Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award

The Award

WHAT IS IT?

The annual Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award recognizes the new North American motor vehicle that best represents the vision of practical efficiency and risk-taking espoused by the late Dave Hermance. Dave was the U.S. auto industry's most public and vocal proponent of hybrids and other advanced efficiency automotive technologies during the critical early adoption era of hybrid-electric cars. The inaugural Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award will be given at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 10, 2010.

WHY IS THE Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award DIFFERENT?

There a growing number of awards given based on "greenness" or forward looking automotive concepts—some of which will bear fruit and other which may not stand the test of time in terms of environmental benefit and market success. In keeping with Dave's spirit, the Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award takes a grounded and "no nonsense" approach by using practical efficiency as its guiding principle. A winning vehicle, by virtue of its exemplary use of efficient design and affordability, will provide significant and durable environmental and energy benefits.

WHAT VEHICLES ARE ELIGIBLE?

Eligible vehicles must have gone into production in North America during the past year. Beyond that, all makes, models, segments, powertrain technologies, and fuel sources are equally evaluated based on Dave Hermance's vision of practical efficiency. One of the goals of the award is for consumers to be able to find the winning vehicle in showrooms and purchase one today.

WHAT SUPPORTING MATERIALS WILL BE PUBLISHED?

The inaugural Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award will be given at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show. At that time, the award organizers will issue a white paper, consisting of short essays describing the merits of the winning vehicle, its innovative use of technology, and the rationale for selecting it as the winner.

For more information:
Bradley Berman
brad@hybridcars.com
510-649-0435

Dave Hermance

WHO WAS DAVE HERMANCE?

Dave was Toyota's hybrid guru in North America. Internally, he helped create Toyota's vision for hybrid-electric vehicles. He also explained the benefits of efficient vehicle technologies to the public and media, describing how they worked—no matter how technically complex—in a way that could be understood by all audiences. Prior to joining Toyota in 1991, Dave was the department head for durability test development at General Motors for 15 years.

Dave was an avid pilot who enjoyed aerobatics competition. He died on Nov. 25, 2006, when the experimental airplane he was piloting crashed into the Pacific Ocean. He was 59 years old.

After his death, the Los Angeles Times called Dave "an engineering wizard with an environmentalist's heart—an executive who championed hybrid gasoline-electric cars years before global warming entered the popular conversation." In an interview with HybridCars.com, Dave said, "I'd like to leave the planet a little better than I found it. It's going to be hard work."

WHAT WAS DAVE'S VISION?

Dave Hermance maintained clarity of purpose on the urgent need to produce efficient vehicles for the 21st century. His mantra was practical, down-to-earth efficiency. He also loved cars and the car industry, and he exuded a contagious enthusiasm for progress.

Dave was also discerning. He steered away from fashionable new technologies not capable of achieving real and lasting efficiency benefits. He took technology very seriously without taking himself (or others) too seriously.

The Committee

WHO GIVES THE AWARD?

The Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award is given by a committee facilitated by BermanWorks, the media company behind HybridCars.com and the forthcoming PluginCars.com. BermanWorks assembled a group of industry experts in the field of leading-edge, fuel-efficient automobile engineering—all of whom knew Dave well and admired his passion for improving efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of automobiles. In selecting the winning vehicle, the awards committee repeatedly asked, "What would Dave do?"

WHO ARE THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS?

Bradley Berman is the founder and president of BermanWorks. The company's mission is to provide trustworthy consumer information about the next generation of fuel-efficient vehicles—via websites, events and other programs, such as the Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award. Mr. Berman is the editor of HybridCars.com, the Internet's premier website dedicated to hybrid gas-electric vehicles. He also writes about cars and the auto industry for The New York Times, Detroit Free Press and other publications.

Lindsay Brooke is the senior editor of Automotive Engineering International, the Society of Automotive Engineer's flagship monthly publication. Mr. Brooke writes about automotive technology for The New York Times, Popular Science, and other publications. He is a juror on the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards.

John DeCicco is a senior lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, where he teaches and leads research on sustainable transportation energy and climate issues. Previously he was a senior fellow for automotive strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund. He is also the nation's foremost green car rating expert as the creator of ACEEE's Green Book and designer of the Yahoo! Autos Green Ratings.

John German is a senior fellow and program director for the International Council for Clean Transportation, with primary responsibility for technology innovation and U.S. policy development. Previously, he spent 8 years in powertrain engineering at Chrysler, 13 years doing research and writing regulations for EPA's Office of Mobile Sources' laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., and 11 years as manager of Environmental and Energy Analyses for American Honda Motor Company.

Robert Larsen is director emeritus for Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research (CTR), a group of over 100 scientists and engineers working on a wide range of advanced vehicle and fuel technologies for the U.S. Department of Energy's transportation technology development programs. He served as director of CTR from 1998 to 2006, where he oversaw researchers working on hybrid electric vehicle powertrains, advanced diesel and spark-ignition engines, alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure technology, and vehicle simulation and energy consumption modeling.

Winners

Ford Fusion Hybrid Wins 2010 David Hermance Vehicle Efficiency Award

For more information:
Bradley Berman
brad@hybridcars.com
510-649-0435