Auto Giants Revisit Electric Cars
2007年10月24日14:12
由于担心城市拥堵和对气候问题的关注可能引发人们对燃油汽车的抵制，汽车巨头们在电动汽车上加大了努力。
WORRIED THAT URBAN congestion and fears about climate change could provoke a backlash against petroleum-fueled cars, big auto makers are revving up efforts to electrify automobiles.
而在此过程中，向来处事圆滑的汽车界领袖们却给彼此的技术策略挑起了毛病，这样的做法过去只在硅谷更多见。
In the process, usually circumspect auto-industry leaders are taking shots at each others' technology strategies in a style more familiar to Silicon Valley than Detroit or Toyota City.
在本周的东京汽车展上，汽车业领导人议论的主要问题是：目前是否已是超越过去的半电动轿车模式（代表性产品为丰田普锐斯一类的油电混合动力车）、重新开始追求全电动轿车的时候了。本世纪初，汽车行业纷纷放弃了研发全电动轿车的努力。
The argument surfacing among auto-industry leaders gathering for the Tokyo Motor Show this week is over whether it is time to skip past partial electrification of cars -- represented by gasoline-electric hybrids such as the Toyota Prius -- and push instead to revive the ideal of all-electric cars that the industry largely abandoned earlier this decade.
争论的一方是丰田汽车(Toyota Motor)和通用汽车(General Motors)。两家公司都不看好全电动轿车，而是支持开发油电混合动力车与其竞争，不过他们在最佳技术和需要多久才能实现这些技术方面也存在分歧。
On one side of the debate are Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. Both have played down all-electric cars in favor of developing competing forms of gasoline-electric hybrids, though they disagree on the best technology and how quickly it can be implemented.
争论的另一方是两家结盟的汽车厂家──法国雷诺公司(Renault SA)和日本日产汽车(Nissan Motor)，还有本田汽车(Honda Motor)。这三家公司长期以来一直对混合动力车在经济上是否明智感到怀疑，目前正在讨论开发全电动轿车。
On the other side are two allied car makers, France's Renault SA and Japan's Nissan Motor Co., as well as Honda Motor Co. The three have long expressed skepticism about the economic wisdom of hybrids and now are talking up all-electric cars.
雷诺-日产汽车的首席执行长卡洛斯?戈恩(Carlos Ghosn)和本田汽车总裁兼首席执行长福井威夫(Takeo Fukui)周二分别接受了采访。他们都表示，鉴于锂离子电池在安全性和可靠性方面正在取得进展，全电动汽车在环保、政治和经济角度都要胜于混合动力车。
Renault-Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn and Honda President and CEO Takeo Fukui, in separate interviews yesterday, argued that all-electric vehicles make more sense from environmental, political and economic points of view than hybrids, provided there are advances in making lithium-ion-battery technology safer and more reliable.
没有一家汽车巨头准备近期内在面向大众的市场上放弃汽油或柴油发动机。但业界领导人都担心，在对气候变化做出反应和应对高油价的压力下，美国和欧洲的监管机构将要求汽车厂家大幅度降低新车型的耗油量。与此同时，越来越多的大城市也开始在拥堵的城市中心地区限制汽车的使用。
None of the major auto makers is proposing to abandon internal-combustion or diesel engines for mass-market vehicles any time soon. But the industry leaders are worried regulators in the U.S. and Europe, under pressure to respond to climate change and address climbing oil prices, will force car makers to dramatically decrease the petroleum consumption of new vehicles. At the same time, a growing number of big cities are moving to institute curbs on automobile use in congested urban centers.
不过，汽车制造商之间的分歧表明具有竞争力的技术将成为争夺的焦点。
Still, the differences among the auto makers suggest competing technologies will jostle for prominence.
