"Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation" Social Studies Lesson Plan - A daily news broadcast for High School and Middle School students ...
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“Electric Car: American Industry and
Innovation”
Social Studies Lesson Plan
is a feature of
A daily news broadcast for High School and Middle School students
now under development by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions
“Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation”
Social Studies Lesson Plan
Table of Contents
Letter to the Educator...................................................................................... 1
“Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation”
Social Studies Lesson Plan ............................................................................. 2Winter, 2009
Dear Educator,
the.News online video reports for the.Gov provide middle and high school students with a valuable exercise in science,
social studies and language arts. This video report on the “Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation” at
www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews/thegov explores how this new technology is driving development of the electric car and
public policy. Lesson plans for social studies, science and language arts are available in the “For Educators” section of the
website. All videos and curricula have been informed by the.News instructional design that can be found on the website
www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews. the.Gov is open-captioned. The curriculum includes content-based standards, discussion
questions, student activities, vocabulary and primary reference sources. A complete transcript of each video report
includes time codes to assist in isolating specific segments of the video. This material is presented as options to fit
teachers’ instructional needs.
We have also added, starting with this video segment, references to Larry Bell’s “The 12 Powerful Words.” Relevant
“powerful words” are highlighted in bold in the lesson plans and in the transcript (to denote where they are used in the
video segment).
We welcome our new partners at the Omaha Public Schools who have joined the.News in a special pilot project during the
09-10 school year. We are also launching a new authoring tool for students called YOU.edit, to launch in early 2010. It
will give students an online tool to remix the content of the.Globe reports (as well as all the other the.News videos), so
they can create their own multimedia presentations. This editing tool will reside on our website so that it will be available
to all students with an internet connection. It will be password protected so that it can serve as a viable educational asset
that allows classroom teachers to assign multimedia projects within the security and content safety of the.News website.
For the first time we are now providing answers to our student “thought starter” questions found on the home page
(and on the Educators Page) underneath the video.
#1 Denise Gray is in charge of battery development for GM. The fuel for electric vehicles is electricity stored in a
battery. It provides power to one or more electric motors.
#2 Detroit Edison’s research shows that generating the power to run one electric vehicle creates less pollution than
running a gas engine.
#3 There is no standard for the plug or box used to charge an electric vehicle’s batteries.
For more information and questions about this material contact me at kjaffe@newshour.org
Sincerely,
Karen W. Jaffe
Manager, Education Projects, the.News
MacNeil/Lehrer Productions
2700 S. Quincy St., Suite 250
Arlington, VA 22206
1
©“Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation”
This lesson was designed to support the.News video “Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation” The video
can be found online at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews/thegov.
Grade Level: Grades 7-12
Content Areas: Social Studies
Key Concept(s)
Students will understand the nature and purpose
of public policy in a democratic society. They will
apply this knowledge in their creation of a public
policy on the topic of electric cars and develop a
plan to implement this policy.
Key Objectives:
The Student Will:
• Understand the nature of public policy as
the process of discussing differences and
finding common ground to reach an agreement.
• Understand the purpose of public policy is to establish rules and laws for society.
• Describe the state of old technology and new technology in automobile manufacturing
• Analyze the public policy of states promoting the use of alternative vehicles
• Evaluate the effectiveness of these policies
• Formulate a public policy that promotes the use of electric vehicles including benefits,
consequences, funding and promotion
Omaha Public Schools
http://www.ops.org/District/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Hbqyrrg2ydM%3d&tabid=912
&mid=2006
Social Studies U.S. History Grade 8
• Citizenship/Government: Describe the structure and function of government,
the expanding role and responsibilities of the citizen in a representative
democracy, and compare and contrast these elements to those in other
countries.
Social Studies Government Grad 12
• Standard 04: Describe the factors that influence government policy and
decisions
2
©Key Vocabulary:
• Fuel efficiency standards: acceptable levels of gasoline
consumption per mile established by the government to reduce
the use of gasoline and production of pollution in internal
combustion engines. Usually rated to two levels, urban traffic
driving and highway driving.
• Hybrid vehicle: a vehicle that uses an onboard rechargeable
energy storage system and a fuel based power source for
propulsion. In automobiles, this is usually an electric motor,
powered by a rechargeable battery and an internal
combustion engine that supplies some of the power to the
vehicle and some to recharge the batteries.
• Incentives: a way of encouraging someone to do something.
In marketing, retailers might offer a rebate as an incentive to encourage people to buy
their product. Sometimes the government will offer an incentive to consumers in the form
of a tax reduction to buy products from a particular industry.
• Prototype: an original or first run of a product which serves as a model for subsequent
forms.
