate on 75-MPG Butanol 'Car of the Future'
By Scott Doggett December 3, 2008
The chief executive of chemical giant DuPont has called on America's major automakers to band together to create a butanol-powered, highly fuel-efficient "car of the future" within the next two years.
The endeavor could be called the Detroit Project, DuPont Chairman and CEO Chad Holliday (left) said in an address before the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday, and would be led by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler in a collaboration akin to the atomic-bomb-making Manhattan Project of World War II.
The car that Holliday proposed would be powered with butanol, which is a solvent and biofuel made by DuPont. At 85 percent strength, butanol can be used in cars designed for gasoline without any change to the engine (unlike 85 percent ethanol) and it contains more energy than ethanol and almost as much as gasoline. It can also be used as a blended additive to diesel fuel to reduce soot emissions
"This is a unique time in history," Holliday said. "It just seems like this is the one window when you can pull something like this off."
The project would require $5 billion in seed money, he said, which could be raised by selling U.S. bonds similar to the way the government raised money for the war effort during the 1940s. The project would yield a strong return on investment, he said, and calling upon citizens to invest in the effort would "build some national pride around the project."
While the Detroit 3 would comprise the core of the project, other companies would bring "a different mindset and different answers" to it. He named Intel, Microsoft, Dell, Boeing and Google as possible collaborators, adding that he had not approached any of them with his idea.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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I make a killer gumbo, so I propose that the Big 3 collaborate on developing a car powered by it. It contains more energy per kilogram than ethanol and almost as much energy as the Nagasaki atomic bomb. Of course I won't offer any of the $5B "seed" money needed to get this project rolling; that has to come from the nearly-bankrupt automakers. And of course I reap the rewards of being the only producer of this fuel.
While I agree that this smells of DuPont turning the B3 situation into a business opportunity, I'd like to better understand Butanol and it's potential.
Greenpony. I like your moxy, and your idea. But I'll only fund it if you agree to maintain sole control of the gumbo recipe and you make no promises about the future cost of that delicious cajun stew once you've made the nation dependent upon a steady supply.
If it only contains as much energy as gasoline, why is a 75mpg car with this any more feasable than a 75mpg car running on gas?
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