CARazed

If you start reading my posts you might think I’m anti bio-diesel and ethanol. Actually I’m pretty much pro everything green. I simply think that plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are the best short term solution. PHEVs and bio -uels are also not mutually exclusive. Why couldn’t a flex fuel, bio-diesel, or even strait vegetable oil (SVO) engine be mounted in a PHEV?

The problem I see with bio-fuels is simply infrastructure, and a lack of it. I live near Sacramento, California’s state capital and right smack dab in the middle of one of the biggest agricultural centers in the world. You’d think there would be tons of gas stations offering bio-diesel, ethanol and E85. I’m sad to say that’s not the case. I know bizarre but a good example of the problem.

All around me are people who would adopt bio-fuel cars but there are few options for supporting such a vehicle in sight. I’m forced to conclude that if we want an immediate solution we have to accept the enormous wide spread availability of fossil fuels… but only for the short term while the bio-fuel infrastructure is built.

PHEVs represent a bridge to all electric cars which is where I think we need to go. Burning anything at the vehicle isn’t the most ideal long term goal. Burning hydrogen at the car is a second best but even that has draw backs. The vast majority of hydrogen production today comes from processing fossil fuel. If we move toward hydrogen fuel cells with the goal of satying off fossil fuels we must put in a hydrogen manufacturing infrastructure that uses electrolysis of water.

Electricity is also a major issue. About half of the electricity in the United States comes from burning coal, thanks to George W Bush and his coal lobby buddies. Before bush natural gas was the major fossil fuel used for generating electricity. So if Americans really want to kick the fossil fuel habit long term we need to get off this coal burned for electricity practice too.

So if it were up to me… ha ha… all auto makers would slow hydrogen fuel cell research for now, since it is so long term, and focus on building flex-fuel plug-in hybrids. Advancing battery technology would need to become the primary focus of research. Building a decentralized power grid that gets the vast majority of it’s power from renewable sources like wind and solar. For example if all our homes has a couple dozen photovoltaic panels on the roof all feeding power back to the grid, and our cars stored electricity at night, as PHEVs do, we’d be in far better shape. We’d also have a path laid out to a future filled with fun, fast and silent electric cars.

Bio-fuels in my mind will help us get there, and may play a role in generating electricity in the future, but PHEVs in the short term followed by a long term goal off all electric cars makes a whole lot more sense. Comments?

Here is a simple idea that could rock the foundation of the auto and oil industry, get us off foreign oil, and save each one of us a ton of money at the pumps… and it’s perfectly legal.Stop buying new cars until auto makers deliver 100 MPG cars. Feel free to buy good used cars, just stay out of the new car showrooms no matter what incentive they throw at us. If enough of us stand up and say enough is enough, they will get with the program, look at all the new innovative ideas that use today’s technology, and start building cars we’ll buy.

We don’t even need to wait for the bozos in Washington DC to get a clue. We don’t have to regulate this is the public simply stands up and makes a simple choice. Car makers could even react quickly and begin adapting cars today with available conversion kits if they don’t want to wait to redevelop their cars. In other words there are lots of options for them to continue to sell cars without interruption.

If you’re an auto executive, product manager, or even an auto worker, please don’t think for a second we don’t ike your work or your products. We’re just sick to death of spending money at the pumps, seeing more money go overseas, seeing the dollar plummet in value, and seeing our soldiers being put in harms way for oil. Please do the right thing. Please make the right choice. Please deliver 100 MPG cars!