CARazed

I’m mean please… Honda… WTF are you people thinking!? I’ve been a happy Honda owner and driver since 1988 and this has got to be the worst looking concept to come out from Honda in years. Its powertrain is yet to be decided but will be an internal-combustion engine, hybrid-electric or battery-electric. So in other words this concept is a styling concept only. Also please note that blasters and storm trooper helmets will be sold separately.

Photo credit Jalopnik.

Let me show you why I think today’s hybrids, like the Honda Insight, might just be a greenwash. Honda has been building super efficient cars for decades. The emissions of the older cars was slightly higher than today’s cars but it seems fuel economy has remained relatively stagnant.

A 1988 Honda CRX HF was rated at 37 MPG City and 47 MPG Highway and it put 4.5 tons of greenhouse gasses per year. [source]

A 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid is rated at 40 MPG City and 45 MPG Highway and pumps out 4.4 tons of greenhouse gasses per year. [source] Continue Reading »

At a cost of about $20,000 the Honda Insight looks pretty good. They say it gets 40 MPG City and 43 MPG Highway too. I had a 1988 Civic that I bought new and it got about the same.

That’s the strangest part about all these complex Hybrids, they are not that much more efficient than the cars from 20 years ago. I’m sure their emissions must be lower… right? But why in 20 years time don’t we have 80 MPG cars? We’ve had incredible advances in computers, bio-tech, telecommunications, and other technology areas; why have combustion engines lagged so far behind? Continue Reading »

Just to be upfront, I think electric cars and plug-in hybrids. This post is in response to the folks that think hydrogen cars have a future. To be honest I was shocked to see this post on AutoblogGreen today; I thought they were the good guys.

#1 Commercial hydrogen usually comes from natural gas.

The vast majority of commercial hydrogen comes from processing natural gas. This is because it’s cheaper and easier to extract hydrogen from natural gas than through the electrolysis of water. [source]

But lets say for a minute that we were going to get our hydrogen from water. Why would we use that electricity to extract hydrogen? Why not just use it to charge up the electric car? Oh right… Energy company profits would be at risk.

#2 A new national hydrogen infrastructure would be needed.

To build a national infrastructure of commercial hydrogen filling stations would take decades and would probably rely on the current natural gas pipelines like Honda’s Home Energy Station [Official Site]. Why not stop using fossil fuels and stick solar panels on out homes instead? Oh right… Energy company profits would be at risk.

In Honda’s defense they have also been testing a solar powered system to make hydrogen from the electrolysis of water. Honda seems to be way ahead of the curve and have their irons in many fires. Smart people at Honda.

#3 The largest proven natural gas reserves are in Russia and Persian Gulf.

The largest natural reserves of natural gas in the world are located in Iran and Russia. [source] Why the heck would we want to choose to experience, peak oil, peak coal, and then peak natural gas. Why not start building the world’s largest renewable energy system right here in our own backyard? Oh right… Energy company profits would be at risk.

Conclusion

I’m really happy that Obama has assembled the team of smart people he has. Decisions like the DOE cutting way back on Hydrogen is incredibly smart.

Hydrogen fuel cells are sexy sounding technology for a fossil fuel sourced fuel. Eventually when it’s possible to make vast quantities of hydrogen from the electrolysis of seawater and the electricity used to make it comes from renewable sources (solar, wind, wave, hydroelectric) then the real green promise of Hydrogen might be realized. But this would take decades so it makes a lot more sense to stop throwing tax dollars away on it.

If the energy companies are so hot to see hydrogen happen let them pay for it. Haven’t we let them raid public funds long enough with their pocket presidents and oil wars?

Electric cars, while not super sexy today, are a better long term solution and plug-in hybrid technology is here RIGHT NOW! Plug-in hybrids are the best transition technology because for local trips they never have to fire up their gasoline engines. Who knows maybe someone will figure out a flex-fuel plug-in hybrid too… now that would be cool. Battery and charging technology is also advancing very quickly making quick-charge electric cars a more likely near-term possibility.

I’m not on anyone’s payroll and I write what I think. What you see here are my humble opinions. If you take a little time and do the research yourself you’ll see I’m right. In the end we can make it all happen by simply voting with our dollars. Choose to buy a new car when they deliver a car worth buying. I’m holding out for at least 100MPG.

Read an opposing opinion by the CEO of a hydrogen pipeline and storage technology company.

Read why Google supports Plug-In Hybrids

Have you seen the ads for the the fuel cell powered Honda FCX Clarity? I noticed one on YouTube this morning. If you live in Torrance, Santa Monica or Irvine, in southern California you might be eligible to lease one for $600 a month.

