Gas 2.0 |
- House Votes to Ban E15 at Gas Pumps…For Now
- SShh! Whisper-quiet Electric Rolls is Coming to Geneva
- Will the Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel Come Stateside?
- Green is the New Fast: Speedriven Gunning for CNG Speed Records
| House Votes to Ban E15 at Gas Pumps…For Now Posted: 23 Feb 2011 02:19 PM PST
The votes crossed party lines with 286 representatives voting against 135 to stop the EPA’s granting of a wavier to allow gas stations to distribute E15. This is politics at their best, and shows what big business and the government alike think of the average American. The excuse for banning the wavier for E15 stems from a lack of "testing" the effects of E15 on people, the environment, and vehicles. Politicians and automakers alike are concerned that people driving vehicles that aren't "approved" for E15 will unwittingly put this fuel in their car, damaging their engine, so on and so forth. Automakers, environmentalists, bakers, boat builders, and oil lobbyists alike have aligned to block the EPA from giving gas stations a waiver to sell E15 at their gas stations. Now I'm no engineer, but I'm not sure another 5% of ethanol will make a difference in a majority of automobiles on the road today. Do automakers not realize that as of right now, they are filling up with E10? My gut feeling is that, unless you are driving a car that is 25+ years old, you don't have anything to fear from E15. More then that, its not like the EPA was going to suddenly demand that every gas pump in America sell E15; it was merely going to allow those gas stations that wanted to sell E15 the legal right to do so. There are still idiots out there who feed diesel fuel to gasoline engines, and others who haven’t performed an oil change in 20,000 miles. In other words, yes, some American are idiots. But is E15 that big of a deal? I don't think ethanol alone can save us from our oil addiction, and converting food into fuel isn't the best of ideas. However, every day progress is being made on converting inedible biomass into fuel, and bumping up our national fuel blend to E15 would mean we could import 5% less foreign oil and thus reduce our dependency on petroleum. Plus with NASCAR now running E15, the alt-fuel crowd could reach a largely untapped segment of the American population, the “NASCAR Dad” who may not be open to other alternatives, like EV’s or hydrogen, but would love to fill up with the same fuel as his favorite stock car driver (though NASCAR actually runs 110 octane racing fuel blended with 15% ethanol.) I am hoping this is just a temporary setback for ethanol. At the same time, this ruling is another nail in the coffin of the flagging American ethanol industry, with politicians and lobbyists alike hammering away at a very viable alternative to our oil dependency. It’s not perfect; every fuel has its drawbacks. But progress is being made and, quite frankly, anything is better then oil. I’m just afraid that by the time Congress and the EPA get around to “approving” E15, there won’t be enough of an ethanol industry left to take advantage of it. Source: Detroit News Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMI’s. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.
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| SShh! Whisper-quiet Electric Rolls is Coming to Geneva Posted: 23 Feb 2011 11:20 AM PST
Rolls-Royce is known for building some of the quietest cars on the road. Unfortunately for Rolls, however, another carmaker is stealing headlines for its automotive quietness … and it’s not one of Rolls’ usual suspects, like Maybach or Bentley. No – the ultra-quiet cars in question come from Toyota, Nissan, and Chevrolet, who have been grabbing media attention with their silent-running hybrid electrics models. Indeed, even highly-respected sources like Scientific American are asking whether these new EVs and hybrids are too quiet to be considered safe around pedestrians. Clearly, Rolls-Royce needed to act – and act they have! The company has announced that they’ll be bringing a fully-electric 102EX Phantom to next month’s Geneva Motor Show, to “gather a bank of research data which will be crucial in informing future decisions on alternative drivetrains.” In other words: Rolls-Royce wants to see how many they can sell before they commit to building the things … which is fine by me! If I were in the market for an ultra-smooth, ultra-quiet vehicle to be shuttled around from home to work in (and possibly the opera? Do rich people go to the opera?) I couldn’t think of a better option than an EV. Rolls-Royce is expected to release full specifications for their new 102EX Phantom on March 1st. Source: Rolls-Royce, via Wired’s Autopia.
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| Will the Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel Come Stateside? Posted: 23 Feb 2011 09:36 AM PST
Scheduled to be unveiled at the Geneva International Auto Show, the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee will make its European debut with a 3.0 liter turbo diesel V6 engine. Chrysler will offer two versions of this oil burner; a "detuned" version with 191 horsepower and 324 ft-lbs of torque, while the big daddy version of this diesel engine has a healthy 241 horsepower and 406 ft-lbs of torque. For those of you keeping score at home, this engine blows away both the base 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 (290 horsepower/260 ft-lbs of torque) and the 5.7 liter HEMI (360 horsepower/390 ft-lbs of torque) engine options available on the American version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Oh, and it gets 28 mpg (8.3 liters/100 km) on the combined European driving cycle. The American V6 gets about 20 mpg combined in 2wd form, so even if you account for the differences in the testing procedures, there is still a huge MPG discrepancy here. Oh, and to top it all off this oil burner has Fiats new MultiJetII technology that drastically reduces emissions to just 218 g/km. However, there is hope, as Torque News came across what appears to be a diesel-powered Grand Cherokee testing on the roads in Michigan. This Jeep had the CRD badge, which stands for Common Rail Diesel, which is the kind of diesel engines Jeep has been using in America and around the world. The last time the Big Three experimented with diesel engines, it was an unmitigated disaster. Ford used reliable-but-underpowered Mazda diesels in everything from Rangers to Escorts, while GM attempted to convert its abundant 350 small block engine to run on diesel with dreadful results. Chrysler's diesel debacles appear to be few and far between though; they sell lots of diesel pickup trucks, and for a while even offered a diesel option on the Jeep Liberty. Chrysler might actually be in the best position of the Big Three to bring diesels back to America, and the sharp-looking Grand Cherokee could be the perfect vessel to ease Americans back into oil burners. Seriously though, a 28 mpg full-size Jeep? I could totally dig that. Source: Jeep | Torque News Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMI’s. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.
