Kleiner Perkins hints at plug-in car launch this week

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Managing Partner Ray Lane gave some hints today about a new type of plug-in vehicle that is expected to be revealed within a week.

And the hybrid vehicle is expected to have one major difference from the typical plug-in vehicle, Lane said. It's not going to be an electric car.

"I cannot talk about it because we have not described what it is. It requires protection today," Lane said. "But it is not an electric vehicle. Do not think batteries." 

Lane told the audience at the Always On Going Green Conference in Sausalito, Calif., to expect "a major announcement later this week or early next week around a new vehicle which will be a $39,000 plug in hybrid."

Kleiner Perkins' transportation investments include Irvine, Calif.-based plug-in hybrid developer Fisker Automotive, Oslo, Norway’s Think Global and stealthy ultracapacitor EEStor (see Fisker closes $85M financing in run-up to production and Think gets EU-wide approval for EV sales).

The announcement likely pertains to Fisker, which tapped Finland’s Valmet Automotive to produce the $87,900 luxury sports sedan Karma beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009 for the North American market (see Cleantech cars advance as old guard stumbles). Fisker has applied for loans through the U.S. Department of Energy, which the company says would enable it to produce lower-cost cars in the United States. The pending announcement could indicate that Fisker has received word on the loan guarantee. Think has also applied for a DOE loan guarantee.

Lane made the revelation after calling attention to the lack of diversity in ideas for innovative transportation.

"In Silicon Valley, we hear 'transportation' and it translates to batteries," he said. "We're very interested in the battery technology being developed," however, Lane said a better focus would be improving the efficiency of vehicles.

That efficiency should also be reflected in cost, he said, pointing out that the secretive vehicle announcement would be related to "a lot of volume at a very low cost point and a satisfactory vehicle for the U.S. consumer."

That point was echoed by Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. Khosla said vehicle developers need to take note of the success of Tata Motors' Nano, a $2,500, 60 mile-per-gallon vehicle launched this year instead of developing higher-priced vehicles with similar gas mileage (see Tata launches 60 mpg Nano after 5 months' delay).

"I think the environment's current infatuation with hybrids is mistaken. The thing that works best in the economy is economic gravity. If you defy it your balloon is going to bust," he said. "My problem isn’t hybrids, it’s the infatuation with hybrids at any price."

Khosla, who admitted he drives a hybrid, also noted that biofuels could play a big role in reducing the emissions due to transportation (see Cellulosic ethanol to be cost-competitive by 2009 says Khosla and Another week, another three Khosla biofuel investments).

"If we want to cut global consumption of oil or carbon emissions by 50 percent, the most economic way to do it is to double the efficiency of the combustion engine. We have three projects in that area. Then, you can cut another 80 percent by using biofuels," he said. "Almost certainly in three years, we will have biofuels cheaper than oil." 

Raj Atluru, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, pointed out that the transportation sector needs to see efficiency improvements of two-to-five times current performance, not the 30 percent to 40 percent rates being pitched by some startups. DFJ has invested in Bangalore, India-based electric car developer Reva Electric Car (see Two new electric cars for India this month?).

Atluru said fuel cell batteries and compressed-air storage could play roles in helping renewable energy become competitive. 

"You cannot have renewables at scale without storage," he said, drawing attention to the need for innovation in storage sector. Atluru said storage will be a big investment area in the future.

Lane also drew attention to problems with today's electric-vehicle projects in the pipeline.

"Look at the 50 or so electric car projects, and 90 percent you would not purchase because it's not a consumer product. We'll see a lot of fallout, [probably] 90 percent fallout," he said, noting that the projects are essential steps in the maturing field because they were "necessary to get the R&D up and running."

Lane said waste-to-energy, already a maturing market in Europe, is a very promising sector, with his firm making a couple of investments in the sector. Water also holds potential, he said.

"Until recently, we had not made water investments, but we have now. The problem with water is how to get a return to investors in it, but we think now we see some promise."

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