Big Three’s next challenge

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

Biofuels, electric batteries and hydrogen were among power sources under consideration by automakers in the 1980s and early 1990s as they tried to envision the post-gasoline generation of cars, trucks and buses.

Although autos fueled by all three of those alternative power sources are now on the road, the clear and present direction of the worldwide automaking industry is toward electric batteries.

The trend began with hybrids. But now the technological barriers that had precluded all-electric vehicles are rapidly being overcome.

With biofuels burning cleaner but not clean, and clean hydrogen cars too costly by far for mass production anytime soon, electric cars appear certain to emerge within a decade as the leading alternatively fueled vehicle.

American automakers dominated the industry since its founding with their gasoline engines. But they have clung almost exclusively to that technology despite the signs that it is being superseded. They were soundly beaten on hybrids by Japanese automakers, one reason among many that they are fighting to survive.

Now another risk to their survival is on the horizon. China, which never figured prominently in the manufacture of gas-powered cars, has declared its plans to lead the world in the production of electric cars. With few traditional auto plants to retrofit and few autoworkers to retrain, it can jump into the new technology with relative ease.

China is tackling this challenge with the same tools that helped it speed industrialization and put on the Olympics: large amounts of energy, money and people, The New York Times recently wrote.

China is not the only competitor. Japan is currently the world’s leader in electric car technology and it has no plans to let other countries catch up. Small American companies, too, including Tesla Motors and Balqon Corp., both of California, are producing impressive electric vehicles.

Ford, GM and Chrysler say electric cars will be a part of their lineups in the near future, but we hope they grasp the magnitude of the coming competition and vow not to be left behind again.