If you don’t live there Honda will have a home energy station for refueling the car in the near future. You see the main problem with fuel cell technology isn’t the technology, it’s the lack of a hydrogen infrastructure. To solve this big problem Honda has developed technology that makes hydrogen right in your own home from the natural gas you already have. In other words leverage the natural gas infrastructure. In fact I bet if hydrogen fuel cell cars become popular the energy companies would love to build new fueling stations directly connected to the natural gas grid and sell us natural gas.

Side Note: Conspiracy theorists think that the Bush Administration and the energy companies are interested in invading Iran because it is the second largest repository of natural gas in the world. In other words there is something very profitable under Iranian soil. Now back to reality…

It’s important to note that the car is a zero emissions vehicle but the home energy station will emit carbon dioxide when it makes hydrogen. SO the whole system is not zero emissions. It’s better than burning gasoline or diesel but most of today’s hydrogen still comes from fossil fuels, in this case natural gas. Now if renewable energy sources were used to generate the electricity needed for making hydrogen from the electrolysis of water, then we might really have a super low impact vehicle. Or better yet, just use the electricity for an electric car.

I don’t mean to dump on Honda, this car is amazing. I just think the right course of action is to focus on plug-in hybrids for the near term (next 10 to 15 years) needs and electric cars for the long term solution. Some peple will find electric cars useful today but I suspect until the range and recharging issues are resolved they won’t meet everyone’s needs.

We still need to source our electricity from lower impact technologies (solar, wind, hydro) but the infrastructure is here today making plug-in hybrids and electric cars perfectly doable. In the future I can see hydrogen being used for vehicles requiring a longer range since electric cars will be mostly good for local travel until rapid charging and battery efficiency make some big leaps forward.

Anyway… if you want to participate in this very historic lease program right now is the time to jump on board. Don’t delay.

Honda has released news of another future green car from it’s future model line-up at the London Auto Show. Technical details are not available yet, only the assurance that it will be low-emission, efficient, and probably some kind of hybrid. The little convertible is more a design study that demonstrates that green can still be fun and sporty. The Honda OSM (open study model) clearly looks like a convertible CRZ so we can only assume it would share the same technical platform. No word on release dates or pricing yet. Personally I think Honda is testing the water with design concepts and waiting to see which technology car buyers will be demanding in the next generation of new cars. I’m hoping for a plug-in hybrid of course and 100 MPG but I won’t hold my breath.

The Honda CRZ concept is making it’s North American debut at the North American International Auto Show this week in Detroit. If you think it looks a lot like a CRX you’re not alone. It’s a two seat lightweight next-generation hybrid that is a nice blend of sports car and green hybrid.

Unfortunately there don’t seem to be any plans to offer Plug-In as an option, this is a ‘normal’ hybrid much like the hybrids on the roads today. We’re still certain that by today’s standards this will be very green car and perfect for those who want a sporty commuter, but it won’t have the potential to beat the 100 MPG plug-in hybrids being brought to the table by the small start-ups.

In November 2007 Honda showed off their fuel cell production car at the Los Angeles Auto Show. This is a zero-emissions, hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle based on Honda’s new V Flow fuel cell platform. This system give the car improved driving range, weight and power efficiency.

Honda also announced that some lucky Southern California drivers will be able to lease one this coming summer (2008) for about $600 per month for three years. The cost includes maintenance and collision insurance.

It seems Honda is limiting the initial lease to Southern California because the car needs specialized maintenance which requires that Honda set-up a service infrastructure to support the car. It also seems like a perfectly logical place to do a trial like this.

The V Flow system drives the car by generating electricity from a chemical reaction by combining air (atmospheric oxygen) with the hydrogen fuel cell stack. The exhaust is water. The electricity powers the drive system directly of in combination with a compact lithium ion battery pack. Regenerative breaking also puts electricity back in the batteries. The vehicles range is about 270 miles.

There are CO₂ emissions during the production of the hydrogen used to refuel the car. The emissions from this vary depending on the way the hydrogen is created. A common method of creating hydrogen is through electrolysis of water. As you know water is H₂O. There are two hydrogen atoms per oxygen atom. You can separate the hydrogen and oxygen easily by passing electricity through water, a.k.a electrolysis.

Unfortunately the most popular method of creating hydrogen comes from processing natural gas, a fossil fuel. Although this process creates about 50% the CO₂ emissions gasoline creates it still leave us dependent on fossil fuels.

Luckily Honda is clearly aware of this issue and has also been working on new photovoltaic solar cell technology designed to offer alternatives to the current preferred natural gas based method of creating hydrogen.

I personally think it’s ironic that a seemingly super green technology like hydrogen fuel cells actually still means we could be dependent on fossil fuels. If we could generate all our hydrogen without harvesting it from natural gas that would be great but it seems to me unlikely since all the production focus seems to be moving toward natural gas.

The top reserves for natural gas are in Russia, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United States, (see full list of countries with large natural gas reserves). In other words it seems that the current dependency on foreign oil problem could transform itself into a dependency on foreign natural gas if we’re not planning ahead now. Comments?