Jim Kenzie's The Driver's Seat

I bet you have never heard of OLEC.

That's because, as far as I know, the "Organization of Lithium-Exporting Countries" does not exist.

Yet.

But if the hopes and dreams of electric car advocates are to come true, we're going to need several million boatloads of lithium to make all the lithium-ion batteries those battery engineers keep telling us will power our cars of the future.

And let's never forget, there are three kinds of liars in the world: liars, damned liars, and battery engineers.

It would appear that, as with petroleum, most lithium is located in countries not exactly sympatico with our socio-economic way of life.

Over half of the world's known supply is located in the planet's largest salt flat, in a remote desert in Bolivia. That land-locked South American country's president, Eva Morales, has long been a critic of "western" (generally) and American (specifically) economic policies, and has already nationalized various energy resources. Among other things, back in 2006 he sent soldiers to occupy facilities owned by British Petroleum.

I bet he has Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's number on his speed dial.

The manager of Bolivia's lithium extraction and refining operation was recently quoted as saying, "We must raise the revolutionary consciousness of our people, starting on the floor of this very factory."

I'm not liking the sound of that.

Another failure of democracy

I don’t know why, but it seems I seldom agree with my colleagues in the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada Car of the Year selections.

This year is no exception.

In line with the concept that “everyone’s out of step except MY son”, they got three of the four major awards wrong for 2009.

Fortunately, they got the most major one right – the Hyundai Genesis is Canada’s Car of the Year.

It was as close as close gets – it garnered 806 points in the final balloting, while the Mazda6 earned 805. I knew this would be close, but I didn’t think it would be THAT close.

The Toyota Corolla came third, well back.

For Utility Vehicle of the Year (AJAC’s term to lump pick-ups, SUVs and Crossovers together) the worthy winner wasn’t even on the finalists’ roster. That of course would have been the Ford F-Series pick-up.

We understand that while AJAC’s Test Fest program is by far the most sophisticated and rigorous of any such program in the world, one drawback is that we really do not have the time and facilities to properly evaluate the things that trucks are supposed to do well. As a result, the Dodge Ram beat out the F-Series in the first round, because the things the Ram is good at, notably on-road ride, were more persuasive.

At least the right car company got the award, with Ford’s Oakville-built Flex crossover taking home the hardware.

The Mercedes-Benz M-Class and Subaru Forester were the other finalists.

Best New Design is not supposed to be merely a beauty contest, but reflect good aesthetics combined with good functionality.

But seeing photos of the Honda Fit and the Jaguar XF together on the screen during the presentation – well, how could anyone vote for that ugly, boxy, dumpy little thing over that gorgeous Jaguar?

I hardly have to tell, you the result, do I?

The other finalist was the comely Volkswagen Passat CC.

I admit, I am in the minority on the Fit. Graeme Fletcher chose it as the overall Car of the Year for TSN’s Motoring 2009, and several other journos whose opinion I generally respect really like this car.

In addition to it being ugly, I think it is gutless, noisy, cheap-looking inside - and it has lousy outward visibility.

It takes a lot more than a semi-clever folding rear seat to make up for that in my books.

Ah well…

In Best New Technology, I won’t deny that Mitsubishi’s modestly-named Super all-wheel drive control system is pretty slick when you’re trying to eke that last one tenth of one percent of performance out of your Lancer Evolution X rally-rocket, although I don’t know that it’s a whole lot better than a couple of other systems out there at the moment.

But compared to Nissan’s simulated overhead camera parking assist, which can be used every time you drive the car to make sure you don’t fiend your alloy wheels on the curb or run over your kid’s bike?

Not even close.

GM’s OnStar police pursuit terminating system, the other technology finalist, is also more real-world, in my view.

I’d say “Wait ‘til next year”, but I bet it won’t be any different.

I'm so hip I can hardly stand it...

...or is that "hep"?

Anyway, I'm 'video blogging' again!

Spent most of the first Press Day of the Canadian International Auto Show shooting clips at various points in the proceedings, with videographer Randy Risling and Richard Lautens.

I think they should be posted soon - have a look on www.wheels.ca.

Let it Snow, old chap

Britain experienced the storm of the century last week.

This century is just going on nine years old, and they’re at this point already.

And, they had four or five storms of the century in the 20th century alone.

More than one storm of the century per century? Somebody needs some remedial math lessons.

I flew out of Heathrow yesterday morning. Not a flake to be seen.

Friends flew through Heathrow in the middle of this disaster. No snow on the ground then either.

When I looked at the photos from there - cars stranded, roads blocked - I wondered: what was all the fuss about? It looked like there was ten cm of snow, tops.

Why couldn’t anybody get anywhere?

One newspaper did print a photo taken recently in Quebec, showing a door from inside a house, which opened onto a complete wall of snow.

Now, THAT’S worth closing schools for.

