Drill, Baby, Drill isn’t an answer. It’s a cattle call … for sheep.
When you actually look at the numbers, you’ll see that whatever oil America has untapped is but a tiny fraction of what we will ultimately need. Yes, we should increase domestic production, but only on shore. In order to quickly create jobs and energy independence, America’s focus must be on renewable sources.
The Internet revolution created a wealth of capital that is now being put to good use. I’ve had the good fortune to be in the room with many brilliant people that are working hard to make this change.
The electric utilities have enough capacity in the grid at present to recharge a growing fleet of electric cars — at night, when there is an over capacity. As the fleet increases in size, of course, we’ll need to upgrade the grid and bring on additional power sources.
That’s one of the big reasons I’m down with the Pickens Plan. We need to ramp up the production of wind power as quickly as possible to free up natural gas for use in transportation. Natural gas can be quickly and easily retrofitted into a wide range of vehicles, from city buses to F-150s, to Ford Mustangs.
While I have never advocated corn ethanol, I am a big advocate of biodiesel. Biodiesel needn’t come from a food stock. In all likelihood, our biodiesel needs will be met by distributed infrastructure of algae fuel production, in facilities that definine clean green carbon-neutral energy. Algae biodiesel plants can be built quickly and the fuel can be be delivered to the existing network of service stations without the need to build costly pipelines that might take years to construct.
In less then ten years, at least half the vehicles sold in the United States of America can be either clean diesel or electric powered, in some form, for one simple reason … the manufacturers that choose not to produce these fuel efficient vehicles will find that their market has passed them by.
We are seeing the first results of this sea change, right now. Things can, and will, change more rapidly then most folks would have ever considered.
When a company comes seemingly out of the blue in 2009 or 2010 with a technology that changes the game, it may come as a surprise to many. It won’t come as a surprise to me. Every major auto manufacturer will have an electric vehicle on the road in 2009, with real availability coming in 2010. Chrysler’s electric car announcement last week was only a harbinger of what’s to come.
This is not rocket science. It’s a question of having sufficient battery production to dramatically lower costs.
How bad were last month’s auto sales? About as bad as it gets … or perhaps, has gotten, so far. Autoblog’s chart of automotive sales for September 2008 tells the bloody tale. These are frightening times. Every automaker, save three, saw double digit sales volume drops over September 2007, despite aggressive discounting and marketing programs.
It comes as little surprise that Audi, Mini, and Volkswagen are the three to have best weathered the September storm, with drops of 5.4, 6.7, and 9.4%, respectively. The German automakers, with the exception of Porsche, have the opportunity to gain significant market share with the overall downturn, due to their advanced expertise with clean diesel engines. If Mini and Volkswagen dealers had inventory on their popular models, they might have bucked the trend and posted sales increases last month.
Americans have turned the page. It’s the most fuel efficient vehicles that are moving off the lots and the long waiting line for fuel efficient clean diesels has begun.
I stopped into a local Volkswagen dealer to inquire about Jetta TDI availability early in the month and was quoted a January delivery: four months out. The salesman asked apologetically, “Is there anything else we have that you might be interested in?”
Word is that the Mini factory in Oxford, England is running round-the-clock with three shifts, seven days a week to keep up with the worldwide demand … and they haven’t cleared the hurdles to bring a 50-state clean diesel Mini D across the pond.
If you think you see a lot of Minis scooting about your town now, just wait. An Americanized Mini D is a surefire hit.
As we’re all hunkering down, waiting for the other shoe to drop, it’s a good time to take a look to the future. The automotive world is changing faster then most folks would have ever imagined. But for many, it’s an unfortunate circumstance.
Hundreds of car dealerships could be shuttered by year end. It doesn’t have to be that way.
There’s hope in the service departments. America must turn to fitting its rolling fleet with a more efficient means of propulsion. HEVT’s 40 MPG Ford F-150 conversion is a harbinger of what could be.
After twenty days, John and Helen Taylor have completed their tour of the 48 contiguous states in a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, setting a new Guinness World Record for lowest fuel consumption in their cross-country trek. The Taylors scored a remarkable 58.82 miles per gallon (MPG), despite facing adverse weather conditions. The world record marks an impressive debut for Volkswagen’s new clean diesel technology here in America.
Nik Bristow and Brian Pierce set out to drive coast-to-coast non-stop from New York City to Los Angeles on “one tank” of biodiesel fuel, but ran short due to miscalculation. Nik and Brian thought they had everything nailed down when they left NYC at 10 PM on Monday night in their 2006 Volkswagen Jetta TDI sedan. They hadn’t planned to pick up an additional 15 gallons of fuel in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Call it NY to LA on one tank and a 15 gallon refill. On a 2903 mile trip that took just one day, 14 hours and 37 minutes, setting an unofficial new record time for a coast-to-coast trip on biodiesel.
Blame the fuel shortfall on short fills and heavy feet … Continue reading →
How far would you drive to land in the Guinness Book of World Records?
How about 8,000 miles?
As we reported earlier this month, John and Helen Taylor are in the midst of driving through the contiguous 48 states, in the hopes of setting a new Guinness world’s record for the lowest fuel consumption on a cross-country voyage.
To date, the Taylors have averaged 59.42 miles per gallon (MPG) in their clean diesel 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The trek began on September 3rd in Chantilly, Virginia and ended its first leg in Santa Monica, California, with 5,499 miles driven in twelve days, at a cost of $362.44.
The full trip is expected to take 24 days, winding up in West Virginia.
Guinness specifies that a minimum of 15 miles must be driven in each state and that the vehicle be a stock production unit, with no modifications, whatsoever. Photographic evidence must be taken of the entire trip. This is the first time that Guinness has allowed the use of a GPS navigation unit. Continue reading →
