Detroit Free Press. At NAIAS, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC)  hosted a panel comprising Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and auto executives to talk about the vision for the automobile in 15 years and Michigan's role in developing products and businesses of the future.

Representatives from General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG, Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Hyundai-Kia Motors Co. participated in addition to the Governor.

When asked what government can do to help promote alternative energy research, panelists were unanimous in their suggestion: Spread the word.

“Don’t be in a hurry to deploy a lot of infrastructure...Be supportive of the work we’re doing,” said David Hermance, executive engineer, environmental engineering for Toyota Technical Center USA Inc. “Encourage the universities to spend a lot of the time on the study of hydrogen storage.”

Given that Americans spend 500 million hours a week in their cars [!], the experts suggested advancements in automobile technology are certain to be critical for the future success of auto sales in the next 15 years.

Consumers have begun to demand environmentally conscious products that don’t sacrifice performance. The importance of hybrid technologies, and eventually hydrogen fuel cells, is expected to grow in North America.

The panel agreed that hybrid vehicles are expected to remain a significant market player—around 5 percent of the vehicles sold—by 2020.

The group was split on when, if ever, hydrogen fuel cells would supplant currently available hybrid technology as a replacement for the internal combustion engine. In fact, there is still some debate on whether fuel cells will ultimately be the next level of powertrain technology.

“It is not crystal clear yet which technology is going to be winner,” Hermance said. “We now view hybrids as the enabler of the next generation of technology. But, gasoline will continue to dominate at least through 2020 and possibly beyond that.”

Interesting discussion, and frankly, the disagreement is only to be expected in a market that is beginning to change rapidly. There is much that still needs to be resolved with respect to enabling a pervasive hydrogen transportation system—and, at the same time, the clock is ticking on oil use.

Time is becoming a critical resource. We may not have enough time to have enough the the pieces in place to make the transition to hydrogen; or we may not have enough time to figure out what the alternative might be.

We can give ourselves more time, however, to figure this out—through conservation and efficiency, and changing some basic habits.