Source: Encarta Dictionary and About.com
Materials:
• “Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation” from the.Gov
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews/thegov
• Student Handouts:
o What is Public Policy
o Creating Public Policy on Alternative Fuel Vehicles
Time Frame: 2-3 class periods
McRel (www.mcrel.org)
Civics
Standard 21: Understands the formulation and implementation of public policy
Level III (Grades 6-8)
• Understands what public policy is and knows examples at local, state, and national levels
• Understands why conflicts about values, principles, and interests may make agreement difficult
or impossible on certain issues of public policy (e.g., affirmative action, gun control,
environmental protection, capital punishment, equal rights)
Level IV (Grades 9-12)
• Knows a public policy issue at the local, state, or national level well enough to identify the
major groups interested in that issue and explain their respective positions
• Understands the processes by which public policy concerning a local, state, or national issue is
formed and carried out
• Understands why agreement may be difficult or impossible on issues such as abortion because
of conflicts about values, principles, and interests
3
©Background
Did you know the electric car was older than the gas-powered car? It is believed that the first
electric car was invented between 1832 and 1839 by Scottish inventor Robert Anderson. The
contraption was not more than a carriage with an electric motor and non-rechargeable batteries.
In 1835, American inventor Thomas Davenport is credited with building the first practical
electric vehicle, a small locomotive. As is the challenge today, the problem back then was battery
storage. It wasn’t until after French inventors Gaston Plante in 1865 and later Camille Faure in
1881 improved storage batteries for electric motors that electric vehicles had any real chance of
being considered practical transportation.
McRel (www.mcrel.org)
Standard 25: Understands issues regarding personal, political, and economic rights
Level III (Grades 6-8)
• Knows what constitutes political rights (e.g., the right to vote, petition, assembly, freedom
of press), and knows the major documentary sources of political rights such as the
Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution including the Bill of Rights, state
constitutions, and civil rights legislation
• Understands the importance to individuals and society of such personal rights as freedom of
conscience and religion, freedom of expression and association, freedom of movement and
residence, and privacy
Level IV (Grades 9-12)
• Understands the importance to individuals and to society of personal rights such as freedom
of thought and conscience, privacy and personal autonomy, and the right to due process of
law and equal protection of the law
Europeans first embraced the wide-spread use of electric cars in the late 1880 and 1890s with
France and England leading the way. A Belgian built an electric racing car called “La Jamas
Contente” (which means The Never Satisfied) and set a world speed land speed record of 65 mph
in 1899. In the early 1890s, American inventors began to develop electric vehicles including a
tricycle built by A.L. Ryker and a six-passenger vehicle built by William Morrison, both in 1891.
Interest increased as did further innovations and by 1897 the Electric
Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had
build a fleet of electric cars for a New York City taxi company.
By the early 1900s, America was a prosperous nation boasting the
use of horse-less carriages in three modes of propulsion—gasoline, steam,
and electric. But interestingly enough, electric cars were outselling other
types of cars with their many advantages over their early counterparts: they
didn’t vibrate, smell, or make grotesque noises that scared small animals.
Electric cars also didn’t need to change gears—which at the time was one of
the difficult engineering challenges for gas-powered cars—and electric cars
didn’t need to “warm up” as did steam powered cars. Electric cars were
cheap to build and comparably priced from $1,000 to $3,000. And even
though their range was limited to 20-40 miles before the batteries needed changing, most were
sold in cities where trips in the car were short.
4
©So, what happened? Why didn’t electric cars become the dominate
vehicle of choice for drivers world-wide? A few developments in the
1920s made electric cars less desirable than their smoky, noisy, gas-
guzzling cousins. By the 1920s, America and Europe had built a larger
and better system of roads, necessitating longer-range vehicles. In
addition, the invention of the electric starter made starting a gas-
powered engine easier than the old-style hand crank. At about this
time, large deposits of oil were found in Texas reducing the price of
petroleum-related products like gasoline and oil needed for internal
combustion engines. And finally, the refinement of mass producing gasoline-powered
automobiles by Henry Ford and others dropped the price of these vehicles to between $500 and
$1,000. By 1912, an electric vehicle average price was $1,750, while a gasoline powered car sold
for $650. For all intents and purposes, the electric vehicle was dead for the next forty years.
In the 1960s and 1970s, electric cars saw a mild resurgence with several cars being produced by
small and large auto manufacturers in both Europe and the United States.
