A1phaGeek
06-12-2008, 10:29 AM
Original article: http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_9557717
John Bogert: Trading in our gasoline assumptions
Article Launched: 06/11/2008 09:29:59 PM PDT
I couldn't believe the e-mail exchange I was having with an oh-wow twentysomething wanting me to know that his genius buddy had invented a car that runs on water.
"No kidding," I replied. "I know a guy who invented one that runs on straw!"
"Seriously, dude," he shot back, "my friend, he invented this car and I want you to be the first to see it."
"Hey, I'd be happy see it. Just come by and let me put a gallon of water in the tank. If it works, I'll sign my house over to your buddy for a piece of the action."
"But there's a problem," he replied. "My friend, he's terrified of what big oil will do to him."
Actually, he should be afraid of what I'd do to him after he showed up running a gasoline engine fitted with some kind of jury-rigged water-injection pump guaranteed to turn a 9-mpg Hummer into a Prius.
I know that I shouldn't get emotional about such things. But I've been here before, having long ago heard this same story mouthed by a legion of fools and mountebanks who could never quite deliver the goods because big oil would drown them in a gallon of their own miracle.
I saw it back in the mid-'70s and again in the early 1980s when the oil embargoes set people to selling all sorts of gas-saving "technology" that didn't work. And what I learned from all that, from the shyster gimmicks and the gas-line violence, was this: Better to pay $5 a gallon than to have no gallon at all. That's true no matter how green you are and what kind of hybrid you're fooling yourself with. At some point, all our machines need gasoline and waiting for it, as I once waited, was to experience life as it is in hot, poor places.
Oh, and nobody has a miracle cure for what ails us. The EPA has, in fact, investigated 100 gas-extending-gizmo claims and found nothing. Like car Viagra, if there was a mileage enhancer available, you'd already know about it.
Meanwhile, what we have in place of an energy policy that might have kept us out of the stinking Middle East are the same gas-saving tips that have been floating around since before Congress passed the national 55-mph speed limit.
If you fail to see the cyclical nature of this current situation, just consider the low trade-in values of big SUVs, see them parked along streets begging for Blue Book because the owner can't take the low-ball trade-in hit the small-car dealer is offering. And all because Americans - alone among Earth's people - believe that large cars are normal.
But along came those energy jolts and car lots all over the South Bay looked pretty much like they do now, populated with large cars that few want as we again make a panicked dash for fuel-efficient machines made somewhere elsewhere.
Only panic selling may not be the best thing. Jeff Bartlett, deputy auto editor at Consumer Reports, states that it may actually be cheaper to keep your present car, even with the promise of 50 percent fuel savings. Taking into account things like depreciation, low trade-in value, finance charges and sales tax, a new Prius might actually end up costing $3,000 more per year to drive when compared (see consumerreports.org for more examples) to, say, a 2005 Ford Five Hundred SEL V6.
Here are some money-saving suggestions from the Auto Club and fueleconomy.gov. None of these will solve your problems, but until the 130-mile Aptera electric car being developed in Carlsbad comes out later this year - or the 300-mpg hybrid allegedly slated for 2009 - this is what we have. Or what we have in place of mass transit.
For starters, remove the junk from the trunk. And lose some weight while you're at it. Extra weight wastes fuel. Next, tune your engine, a move that can cut fuel consumption by 20 percent.
Keeping tires properly inflated can save an additional 6 percent while changing engine oil and air filters might save as much as 10 percent.
Most of all, stay within the speed limit. Driving at 64 mph rather than 55 increases fuel consumption by 20 percent. The faster you drive, the more fuel you waste.
Use over-drive gears and cruise control and avoid heavy braking, which can improve economy by as much as 10 percent. The Auto Club reports that in city driving, 50 percent of gas consumption is wasted in fast acceleration, so leave the racing to punks with spiked hair. Oh, and turning off the air conditioner seems to make almost no difference at all, which should really distress the hair-shirt crowd.
I did all these things - slowing down, changing filters, tuning the engine, etc. - and they worked so well that I had to pull over every 10 miles just to drain gasoline out of my overflowing tank.
Just kidding!
Actually, I'm not kidding at all. Long ago, in this space, I advocated raising gasoline prices from the then buck-per-gallon range to $3. I was exaggerating, but other countries had turned such hefty gas taxes into national health systems. As it turned out, $3 wasn't the tipping point for Americans, $4 was. Only now we're giving what could have been a working health care system to Middle Eastern tribal chiefs so they can create health care systems for their people. And all because we're too stupid and too lazy to do something.
Of course, what needs to be done is bigger than driving 55. The question is, will the next man up in the White House provide the leadership needed to save us. I say that because the next man up could well be our last man up.
I want to hear your comments. Connect with me at john.bogert@dailybreeze.com or send a letter to Daily Breeze/John Bogert, 5215 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503-4077.
