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GM Strikes Breakthrough Deal with Innovative Ethanol Company

In what will likely be the most important announcement made at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner

GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner (right) greets Bill Roe (center) and Vinod Khosla of Coskata, Inc. after announcing thier partnership. (Photo: John F. Martin, GM)

told international media on Sunday that the Detroit-based automaker has formed a new partnership with Warrenville, Illinois-based Coskata, an innovative renewable fuels development firm.

Why so important? According to Wagoner, Coskata has developed a new way to process ethanol out of just about anything, from crops to trash and “even old tires”, and do it for a buck a gallon, or about half of what it takes to produce a gallon of gasoline at today's prices.

“We are very excited about what this breakthrough will mean to the viability of biofuels and, more importantly, to our ability to reduce dependence on petroleum,” commented Wagoner.

GM and proponents of ethanol, or E85 as the pump mixture is called, have encountered a great deal of opposition from those who are concerned that using food or feed crops, or grain-based sources for fuel could drive up prices of such consumables. Current processes also use a great deal of water, a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed either. Coskata's proprietary process addresses these

GM's European President Carl-Peter Forster introduces the Saab E85-friendly 9-4X BioPower Concept. (Photo: Tom Pidgeon, GM)

issues by leveraging patented microorganisms and bioreactor designs, producing ethanol efficiently and affordably from practically any renewable source, and what's more, it uses less than a gallon of water to make a gallon of ethanol compared to three gallons or more for other processes.

Argonne National Laboratory, which analyzed Coskata's process, stated that it generates up to 7.7 times that amount of energy for every unit of energy used, and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 84 percent compared with a well-to-wheel analysis of gasoline.

While the announcement is important to GM, it could also be critical to North America's automotive industry on the whole, and for that matter it may just have

GM Vice President Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing Mark LaNeve introduces the HUMMER HX Concept, which also runs on E85 ethanol. (Photo: Tom Pidgeon, GM)

global implications for all automakers. Wagoner's point was, while hybrid-electric vehicles may have their place in today's industry, and electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles may be the future, ethanol may be the quickest alternative for reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

“There is no question in my mind that making ethanol more widely available is absolutely the most effective and environmentally sound solution,” Wagoner added. “And it's one that can be acted on immediately.”

When will this partnership bear results? GM expects to receive the first “batch” of ethanol from Coskata's pilot plant in the fourth quarter of 2008, and the fuel will be used for testing flex-fuel vehicles at the automaker's Milford Proving Grounds.

GM is in the best position of any other automaker to work with Coskata on this important project, as it's considered the world leader in the production of cars and trucks that can run on solely on gasoline or E85, which incidentally is any blend of ethanol and gasoline that is made up of up to 85 percent ethanol; GM makes more than a million flex-fuel vehicles per year and current has sold more than 3.5 million the world over. It is responsible for more than 2.5 million flex-fuel vehicles on North American roads alone, and has committed to making sure half its production output flex-fuel capable by 2012. Currently the automaker sells eleven E85-capable models, a number that will increase to more than fifteen by the 2009 model year.

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