say, yes, i did that. i am responsible for that. >> well, we are all part of the ford team. i think it is really tough to say there is any single contributor. i'm proud of the advances we made in safety and safety testing and five-star ratings. a lot of the safety features we added and the fuel economy. there is no one contributor. we are all part of the team and we are working very closely together to make sure we really offer our customers the vehicles that they would like. >> tom in los angeles. go ahead. >> good morning, susan. >> good morning. >> i'm sitting here. i was watching a banner on another network this morning. it seems that california is passing regulations requiring zero emissions from any automobile. my question, because we have

extremists here that are giving me a pain, is there any way of meeting that? i understand the hybrid engines do not have the power to pull large trucks and boats. is it possible to meet that by 2015? i want to thank you for coming on and being a nice lady. i want to thank c-span. is it possible? >> we got the point, tom. >> basically, in california, we have a couple of requirements. they have different emissions standards. they are requiring the love three standards and zero emission mandate. the zev mandate. they are looking at making changes of that to increase the number of vehicles that fall under that category. certainly it is challenging because the best way to be able to do that right now is with electricfication. we don't have a plan right now

on our trucks. it will be challenging. at the same time, we are part of the one national program for fuel standards. california has worked closely with epa to have one national standard that goes across the whole country. that is extremely important to us. so we are always trying to balance the requirements from an emissions standpoint and the zev mandate with the fuel economy standpoint. it is challenging. we do participate in the discussions. we tell them what our capabilities are. at the end of the day, it is what the consumers want to buy. so the challenge is with mandates and the challenge is with requirements like cafe. it is not what we produce, but it is what people want to buy. it is our job to make those affordab affordable. there are times we have to push back and say the technology may be there, but it may be too costly for the consumer. >> susan cischke, group vice president of ford. thank you for being on "the

washington journal" and taking calls from the viewers. >> we have more from the washington auto show here on c-span3. in a few moments, coda auto ceo, phil murtaugh. then executive vice president david zuchowski. then mark reuss. >> at the d.c. auto show. a truck by boise state university. it stands out in the appearance, but the green speed auto club. what is different about the truck? >> the world's fastest vegetable powered vehicle. >> why did you invent it? >> we doid not invent it. we ran with the existing technology. >> is this the cooking oil you can pick up in the store? >> sure is. >> tell us a bit about how this truck was designed. this is patrick johnson. >> we took a stock 1998 s-10.

we swapped all the components out to build a land speed racing vehicle. we added the second fuel tank which we heat up prior to a run. >> how did you make vegetable oil able to run the truck? >> the diesel motor does not require modifications. we have to bring it up to an operating temperature to 180 degrees. >> now patrick johnson, you said set records and you said land speed. is this a racing truck? >> it is racing as far as reaching a top speed over a longer distance. not like drag racing. >> dave, what was the genesis of the project? >> about ten years ago, i heard about crazy people who were running their old cars on v vegetable oil. it was bouncing around in my

head since then. it wasn't until i started school that i realized this could be a reality. >> how long did it take to put the project together? >> it has been going on just over two and a half year. it ca >> dave s there a larger issue with alternative fuels? >> what we are trying to do is raise awareness and what better way to raise awareness than break world records? >> patrick, now that you completed this project, is this where it stops with the green speed auto club? >> the future, we plan on beat being the petroleum record for diesel. that is set at 215 miles per hour. we will go back down to bonneville this august to pursue that record. we will try to beat that with

vegetable oil. >> thank you for your time. i do believe that the west for all of its historical short comings and i'm scathing in my book in discussing the shortcomings because they have to be admitted. for all of the shortcomings, the west still today, represents the most acceptable and workable universally workable political culture. >> in 1991, the united states was the only global super power. today, how to restore its status in the world from former national security advisor zbigniew brzezinski. also this weekend on book tv, did fdr use world war ii as a cover to create a more powerful executive branch? saturday at 11:00 p.m. sunday night at 10:00, the new privacy is no privacy.

