Road to recovery?

Michigan has traditionally been a hotbed of automotive intelligence. We have the engineers and the suppliers that helped the industry live large for many years.

And as the domestic industry retools and redefines itself, most people hope Michigan has a place in the future automotive industry. You’d have to be living under a rock to have not heard by now that the state is offering a whole host of lucrative incentives to lure advanced automotive battery manufacturers to take up residence to supply the components to the so-called cars of the future.

But what if the cars of the future are actually the cars of the present?

A fully electric, zero emissions Tesla Roadster made a stop in Grand Rapids today as part of the Renew America Roadtrip, a nationwide tour raising awareness for environmentally friendly vehicles and helping fund various charities. The Grand Rapids stop was sponsored by the West Michigan Clean Cities Coalition.

The mission of Renew America Roadtrip co-founders Michael Craner and Madushini Gunawardana is certainly one part of the story. Their goal is to use their sexy roadster to get within earshot of a crowd of people, get them to hear their message about green charities and rally people behind “renewable, sustainable, eco-friendly initiatives. When people walk away, Craner and Gunawardana hope people will be compelled to donate to the charities they’ve highlighted by this mission.

But perhaps the visit should serve as a wake-up call for Michigan. This isn’t the future of the automobile – it’s the present.

Sure, the Roadster costs more than $100,000, but the company plans to debut a luxury sedan that will sell for about $55,000. That’s still a hefty price tag, but remember there’s no gas to buy every few days. All you need to do is plug it in.

“We want people to take alternative fuel vehicles more seriously,” said Bill Stough, CEO of Sustainable Research Group, the organization heading up the West Michigan Clean Cities Coalition. “This is not pie in the sky.”

Stough wants to see the state start putting in the recharging infrastructure to support these electric vehicles, not to mention begin training a workforce capable of servicing these vehicles and the many gas-electric hybrids already on the road. The West Michigan region, and the state, has a huge job-creating opportunity, Stough said.

And just because the large domestic automakers have yet to jump on board the electrical vehicle market in any significant way, Stough sees the state’s plethora of automotive expertise as being marketable to these new companies, like Tesla, in helping them grow.

The Tesla, for instance, features a carbon fiber body. With our expertise in automotive plastics and composites, why not investigate the possibilities of making those parts here?

“We want to rally supporters to this concept before it’s huge elsewhere. We want to take advantage of the job opportunities, coalesce through the Clean Cities partnership, and brainstorm our next step as a community,” he said.

– Story and photos by Joe Boomgaard.