Air pollution, especially in sprawling cities like Los Angeles, greatly
increased in the 1960s and electric cars seemed a viable option. A few
daring entrepreneurs began producing electric cars in the mid 1960s as did
all four major U.S. auto manufacturers—General Motors (GM), Ford,
Chrysler, and American Motors—on a limited basis. But the truth is these
cars were boxy, goofy looking things that resembled little kids’ toys more
than an automobile. The 1960s was the age of the
“Detroit Muscle Car” and luxury vehicles with
enough sheet metal in just their rear quarter panels to make an entire
small electric vehicle. While the U.S. Postal Service conducted a test
program of 350 vehicles for delivering the mail, wide spread use of the electric
car was hampered by its low top speed (45 mph) and limited range (40 miles).
McRel (www.mcrel.org)
Standard 25: Understands issues regarding personal, political, and economic rights
Level III (Grades 6-8)
• Knows what constitutes political rights (e.g., the right to vote, petition, assembly, freedom of
press), and knows the major documentary sources of political rights such as the Declaration of
Independence, United States Constitution including the Bill of Rights, state constitutions, and
civil rights legislation
• Understands the importance to individuals and society of such personal rights as freedom of
conscience and religion, freedom of expression and association, freedom of movement and
residence, and privacy
Level IV (Grades 9-12)
• Understands the importance to individuals and to society of personal rights such as freedom of
thought and conscience, privacy and personal autonomy, and the right to due process of law and
equal protection of the law
5
©The 1973 Arab oil embargo raised gasoline prices causing consumers to
look, if only for awhile, at alternative vehicles. Detroit was slow to
respond to the call for an alternative to gas-guzzling vehicles, but the
Japanese weren’t and Europe had been building smaller, more fuel-
efficient cars for decades. In the 1970s and 80s, Toyota, Honda, Datsun
(later Nissan), and a fleet of European automobile manufacturers took
large bites out of the American automobile market. But the “Big Three”
automobile manufacturers dug in their heels (by the mid-1980s,
American Motors had merged with Chrysler and France’s Renault).
Attempts by environmentalists to lobby Congress to increase the fuel
efficiency standards and introduce legislation for incentives to develop
and manufacture alternative powered vehicles met with a furry of auto
industry and oil lobbyists squashing any attempt to pass meaningful legislation. In 1976,
Congress did pass the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration
Act, directing the Department of Energy to establish a partnership with the electric utility and
automobile industries to spur the development of improved batteries, motors, and other hybrid-
electric components. But this law passed only after Congress overrode a veto by President
Gerald Ford who felt battery technology just wasn’t advanced enough for the federal government
to be engaged in such a program.
During early 1990s gas prices continued to rise and most automobile manufacturers had
programs for the development of electric vehicles. This included the
“Big Three” manufacturers as well as their Japanese counterparts.
Ford developed a prototype utility van and converted their best-
selling Ford Ranger pick-up to an electric-powered version. GM
developed an electric car from scratch called the EV1, a two-
seater sports car that had a top speed of 80 mph and a range of
80 miles. Also during the 1990s, the California Air Resources
Board (CARB) set guidelines requiring auto makers to make
10% of their fleets emission-free by 2003. This mandate for fuel efficiency in the country’s
leading market caused the U.S. auto industry to balk. Electric cars were expensive to build and
market. They were not as profitable as gasoline cars and with their higher sale price and limited
range American auto makers declared the CARB guidelines untenable. They sent out their
lobbyist to squash or reduce the CARB requirements. In disappointment and some anger, many
critics accused the U.S. auto industry of failing to adequately promote their own electric vehicles
and instead created the false impression that consumers weren’t interested in electric cars. The
result was CARB was forced to reduce its mandates on zero-emissions vehicles, the auto
manufacturers declared electric vehicles unwanted by the American public, and they destroyed
all the unsold electric vehicles they’d produced.
In response to this market-vacuum left by the U.S. auto industry in the mid-1990s, many small
companies rose up designing and marketing electric cars for the public. The REVA Electric Car
Company in India, Miles Electronic Vehicles of China, and Tesla Motors in California now
produce a small number of pure electric vehicles. And then there were the Japanese auto
6
©manufacturers. Unlike their American counterparts, they continued their development of electric
and hybrid vehicles throughout the 1990s. By the late 1900s, it was becoming apparent that the
Japanese auto industry would once again lead the way in developing innovative vehicles and
anticipating the turn of the new century’s next energy crisis and a change in the buying public’s
desires. Honda came out with the Insight, Toyota the Prius, and Nissan with the Leaf. All these
vehicles added to the Japanese auto-makers’ already increasing share of the U.S. auto market. In
time, U.S. automakers began to manufacturer hybrid vehicles, but too late to regain their market
share, and almost too late to save their companies.