lori andrews are how your rights are being eroded. book tv. every weekend on c-span 2. joining us now is the ceo of coda automotive. phil murtaugh. mr. murtaugh, what is coda automotive? >> good morning, peter. very nice to be on your show. coda automotive is a los angeles-based clean energy technology company. our technology is centered around lithium-ion battery systems and battery managed systems. we use our technology to develop in california three different product lines. first is the coda sedan that you see. the second product is electric vehicle propulsion systems. the third is energy storage systems using the lithium-ion battery. >> how old is your company? >> our company is about three

years old. we were formed initially from a company called miles electric vehicles. miles electric vehicles manufactured low-speed off highway vehicles. non-highway rated vehicles. about three years ago, decided to get into the on-road highway speed vehicles and we began developing the first electric vehicle at that time. our products are pure electric vehicles. >> we are looking at the automobile that you have on display at the auto show, mr. murtaugh. what made you decide to get into the electric car business and is it fair to call this an electric car? >> this is an electric car. pure electric car. no hybrid. we have a range of up to 150 miles per charge. we have the most dependable range in the industry. we have what we believe will

prove to be the best propulsion system in the industry. the reason that we decided to get into the pure electric vehicle business is that energy security is a growing concern globally. in the u.s., over 50% of our petroleum is imported. as you have seen over the last few years, the source of our energy is becoming more unstable as time goes by. we think it is crucial that the united states come up with ways to continue our leadership in transportation development but using american-sourced energy. the best way to do that is to switch from petroleum-based transportation to electric-based transportation. we believe that will come. we don't think that the industry is going to change to ev overnight. we believe now is the right time to get started. we want to be among the leaders

in moving the industry in this direction. >> mr. murtaugh, you talked about having the best propulsion system in the industry. is it your own system and batteries? >> our propulsion system is made up of the battery and management systems. we have those with inverters and controllers. then we integrate that system into a base vehicle taking out the petroleum-based engine. the technology that we develop is the battery management system. that is what is critical in optimizing the performance of the battery. that is leading to the class range. >> we have several tweets and phone calls coming in for you, mr. murtaugh. we will begin with stella.

how much does it cost? what's the battery replacement cost and who makes the batteries? >> i'll go backwards. we manufacture the battery with a chinese company called lechun. they are the leading manufacturing of batteries for apple iphones and ipads and motorola and samsung consumer electronics. it an extremely solid company with good lithium-ion technology. we manufacture that battery in tenghin, china. we have an application in the department of energy for a loan to allow us to move our battery manufacturing to the u.s. we have enhanced our application recently to include vehicle

manufacturing in the u.s. in terms of the battery range, the battery range is up to 150 miles. we are just now in the beginning phases of our production launch. at launch, we have actually introduced a second propulsion system that with a somewhat smaller battery, 31 kilowatt hour battery to get up to 125 miles per charge. that will sell for $37,250. after the $7,500 u.s. tax credit, a consumer can buy an electric vehicle for less than $30,000. which we believe is an important point to where we can make evs available to virtually all car buyers. >> mr. murtaugh, is getting a loan or working with the federal government more difficult after what happened with solydra?

>> the atvm program, we think is a great program. it will help companies like coda. a start up company to be able to enter a very competitive market. gasoline-driven vehicles have been around for 100 years. the infrastructure is completely developed. electric vehicles are starting all new. infrastructure needs to be developed. the technology is extremely expensive to start with. costs will come down over time. it is really getting over the initial phase that is important. stella asked a question about battery replacement costs. one thing we are very proud of is that with our partnership, we actually got the industry leading battery warranty. ten years and 100,000 miles. we actually believe that our batteries will outlast the vehicles. we have no plans to post a

battery replacement charge because we don't think consumers will ever need to. obviously, if a battery fails during a warranty period, we would do that. we don't think the price of the replacement batteries will be an issue. >> phil murtaugh is ceo of coda automotive. it was started in 2009. prior to that, he was ceo of gm china. executive vice president of shanghai gm. executive vice president for a long time. a lot of it focused in asia. is that correct? >> that is true. i left the u.s. in 1991. i spent three years in japan. two years in england. roughly 16 years in china. >> are you fluent in mandarin? >> no. i can get by in a taxi. i'm fluent in english. >> austin, texas.