戈恩周二在东京接受采访时表示，他领导的法日汽车联盟正在进行合作，希望最早在2012年前推出大量全电动汽车，他相信，主要市场的监管机构不会对油电混合动力车的二氧化碳排放量感到满意。
In an interview in Tokyo yesterday, Mr. Ghosn said the allied French and Japanese companies he leads are working together to field significant numbers of all-electric vehicles as early as 2012, in the belief that gasoline-electric hybrids won't satisfy carbon-conscious regulators in key markets.
戈恩说，我们认为在巴黎和伦敦等城市，将来轿车会被禁止上路，除了零排放的汽车以外。他说，雷诺-日产汽车的计划反映了公司的判断，即锂离子电池技术很快将发展到能让特制的电动轿车在城市行驶的水平。
'We think in cities -- Paris and London -- we think cars will be forbidden unless they are zero-emission' vehicles, Mr. Ghosn said. He said Renault-Nissan's plans reflect a judgment that lithium-ion-battery technology will soon be mature enough to power purpose-built electric cars in city driving.
戈恩表示，在欧洲，15%的驾车者很少离开所在城市，这是全电动轿车的目标市场。他强调，雷诺和日产没有完全转产全电动轿车的计划。尽管日产汽车在本次汽车展上推出了一款叫做Pivo的电动概念车，但也同时展出了一款名为GT-R的量产车，这款汽车的发动机功率接近500马力，从静止加速到60英里时速的时间还不到4秒钟。
Mr. Ghosn said that in Europe, 15% of drivers rarely leave the city and would be the target market for all-electric cars. He stressed that Renault and Nissan don't plan to convert their entire fleets to all-electric power. While one car Nissan is featuring at the show is an electric-car concept called the Pivo, the auto maker also is showing a production car called the GT-R with a nearly 500-horsepower engine and an acceleration time of zero to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds.
本田汽车的福井威夫对所谓可充电油电混合动力车表示怀疑，认为它在环保上的优点太少。这类汽车（如通用的雪佛兰Volt概念车）是通过电源接口充电，不过仍不能完全抛弃汽油。
Honda's Mr. Fukui expressed skepticism about a type of vehicle known as plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles, saying they offer too few environmental benefits. Such vehicles, like GM's proposed Chevrolet Volt, are recharged through an electrical outlet yet are still partially powered by gasoline.
福井威夫在位于东京北部的该公司研发中心表示，他觉得不同厂家目前提出的这种“可充电混合动力车”的概念可以描述为装有不必要的燃油发动机和油箱的电池动力车。他说他指的是Volt。
'My feeling is that the kind of plug-in hybrid currently proposed by different auto makers can be best described as a battery electric vehicle equipped with an unnecessary fuel engine and fuel tank,' Mr. Fukui said at the company's research-and-development center north of Tokyo. He said he was referring to plug-in hybrids such as the Volt.
他说，假如我们通过目前的努力能够开发出真正高性能的电池，我认为电池动力车从环境角度而言将是实实在在的进步。
'Assuming that we can come up with a really high-performing battery that we are working on currently, I think a battery electric vehicle would actually be a plus from an environmental point of view,' he said.
福井威夫表示，本田汽车可以在两年内轻松开发出可充电混合动力车，但他认为这种车对全球环境贡献甚少。
Mr. Fukui said Honda could easily develop a plug-in hybrid within two years. 'But I don't think that would contribute to the global environment,' he said.
几年前，在加州推迟了要求轿车厂家推出零排放汽车的强制性规定后，通用、丰田等厂家基本都放弃了全电动轿车商业化的努力。通用EV1等电动轿车的销声匿迹招致环保主义者和电动车爱好者的不满，但在当时运动型多用途车(SUV)一统天下的美国汽车市场，上述举动并未引来多少反响。
GM, Toyota and other auto makers largely scrapped efforts to commercialize all-electric cars some years ago after California delayed a mandate that car makers offer zero-emission vehicles. The demise of electric vehicles such as GM's EV1 caused chagrin among environmentalists and electric-vehicle enthusiasts, but it otherwise barely caused a ripple in a U.S. auto market then dominated by sport-utility vehicles.