The recent global economic recession has led to calls for auto-makers to reduce
their dependence of developing fuel inefficient SUVs and move to smaller,
more fuel efficient gasoline powered cars, hybrid and totally electric vehicles.
As GM and Chrysler slipped into bankruptcy in early 2009, the entire U.S.
auto industry is going through a transformation, with the overall effects not quite
evident. Chevrolet, a GM company has announced the release of the Chevy Volt, a decedent of
the EV1, developed during the 1990s.
The Volt will be able to travel up to 40 miles on battery power alone before activating an
internal combustion engine which will recharge the batteries. In October, 2009 hybrid automaker
Fisker Automotive of California announced it was buying a former
Pontiac and Saturn assembly plant in Delaware to begin
production of plug-in hybrid electric cars in late 2012. The
company expects to produce 75,000 to 100,000 “family-oriented
cars” annually priced at $39,900.
7
©Lesson Plan
Opening Activity
This activity will help students become familiar with the nature and purpose of public policy.
Ask students their thoughts on what public policy is. Then pass out the student handout, “What is
Public Policy” and review the definition with students. Explain to students that in a democracy,
people work together to resolve various issues through
discussion and compromise. The First Amendment to the
Constitution guarantees these rights with the right of Free
Speech and the right to Petition the Government.
Next, have students brainstorm 10 or so current issues being
discussed at the national, state, or local levels. Ask that they make their examples specific and
automobile related such as, banning cell phones while driving, lowering (or raising) the driving
age, increasing the speed limit, etc.
Assign one of the issues to each group of three students. A good way to do this is to call out the
name of the topic and place students who are for, against, and neutral in a group. If not all
students are this diverse in their thinking, ask one or two students in the group to play “the
devil’s advocate” and take the opposite side from the other students. It’s fine if more than one
group has the same topic.
Have students discuss their issues for about 5 minutes, each
explaining their positions. They should summarize their position on
one of the circles in the Venn diagram. Then have students explore
areas where they have some common agreement. Students should be
encouraged to compromise and negotiate in order to find some
common ground. They should write their agreed upon points in the
center area of the three circles. Explain to students that the ideas they
place in the center could be ideas for a possible public policy.
After students have finished their diagrams, ask several to share their
ideas on the issue, compare where they agreed and contrast where they were in disagreement.
Point out to them that it is during the process of finding that middle ground, that “sweet spot”
that can make or break a successful legislation or public policy initiative. It takes negotiation, a
willingness to compromise, and staying focused on an outcome that all sides can mutually agree
to and live with.
8
©Main Activity Part 1—View the News Segment
In this activity, students will look at the issue of electric vehicles, particularly electric cars, the
current status of the industry, and ideas on expanding their use.
1. Divide the class into small viewing groups of 3-5 students.
2. Show the video from the.News segment “Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation”
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/thenews/thegov or have students watch the video as homework.
3. Discuss with students some of the details from the program in the following areas:
• Efforts by the Detroit Economic Development Corporation
• Private companies operating public and home charging stations
• General Motors battery testing
• Efforts by small alternative auto companies
• New auto technology in the classroom
Main Activity Part 2
In this activity, students will look at examples of ways state and local governments have
established incentive policies to promote alternative fuel vehicles. This information comes from
the Department of Energy’s “Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Data Center at
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/all_state_summary.php/afdc/0. Students can go to their
own state and review some of the laws or they can find states that are passing incentives to
promote electric or hybrid-electric vehicles. They will then select a possible public policy action
and develop a public policy and implementation plan.
1. Divide class on to groups of 3-5 or keep the same groups from the previous activity.
Distribute the handout “Creating Public Policy on Alternative Fuel Vehicles.”
2. Review the directions with students and provide groups time to develop their policies.
3. Have students present their policies for consideration by the class and have students vote
on accepting or rejecting the public policies proposed.
4. During the presentations, encourage the class to ask questions about how the policy will
be carried out, paid for, and enforced.
Assessment
• Evaluate students on the details and completeness of their public policy following the
guidelines on the Public Policy Template.
• Individually or as a group, have students formulate a plan to present their policy to the
appropriate governing body (national, state, or local representative and/or agency) and a
public relations plan to get their policy accepted by the public.
Extension
• Students will send their ideas to the appropriate government official and/or agency.
• Students will publish their public relations plan in the school newspaper, class website, or
write letter to editor explaining their plan or make a multimedia piece (slide presentation
or video) to promote their point of view.
9
©• Have individual students write a letter to the editor or an OP/Ed column for the local
news paper on their proposed public policy plan or send a letter to the appropriate
national, state or local representative.
• Have a representative from a local agency (state transportation, city council) come in to
talk to the class about their public policy plans.