you are on with phil murtaugh. >> yes, sir. first thing i would like to say is there is no such thing as a green car. that's vapor wear. these never going to happen. my question is since the fleet of the united states automobiles is about 250 million cars, how in the world do you think that you will plug in all of those cars into the grid? i don't understand that. >> mr. murtaugh. >> well, you made quite a few comments. if you consider a green car a car that does not use energy, you are absolutely right. there is no such thing as a green car. what is important about electric vehicles, really, is energy independence. those 250 million vehicles that you talk about, 125 million of

them are driven by imported fuel. imported fuel is becoming much more expensive. it is becoming unstable. we believe that it is really important to get focus put on energy independence in the united states. energy independence is a major concern in all major economies around the world. throughout europe and china and japan. japan imports nearly 100% of their fuel. so that's really the driver. what coda is able to do with our technology, one of the things that we would like to do is shift energy production from petroleum-based products to renewable products. solar and wind. which, i think, most people

would consider to be green. the thing about solar and wind is it is irregular. the storage system products we are in the process of developing will help improve the dependence of green energy because we can store wind and solar power when demand isn't so high and put it back on the grid when demand is very high. we think that what we are doing is leading the way and introducing technologies that will help move the industry over time. as i said earlier, this is not something that will happen tomorrow. it is a start. >> phil murtaugh is at the d.c. convention center. you hear a little bit of noise in the background as people are setting up for the auto show, which kicks off tomorrow. we have ron on the democrat line. you are on the air. >> yes, good morning, phil.

you answered part of my question with the previous gentleman's question. but my point is everyone jumps on the band wagon with electric vehicles. they plug them into the grid and they think they are saving the economy. when half of the united states is powered by coal-fired plants or nuclear-powered plants. you know better than anyone living in china, how coal does. i agree with what you say bringing on the new technology is a great thing. i still think it has a long way to go because if we are foolish enough to think we can just plug it in and get a free ride and the sun will shine, i don't see it happening. it has a long way to go. >> i think you are absolutely right. we have a long way to go. every journey starts with a

first step. there is no one who believes that we can convert the u.s. car industry to electric tomorrow. the grid cannot take that. the infrastructure is not developed. over the next 20 to 25 years, there will be roughly $13 trillion spent upgrading the u.s. electric infrastructure. as we move forward, the car industry will gradually movepeto electric-based products. as that happens, the investment and infrastructure will allow us to build that infrastructure to support the gradual change from petroleum-based transportation to electric-based transportation. part of the issue is green, but the biggest

>> mr. murtaugh, if it wasn't for the federal subsidies would electric cars be viable? >> electric cars are viable. we don't believe that our consumer is a person who owns one car. we have the longest range in the industry. up to 150 miles. but our car is not for everybody. we believe that most of our consumers will already own one -- sorry, two or three cars and they will be using the electric vehicle as a second car or a third car. our car is ideal for doing day trips around town, running to the grocery, things like that. where you're driving typically less than 100 miles. 96% of all drives in the u.s. are less than 90 miles. so we think that our car is very good for those applications.

>> ft. walton beach, florida, george, good morning. >> caller: good morning, sir. my question is about the middle. you said the car will travel at 160 miles on a charge. are you going to have -- or are there any plans to establish charging stations on the highways, you know, like gas stations right now, to service these vehicles? >> there are companies who are investing in infrastructure to support exchangeable battery vehicles. our vehicle when it comes out will be a fixed battery. you drive it, you take it home, you plug it in overnight the next morning you're ready to go for another 150 miles. up to 150 miles. as i said, there are companies who are investing in technologies to build -- that

would allow the build of an exchangeable battery infrastructure. we aren't investing in infrastructure. we're investing in the transportation products. we're working very closely with companies who are interested in exchangeable batteries. and if that technology does come to fruition, we will be ready to provide exchangeable battery products as well. >> phil murtaugh, where did the start-up capital or the coda come from? >> all of our capital has been raised privately. with -- through private equity companies and venture capital companies and individuals. >> union city, new jersey, arthur, you're on the washington journal. >> reporter:. >> caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. basically, mr. murtaugh has been answering every question, but i'm -- but the woman, if you