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| Green is the New Fast: Speedriven Gunning for CNG Speed Records Posted: 23 Feb 2011 07:30 AM PST
A powerful and responsive, 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine is not usually what comes to mind when you think of "green" cars, but – if Bernie Towns and the crew at Speedriven get their way – it soon may be. Bernie Towns is an engineer at HighMount Exploration and Production – a natural-gas-focused energy company based out of Houston, Texas. “Clean” and “green” are everyday buzzwords in the energy-production industry, and Towns’ own company (Future Power Technology) is no exception, promoting research into new ways to push CNG into the mainstream. In addition to being well-versed in current green-energy trends, however, there is something about Bernie Towns that is different from the usual green-car advocate stereotypes. “I admit it. I’m a horsepower addict,” Bernie says. “I love speed, I love power, and I love my Mercedes-Benz.” The object of Towns’ current automotive affections is a 2007 SL600 Mercedes-Benz roadster, which – after nearly a year of research and development work by Chicago-based tuning firm Speedriven – now develops over 800 horsepower and over one-thousand pound-feet of torque from its biturbo V12. Good enough for 10-second quarter mile runs and a top speed well in excess of 200 mph. Towns’ massively powerful Speedriven SL satisfied his need for speed, then, but Towns still felt that something was missing. “In the IT and tech worlds, we literally spend hours of every day coming up with ways to do business in more efficient ways and in more environmentally responsible ways,” explains Towns. “So there I am, sitting at lunch one day and the people are talking about an article on CNG cars, and it suddenly hits me: we should convert my SL to run on natural gas!” [insert pregnant pause here] I think it’s time for a bit of a confession: Speedriven is my day job. That’s right. Along with my partner, Marcin Kogut, I spend my 9-5 hours (sometimes 9-9 hours) talking people into spending their hard-earned money in the (somewhat frivolous) pursuit of more horsepower and more speed. As it says up there on my byline, however, green is the new fast. I really believe that, and Bernie is certainly a believer, as well. He’ll talk your ear off about CNG projects and the fuel giving off 80% fewer harmful emissions than gasoline, and all of that. What’s more, Bernie has the resources to figure out flame-front speeds, burn temperatures, and other technical things we need on our end to properly tune for the gas and convert the car – as such, I think it would have been irresponsible not to jump at the chance to convert a twin-turbo V12 Mercedes to CNG … … but that just opens a huge can of worms. See, Bernie wants a CNG Mercedes – but he doesn’t just want a CNG Mercedes with 1000-plus lb-ft of torque. Instead, Bernie wants the fastest CNG Mercedes in the world. The current record, at 364.6 kilometers per hour, was set by Audi back in 2009. That 364.6 translates to just over 225 mph, which they did in a heavily tuned Audi S4 making about 700 hp. “That wasn’t standing-mile speed or anything,” Bernie assures me, “that was all they could get out of that car. The Mercedes has a bigger engine to start with, and it’s a slipperier car – from the factory at least. By the time this is all said and done, we’ll be making at least another 100 horsepower over the record Audi, and Mercedes has already given us better aerodynamics to work with. 230 mph to 240 mph run on CNG. That’s the goal.” “Why can’t we do it?” asks Towns. “We know that Oklahoma and Texas have an abundance of natural gas, and a ready infrastructure of responsibly operating and producing companies that employ thousands of Americans all the way from production to distribution at CNG-filling stations that are already in place and available to the public. This is exciting and this is fun and there is no better and more brilliant use of this type of clean power than in our vehicles.” The next test of Bernie’s car is scheduled for the Texas Mile event in March, and the SL600 is already at Speedriven, getting fitted with a new turbo assembly designed to push the boundaries even further. “The first step to put the ‘pedal to the metal’ on this project is for Speedriven to get the hardware to where it needs to be,” says Towns. “I think 200 in a standing mile, with 240 mph or so as the top speed. Once we’re happy with the hardware and with the programming and we’re getting the results we want on gas, then we’ll convert the car’s fuel system and scale the math appropriately for the CNG. That way we’re dealing with known quantities all the way through, introducing new variables one at a time. That’s how Speedriven wants to move forward and that’s how everyone on my end likes to do things as well. Methodical. Step by step.” Bernie Towns and everyone at Speedriven are moving forward and gaining support with each passing week. Towns offers that his group has been in touch with Mercedes-Benz USA, and that the ANGA and NGV America have also been approached about “getting on board” with the project. “We’re pretty excited. I’m pretty excited," says an emotional Towns. "It’s not everyone who gets to go out and do something really exciting with emerging technology and clean energy and break speed records in the same car they drive home every day and still get to call that ‘work’. This is great!” Yes, Bernie. It really is.       Source: Speedriven.
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