Resources
California Air Resource Board (CARB) http://www.arb.ca.gov/homepage.htm
Department of Energy sites:
• http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/vehicles_search.php – Alternative and Advanced
Vehicles
• http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/prices.html – Fuel Prices
• http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/stations/find_station.php – Alternative Fueling Station
Locator
• http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/incentives_laws.html – State and Federal Incentives
and Laws
Fuel Our Future Now http://fuelourfuturenow.com/
PBS FRONTLINE program “HEAT” (View Chapter 5, Cars: 2nd Largest Source of Carbon
Emissions) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/heat/view/5.html
Project Get Ready http://projectgetready.com/
“Who Killed the Electric Car” PBS’s NOW program
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/index.html#here
ZoomiLife http://www.zoomilife.com/
Activity Designer:
Greg Timmons is a former social studies teacher now freelance writer and educational
consultant.
10
©11 ©
Student Handout: What is Public Policy?
Definition: In a democracy like the United States, public policy is essentially the process of
examining diverse positions on an issue and coming to a compromise on how best to address or
resolve the issue. Sometimes public policies are written as laws by state or local legislatures or
Congress. Other times they may be rules or regulations created by an executive branch of
government like a mayor, governor, or president.
Directions: Think about the issue you were assigned from the brainstorming session. Then
discuss your views on the issue with the other members of your group. Write your position on
the issue (for or against and reasons) in the outer part of one of the circles below. Then discuss
the areas where you agree. Place those points of agreement in the center area of the three circles.
This is the area where people can come together to develop a public policy solution to the
problem or issue.
12
©Student Handout: Creating Public Policy on Alternative Fuel Vehicles
Background: In this activity, you and your group will analyze the ways state and local
governments have established incentive policies to promote alternative fuel vehicles. You will
then select one of the possible incentives projects from the list below and formulate a public
policy to carry out this action. Be prepared to present your policy to the class for discussion and
a vote to accept or reject.
Directions
1. Go to this website from the Department of Energy’s “Alternative Fuels and Advanced
Vehicle Data Center at
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/all_state_summary.php/afdc/0 and find your own
state.
2. Analyze the policies and laws listed to get an idea of what your state and other states are
doing to promote the use of alternative fuels and advanced vehicles. These might be
policies that promote the use of alternative vehicles such as the electric car or they might
be promoting the use of alternative fuels or a combination.
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of these policies in promoting the use of alternative fuel
vehicles.
4. Select one of the actions municipalities can take to promote the electric car from the list
below and formulate a policy that promotes this use.
5. As an alternative you can also formulate a policy that takes a position against one of the
policies you disagree with either because it doesn’t go far enough or goes too far.
6. Describe the details of your policy following the Public Policy Template below.
List of possible public policy actions:
• Local governments and banks offer low-interest loans for purchasing plug-in
vehicles.
• Provide direct cash incentives to consumers for a charging station upon purchase of
an electric vehicle.
• States offer access to HOV (high-occupancy vehicles) lanes, free tolls and downtown
parking and reserved airport parking for electric cars.
• Reduced (or free) electricity rates through state
subsidy for charging electric vehicles
• State subsidy for private companies to build charging
stations at local businesses
• Require local employers and retail businesses to
provide some charge stations in their parking lots.
• Install public charge spots in high traffic zones and parking areas for public buildings
(airports, government buildings, parks, etc)
• Provide each home with an affordable or free Level 2 home-charger and cable
installation from the street.
13
©• Provide direct cash incentives to consumers for electric vehicle purchase (including
tax rebate, waving vehicle registration and license fee or sales tax.
• Require municipal taxi and vehicle rental companies to have 20% of their fleet in
electric vehicles by a certain date.
• Develop materials to educate the drivers of tomorrow by reaching students of all
levels (elementary- college) with related curricula on the use of electric vehicles.
• Create consumer, city government, local business and electric utility education plans
to individual and fleet consumers on the benefits of electric vehicles.
14
©Public Policy Template
(Title of Policy)
SPONSORED BY: (your names here)
(Summarize the need for this policy and briefly what it will do)
BE IT ENACTED BY (identify the governing body creating this policy depending on its
jurisdiction—national, state, or local government):
List the details of the policy:
• Describe what the policy will do
• Who will enact it (Congress, state legislature, municipal government)
• Describe the benefits of the policy and support with evidence
• Predict the consequences if policy is not enacted and support with evidence
• How will the policy be paid for? (government money or private business expenditure or a
combination)
• How will the policy be enforced? For policies that require private business cooperation or
participation, describe the consequences if the policy is not followed.
15
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