have a question in any form for this, whether it's a person to respond for a company, in today's technology why would anyone not be able to have -- to answer every question? although very sincere, please, i'm not trying to be, you know -- but in a general way it surprises me if you're a spokesperson you wouldn't have your fingertips on a laptop at every second. >> mr. murtaugh? >> well, having a laptop sitting right here next to me actually would probably help me a lot because i'm not smart enough to know the answers to every question. but that also would probably interfere a lot with the pace of an interview like this. my apologies. >> what about telemattics in the coda? >> the coda have a telemattics

system. at launch, we have a standard -- industry standard nav screen. later this year we will be introducing more and more telemattics with car applications. >> dayton, ohio, go ahead, kathleen. >> caller: hey, mr. murtaugh, you know, most of us i think applaud coda's efforts to get off of, you know, depending on oil from other companies. but one thing i want to ask c-span to do a history of unions in our country, it would be like a week's series. i'm hanging out with these gm union guys in a nursing home with my dad, so we're talking a lot about the history of unions in our country. but i want to ask mr. murtaugh, how do you really measure the real coast of say -- real cost of a car overseas or here locally versus, you know, electric, because you've got to plug into the grid as earlier callers have brought up with

coal-burning fire plants. here i'm ohio, versus importing oil. how do you figure out the real cost? and then you say technology for electric cars has been around for 100 years, so if you can talk about why we have been so hesitant to head that way and as president obama said the other night, oil companies have been subsidized for over a hundred years as well. >> mr. murtaugh? >> that's a lot to talk about. please say hi to your uaw friends. i worked in wilmington, delaware and mansfield, ohio, for quite some time and have many, many friends amongst the union there. it's interesting. electric vehicles started in the very early 1900s. e.v. penetration in the early 1900s was probably 20% to 50% in that range. it was very big. what happened was with the advent of internal combustion

engines cars went further. e.v.s depend on batteries. battery technology for the last 80 years has been lead acid which is very, very heavy. and when you consider the energy storage in a battery, cars don't go very far with lead acid batteries. that's why internal combustion engine products took over the industry. the auto industry has done a fabulous job upgrading technology. gasoline engines go twice as far as 20 years ago because of improvements in combustion technology. so we're not -- we're not here to say that automakers are doing the wrong thing. what we believe is though that energy independence really is a crucial national and a crucial

national interest. and we want to be in the forefront of moving away from having to import all this fuel to drive our transportation infrastructure. >> mr. murtaugh, if you do not get a loan from the department of energy, will you not build batteries in columbus, ohio? >> i think that the issue that we face is we're a start-up company. we would love to be able to invest in the battery plant in ohio. we'd love to be able to invest in a vehicle assembly plant to move our assembly. we do -- what we do today we do partial assembly in china. we ship it to california, then we do our final assembly in california. we'd love to invest to build a complete vehicle, but we just -- that costs money. being a start-up company, very, very difficult to do that. the advantage of a loan from the department of energy, through the atvm program, it allows us

to make those moves much faster than we otherwise would be able to. once -- without a loan from d.o.e., we probably have to go into production, be in production for five to eight years, to be able to generate enough retain earnings to be able to make that kind of investments. so the issue is one of timing, not one of desire or intent. >> washington, ben, you're on the air with phil murtaugh. >> caller: good morning. i'm an electrical engineer and an advocate for the electric cars, but people have brought up the current infrastructure of the grid. one of the other things that hasn't been addressed is the fact that currently our roads and bridges are supported

primarily through funding from taxes on fuel. and electric vehicles themselves don't have a direct tax system. so how do you propose that we meet this need? >> i think that we all have seen that tax policy has changed over the years to suit the existing demands at those periods of times. as the industry changes, as the economy changes, tax policy will change to be able to come up with sufficient funding for the critical national needs. >> we have this tweet for you. just we talked about it a little bit at the beginning, but susan asks is coda subsidized by the federal government? if so, and to the tune of how much? >> we are subsidized to the tune of