cars

Toyota at work on commercial plug-in hybrids, Mitsubishi to offer electric car

Call me an optimist, but a feasible plug-in appears to be just over the horizon.

First, Toyota has several plug-in Priuses being driven in Japan to collect data -- technical and human behavioral. They are sticking with NiMH batteries for now.

Next, Honda is finally getting ready to launch the much-needed Prius alternative. There are a lot of people out there who refuse to buy a Prius for various reasons that would be alleviated with a serious competitor that is not only cheaper, but just as distinctive looking.*

Finally, Mitsubishi will sell an electric car next year called the i-MiEV (sport version seen here) that uses an advanced battery being developed by Mitsubishi Motors, GS Yuasa Ltd., and Mitsubishi Trading Co. The significance of this announcement is that they must now have a battery that can be charged and discharged to within 80 percent of its capacity, which will also last the life of the car. It still has limited range, and I suspect will primarily be used for around town errands -- fulfilling the role of second car for urban families. Although it won't be cheap, the hatchback version will hold four people, and both versions look sharp.

*I recently listened to a book called Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout. Although the book is all about marketing, not evolutionary selective pressures, this marketing maxim wouldn't work if humans didn't have an urge to differentiate. I'm sure it's got something to do with attracting mates, sex, and genes using that combination to propel themselves into the future; Marketing fulfills that drive.

Adjustable rate mileage

Your fuel mileage is lower than you think.

Granted, that assumes you do not fastidiously monitor your own fuel mileage -- that instead you take the EPA's fuel mileage estimates at their word.

Turns out, the EPA calculates fuel economy with "straight" (100 percent) gasoline. However, in the consumer market a blend of 10 percent ethanol, E10, is nearly universal. Jonathan Welsh of The Wall Street Journal explains:

Fuel economy decreases by about 2% for vehicles running on E10, so a car rated at 25 miles per gallon will actually travel about 24.5 miles.

Okay, this decrease is peanuts if you're a lead-foot. And the EPA just started including air conditioning with this year's estimates. Nevertheless, even with perfect driving habits, the fuel economy of your brand new Prius will never match the sticker's claims.

T. Boone Pickens’ plan is overexposed and inferior to Gore’s

It's official: T. Boone is overexposed. His monotonous TV ad runs on an endless loop, he has testified in front of Congress, he is now appearing on every cable show, and everybody quotes him even though he doesn't actually agree with anybody but himself.

What specifically bugs me:

1. His ads say we can't drill our way out of this problem, but then he says we should drill everywhere -- offshore, Alaska, your backyard.
2. He keeps pushing his absurd idea of switching over to natural gas vehicles.
3. His plan shares a great deal in common with Al Gore's, but he still goes out of his way to diss it (inaccurately, see below): "Gore's Global Warming Plan Ignores Crippling Stranglehold Foreign Oil Has on America's Economic and National Security."
4. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I/D/R ?-Conn.) said the plan is a "classically American message of honesty, determination and can-do optimism."
5. Did I mention he keeps pushing his absurd idea of switching over to natural gas vehicles, even though Russia, Iran, and Persian Gulf states have most of world's gas reserves?

The Gore critique seems to me particularly lame, as if he can't stand to share the stage with anyone else. Why else release such a petty statement as this:

McCain talks up plans for the auto industry in Michigan

Today, GOP presidential contender John McCain visited the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich., where GM is developing the Chevy Volt, and used the visit to talk up his plan for the automotive sector. In the same speech, he argued that states should be able to determine their own fuel efficiency standards. California and […]

Plug-in hybrid offers practical solution to peak oil

Plug-in hybrids are the only alternative fuel vehicles that can provide genuine energy independence from steadily rising oil prices and brutal price spikes.

I have agreed to participate as a guest blogger for ScienceBlogs in a three-month project on the next generation of energy ideas. My first post is "Electric Vehicles: The Next Generation." Longtime readers of this blog or my books know that I have been an advocate of plug-ins for a number of years.

Mine’s lighter than yours

When society embraces vehicle fuel efficiency as a goal, hordes of smart people converge on it and try to outdo each other. The same thing will happen when we seriously go after electrical efficiency — a wave of precocious, egotistical young people that haven’t been told what can’t be done will chase after it trying […]

Virginia candidates split on personal transit choices

Rep. Virgil Goode, the incumbent Republican in Virginia’s 5th District, appeared in a Scottsville, Va. Fourth of July parade last week accompanied by a Hummer H3. His opponent in this year’s House race, Tom Perriello (D), appeared on a float pulled by a biodiesel-fueled tractor. Perriello fans put together a video highlighting the candidates’ automotive […]

Umbra on driving versus flying

Dear Umbra, My husband asked me this one the other day and I didn’t know the answer, so I thought I’d ask an expert. Which is the more environmentally friendly method of travel: 100 people driving their own cars (let’s assume non-hybrid vehicles) to a city three hours away, or 100 people flying in a […]

His energy plan is half brilliant, half dumb

The Phone Call
based on a true story

Major cable network: What do you think of T. Boone Pickens' latest energy plan?

Me: Half of it is great -- the big push on wind power. Heck, even the Bush administration says wind power could be 20 percent of U.S. electricity. But the notion that we would use the wind power to free up natural gas in order to fuel a transition to natural gas vehicles makes no sense. Why would we go to the trouble of switching our vehicle fleet from running on one expensive fossil fuel to another expensive fossil fuel? Any freed up natural gas should be used to displace coal ...

Major cable network: I was hoping you liked the whole plan. That way we could use you on the show ... You don't have any ideas of who might like the whole thing?