My operatives tell me that nobody ever runs all-season (a.k.a. no-season) tires in England, let alone winter tires.

That might be it.

Understandable I guess, if they seldom get snow.

It’s not like Buffalo, where it has been snowing every year for, oh, fifteen thousand years, and it always seems to come as a complete surprise.

The Minister of Transportation in the UK suggested that everyone stop “whinging" (that’s British English for “whining’) and go buy some chains at Halfords’s (sort of England’s Canadian Tire).

That got a really positive response from people who sat in their cars overnight on highways because the road crews ran out of “grit”. Not intestinal fortitude; "grit" is what they call the mixture of salt and gravel they toss on their roads.

Apparently someone decided they didn’t need as much ‘grit’ this year because global warming would take care of it.

Guess not.

Based on my observations, the Brits are usually the best drivers in the world.

Maybe just not in snow.

Sounds like there might be a market for a winter driving school over there.

The joys of travel

Among the many challenges of travelling to do this job is that for some reason, it seems harder to keep the blog going when I'm switching hotels every night.

Not to mention spending the better part of three of the past six days in airplanes, or airports which don't have free wireless Internet connectivity!

So, apologies for being away for a few days.

Not to mention someone at Iberia Airlines (one letter removed from "Siberia Airlines") forgetting to close the cargo door on the flight from Madrid to Heathrow, requiring a return to Aeropuerto Barajas - by far the worst airport in the world, clearly designed by someone who had never seen an airplane, let alone ever flew anywhere.

We didn't have to leave the plane, so apparently the fix wasn't major.

Just major enough so we misseed our connection, had to overnight in London, and catch the 9 a.m. Sunday departure to Toronto.

Did my bags make the connection, given that Iberia had all night to schlep them over to Air Canada?

Hahahahahahahaha.

I'll try to make it up to you this week.

Bill Murray, where are you?

Apparently, Wiarton Willie saw his shadow yesterday, so keep those winter tires on for at least another six weeks.

Not sure about Punxsutawney Phil. From the "If a tree falls in the forest" file, probably nobody there to even notice, since all of Pennsylvania was probably still celebrating the Steelers' sixth Super Bowl.

Imagine - an American football game, a Super Bowl at that, almost as entertaining as a CFL pre-season tilt, if not as well-played...

Oops - cars, Jim, not sports...

Thinking outside the box...

I don't know what it says about a country when its most credible television news program appears on The Comedy Channel.

That of course would be the United States, and 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'.

A few days ago, he and his guest were talking about the current financial crisis, and how the government was giving billions of dollars in cash to various corporations to stimulate the economy. Stewart or the guest, I can't remember which, suggested that instead of giving the money to the banks so they could lend it to citizens so they could pay off their mortgages, why not just give the money directly to the people and let THEM spend it?

Presto - the mortgage crisis is resolved, people own their homes, all debt is cancelled, the economy can begin to roll again.

Brilliant!

Now this is not the sort of thing that the Tall Foreheads in think tanks, governments and universities would ever think of. Certainly, the CEOs of banks and financial institutions would never come up with it, because how could they skim their vigorish off the top to meet their genuine need to pay multi-million dollar bonuses to the idiots who got us all into this mess in the first place?

But it just seems like it might make sense.

This sort of unusual thinking can also be found in a report prepared by one Patrick Condon, a senior researcher at the University of British Columbia's Design Centre for Sustainability concerning a planned 12 kilometre subway line to connect UBC to downtown Vancouver.

This is the sort of tree-hugging public works project that sends the David Suzukis of the world into paroxysms of joy, whisking as it would teeming thousands of UBC students to their Ivory Towers in green-tinged comfort, and removing all those cars from the roadways.

But Professor Condon has calculated that if they invested the $2.8 billion-with-a-b projected cost in a fund which could earn six percent interest (even in today's climate that shouldn't be that difficult) it would generate about $170 million, per year, sufficient to give every UBC student a brand-new Toyota Prius hybrid car. Every year. For the rest of all time.

Holy methane-generating cow. Write that down in your Ledger, Heath.

The students could then go not only where the subway line went, but anywhere they wanted.

And not only when the subway line ran, but whenever they wanted.

Transportation flexibility, more cheaply, and in a more environmental friendly manner.

Isn't that what we all want for our future?

I don't know that a Prius Hybrid would necessarily be the best solution. Among other things - and thinking again along these same unconventional lines - the extra money you spend on a hybrid over a conventional but still fuel-efficient car would surely generate better economic (to you) and environmental (to you and the rest of us) returns if you stuffed it (metaphorically) into your attic as extra insulation.

The Condon report does however reiterate something former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca pointed out to a US Senator who was balking at supporting a loan to the car maker because the senator preferred to spend the cash on a 'mass transit' system.

Iaccoca's response: "What the hell do you think the Chrysler Corporation is??"