John Bogert: Trading in our gasoline assumptions
Article Launched: 06/11/2008 09:29:59 PM PDT
I couldn't believe the e-mail exchange I was having with an oh-wow twentysomething wanting me to know that his genius buddy had invented a car that runs on water.
"No kidding," I replied. "I know a guy who invented one that runs on straw!"
"Seriously, dude," he shot back, "my friend, he invented this car and I want you to be the first to see it."
"Hey, I'd be happy see it. Just come by and let me put a gallon of water in the tank. If it works, I'll sign my house over to your buddy for a piece of the action."
"But there's a problem," he replied. "My friend, he's terrified of what big oil will do to him."
Actually, he should be afraid of what I'd do to him after he showed up running a gasoline engine fitted with some kind of jury-rigged water-injection pump guaranteed to turn a 9-mpg Hummer into a Prius.
I know that I shouldn't get emotional about such things. But I've been here before, having long ago heard this same story mouthed by a legion of fools and mountebanks who could never quite deliver the goods because big oil would drown them in a gallon of their own miracle.
I saw it back in the mid-'70s and again in the early 1980s when the oil embargoes set people to selling all sorts of gas-saving "technology" that didn't work. And what I learned from all that, from the shyster gimmicks and the gas-line violence, was this: Better to pay $5 a gallon than to have no gallon at all. That's true no matter how green you are and what kind of hybrid you're fooling yourself with. At some point, all our machines need gasoline and waiting for it, as I once waited, was to experience life as it is in hot, poor places.
Oh, and nobody has a miracle cure for what ails us. The EPA has, in fact, investigated 100 gas-extending-gizmo claims and found nothing. Like car Viagra, if there was a mileage enhancer available, you'd already know about it.
Meanwhile, what we have in place of an energy policy that might have kept us out of the stinking Middle East are the same gas-saving tips that have been floating around since before Congress passed the national 55-mph speed limit.
If you fail to see the cyclical nature of this current situation, just consider the low trade-in values of big SUVs, see them parked along streets begging for Blue Book because the owner can't take the low-ball trade-in hit the small-car dealer is offering. And all because Americans - alone among Earth's people - believe that large cars are normal.
But along came those energy jolts and car lots all over the South Bay looked pretty much like they do now, populated with large cars that few want as we again make a panicked dash for fuel-efficient machines made somewhere elsewhere.
Only panic selling may not be the best thing. Jeff Bartlett, deputy auto editor at Consumer Reports, states that it may actually be cheaper to keep your present car, even with the promise of 50 percent fuel savings. Taking into account things like depreciation, low trade-in value, finance charges and sales tax, a new Prius might actually end up costing $3,000 more per year to drive when compared (see consumerreports.org for more examples) to, say, a 2005 Ford Five Hundred SEL V6.
Here are some money-saving suggestions from the Auto Club and fueleconomy.gov. None of these will solve your problems, but until the 130-mile Aptera electric car being developed in Carlsbad comes out later this year - or the 300-mpg hybrid allegedly slated for 2009 - this is what we have. Or what we have in place of mass transit.
For starters, remove the junk from the trunk. And lose some weight while you're at it. Extra weight wastes fuel. Next, tune your engine, a move that can cut fuel consumption by 20 percent.
Keeping tires properly inflated can save an additional 6 percent while changing engine oil and air filters might save as much as 10 percent.
Most of all, stay within the speed limit. Driving at 64 mph rather than 55 increases fuel consumption by 20 percent. The faster you drive, the more fuel you waste.
Use over-drive gears and cruise control and avoid heavy braking, which can improve economy by as much as 10 percent. The Auto Club reports that in city driving, 50 percent of gas consumption is wasted in fast acceleration, so leave the racing to punks with spiked hair. Oh, and turning off the air conditioner seems to make almost no difference at all, which should really distress the hair-shirt crowd.
I did all these things - slowing down, changing filters, tuning the engine, etc. - and they worked so well that I had to pull over every 10 miles just to drain gasoline out of my overflowing tank.
Just kidding!
Actually, I'm not kidding at all. Long ago, in this space, I advocated raising gasoline prices from the then buck-per-gallon range to $3. I was exaggerating, but other countries had turned such hefty gas taxes into national health systems. As it turned out, $3 wasn't the tipping point for Americans, $4 was. Only now we're giving what could have been a working health care system to Middle Eastern tribal chiefs so they can create health care systems for their people. And all because we're too stupid and too lazy to do something.
Of course, what needs to be done is bigger than driving 55. The question is, will the next man up in the White House provide the leadership needed to save us. I say that because the next man up could well be our last man up.
I want to hear your comments. Connect with me at john.bogert@dailybreeze.com or send a letter to Daily Breeze/John Bogert, 5215 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503-4077.