Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

Best of America Tour: Driving Cross Country in a Cellulosic Ethanol Truck

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 05:26 PM PST

Road trips are an American tradition, and a great way to get attention. Tom Holm is using a road trip to raise awareness for cellulosic ethanol by driving cross country using nothing but the homegrown fuel.

Tom Holm, of EcoTrek, has years of experience modifying cars to run on alternative fuel, among them a biodiesel Hummer H2 and a CNG Kia among others. Tom is driving a Ford Super Duty pickup truck fitted with lots of extra fuel tanks on a tour he calls the "Best of America" tour. "You know, I must have taken a 100 road trips, and I find I can really do some soul searching out here on the road." More than that though, Tom is preaching the cellulosic chorus by driving the proof to people’s doorsteps. Tom's huge pickup truck can carry enough cellulosic ethanol, provided by POET, to go over 2,500 miles between fill-ups.

"I've had this dream of driving across the country using ethanol, and now I'm finally able to do it." Like a lot of people, Tom backed away from ethanol a few years ago as over concerns about using food as fuel. But there are other methods of creating ethanol that don't use edible corn kernels, like cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol uses enzymes to break down husks and corn waste material that would otherwise be buried or burned. This creates cellulose, which can then be fermented into usable fuel, exactly what Tom's truck has been converted to use.

In the brief time I talked to Tom, I got the feeling that here's the guy who sees how great America can be again. We can make fuel from food waste, and while it isn't likely to solve all of our fuel concerns, every ounce of oil we don't use is a few dollars that aren't going overseas, and a few pounds of yucky emissions that aren't going into the air. We're employing Americans and driving innovation, and cellulosic ethanol deserves a fair shot at the spotlight.

Tom is keeping a blog over at EcoTrek, and hopefully he'll be updating on his progress on the road. He's got a lot of events planned between now and the end of the tour in March, so make sure you keep tabs on his progress. Hopefully I'll get a chance to catch up with him in person when he makes it over to the East coast.

Source: Tom Holm/EcoTrek

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.

SoCal-Based Balqon Sending EV Powertrains to China

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 02:35 PM PST

I'll admit that I’m worried about the Chinese dragon overshadowing America as the manufacturing center of the world. But Balqon, a maker of all-electric heavy duty trucks and tractors, is bucking the trend and exporting powertrains to China.

It's no secret that most American automakers did make all of their products in America. That wasn't true so long ago, and this country used to lead the world in making things. While lately that hasn't been so true, manufacturing, as a whole, has been expanding for 17-straight months. While China makes a lot of the stuff Americans buy, these roles could swap to our benefit relatively quickly. But we have to make what China is buying. And what is China buying? Alternative energy.

Balqon signed an agreement with Winston Global Energy to provide the company with 300 electric powertrains for buses that can carry up to 40 people. The agreement is worth about $16 million. That also creates 150 jobs in the Los Angeles area for the next 18 months to build the $53,000 a-piece powertrains. This isn’t Balqon’s first major breakthrough either, as Ford now employs 10 of their electric yard tractors on a test-lease. Detroit is showing new life and stands to take a lead in alternative vehicles, and even Obama recognized the need to build and innovate in the State of the Union address last night.

Balqon is leading the way, and hopefully they'll be joined by some fierce competitors in the coming years. The commercial hybrid and electric vehicle market could see huge gains in the next few years as businesses realize that going green makes financial sense in the long term. If we make sure we lead the way in alternative fuels and green technology, the world will once again turn to American products and let us build more jobs for our citizens.

Source: Green Car Advisor

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.

VW to Unveil 261 MPG Formula XL1 Concept in Qatar

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 07:59 AM PST

What is irony? Is it debuting a 235 mpg hybrid Volkswagen XL1 concept in the heart of oil-rich Qatar? I would say so, and if this concept does become reality, this could be the car that topples OPEC.

This is actually the third generation of the of high-mileage, one-liter engine-powered VW concept. Back in 2002, the first 1-Liter was shown off, and then in 2009 a second-generation L1 debuted to much ohhing and ahhing over the 170 mpg rating. But VW wasn't seriously going to make this car, right?

Well…maybe, especially given that we're now seeing a third generation of these one-liter diesel concepts. The latest iteration, called the XL1, that supposedly gets 261 mpg from the one-liter diesel engine, using just 0.9 liters of fuel per 100 km. A large part of this efficiency comes from the XL1's light weight (just over 1,700 pounds) which was made possible using carbon fiber construction processes developed for Formula 1. Apparently these processes have made construction of the XL1 much cheaper, making a limited production run plausible.

Still, don't expect it to be a cheap car as there is a lot of technology under the back-half of the XL1. A 0.8 liter, two-cylinder diesel TDI engine is coupled to a seven-speed automatic transmission and an electric motor that can deliver 100 Nm (73 ft-lbs) of torque. 0-62 mph takes almost 12 seconds, but the Xl1 has a limited top speed of 100 mph. The lithium-ion battery pack can be charged via the engine or a household outlet, and both the engine and electric motor can combine to power the XL1, or the electric motors can carry the high-mileage vehicle at light loads on its own even at highway speeds thanks to the low drag coefficient of just .18 (the Prius has like a .27 for reference). There's so much technology and money tied up in this project that its hard to imagine it actually coming to market.

Then again, VW has sunk a lot of time, effort, and money into this line of concepts, and it has gotten a lot of positive press. Even if they only sell it in limited numbers at a ridiculous price, it could pave the way for producing these kinds of cars en masse. Yeah, its easy to get excited over 50 mpg, but if we really want to stretch out those oil reserves, we've got to start thinking of ways to attain triple-digit mpg numbers.

If VW can do it, there's no reason other automakers can't do it too. It's just up to somebody to make it profitable-yet-affordable, fast, fun, and fuel efficient. A tall order, but surely some automaker is up to the challenge?

Source: VW

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to Hemis. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.
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