商业化全电动汽车的复兴在很大程度上取决于汽车厂家和电池厂家能否解决锂离子电池的安全性和成本问题。这种电池一般是为笔记本电脑和其它小型电子产品供电，但汽车业的管理人员担心这种电池可能容易过热。锂离子电池起火曾引发数起笔记本电脑大量被召回的事件。
A renaissance of consumer all-electric vehicles could depend in large part on whether auto makers and battery makers can solve safety and cost problems with lithium-ion batteries. Such batteries commonly power laptop computers and other small consumer appliances, but auto-industry executives have expressed concern about the batteries' tendency to overheat. Lithium-ion-battery fires have forced some high-profile recalls of laptops.
丰田汽车管理人员周一谈到了对锂离子电池可靠性的担忧，称他们正在采取谨慎的“步步为营”的做法来开发采用锂离子电池技术的可充电混合动力车。可充电混合动力车储存来自电力系统中的电能，与丰田普锐斯相比，这类车采用全电动模式的次数更频繁。
Citing concerns about lithium-ion-battery reliability, Toyota executives on Monday said they are taking a cautious 'step-by-step' approach to developing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles using lithium-ion technology. Plug-in hybrids store electric energy from the power grid to run more often in all-electric mode than a Toyota Prius.
通用汽车一直在大力宣传，其雪佛兰Volt概念车仅使用电动模式就可凭借锂离子电池行驶至多60公里。但它也给自己留了余地，称Volt投入实际生产还要取决于锂离子电池技术在安全性、可靠性和成本方面的进步。
GM has heavily promoted the idea that its Chevrolet Volt concept could use lithium-ion batteries to operate for as far as about 60 kilometers on electricity alone. But the auto maker has qualified its claims by saying that actual production of the Volt depends on advances in the safety, reliability and cost of lithium-ion-battery technology.
丰田汽车的管理人员周一表示，他们担心许多客户都不会接受需要每天充电的可充电混合动力车。
Toyota executives Monday said they are concerned that many customers may not accept a plug-in hybrid electric car that has to be recharged every day.
另外，戈恩在东京的记者会上表示，他仍在考虑吸引一家北美合作伙伴加入到雷诺-日产联盟，但他说，这种做法需要双方都同意才行。
Separately, Mr. Ghosn told a Tokyo conference that he remains open to the idea of adding a North American partner to the Renault-Nissan alliance, but he said any such move would have to be by 'mutual consent.'
近年来，汽车厂家间的高调结盟非但未能提升业绩，反而导致代价高昂的分道扬镳。戈恩在汽车展开幕前举行的东京国际汽车会议上向与会者表示，雷诺-日产是汽车业仅有的结盟成功的典范。
In recent years, high-profile alliances among car makers have failed to help performance and led to costly divorces. Renault-Nissan 'is the only alliance that works' in the auto industry, Mr. Ghosn told attendees at the Tokyo International Automotive Conference, held before the motor show.
戈恩以前曾表示，他对增加合作伙伴一事持开放态度，加盟方可能会是美国三大汽车公司中的一家。去年，他牵头与通用汽车进行了结盟谈判。但在通用董事长兼首席执行长里克?瓦格纳(Rick Wagoner)说服董事会这项交易对雷诺-日产更有利之后，双方的谈判不欢而散。
Mr. Ghosn said previously he is open to adding a partner, possibly one of Detroit's Big Three. Last year, he led talks with GM about forging an alliance. But the talks collapsed after GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner persuaded GM directors the deal would provide more benefit to Renault-Nissan.
戈恩还表示，日产汽车的运营利润率应会重新回到8%以上。
Mr. Ghosn also said that Nissan should return to operating-profit margins above 8%.
Joseph B. White / Norihiko Shirouzu
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