My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on March 2, 2006

Its all about marketing and timing. General Motors is off and running after gaining support for its “Live Green, Go Yellow” marketing blitz when President Bush used the bully pulpit to promote alternative fuels like ethanol. If this solution sounds too good to be true … it is because at this moment it is.

Let’s take a look at the marketing hype and four problems that are not necessarily making there way into GM’s advertising. (BTW … I support biofuel alternatives as a part of the energy solution, but prefer less hype and more facts)

Problem number one: Only 608 of 168,987 U.S. filling stations have ethanol pumps. What good is it to run to General Motors (or other manufacturer building dual fuel vehicles) if once you buy the new car you can’t find a place to fill it? In Cincinnati you will not find an E85 pump as of March 2006. That said, we should see pumps by the end of the year. (support the Tri-State Clean Fuels Network)

Problem number two: E85 has less energy than gasoline and will increase the number of ‘inconvenient’ fill-ups for automotive owners and decrease the actual miles-per-gallon from 10 to 15%. This might be more a psychological hurdle than real one since that actual fuel cost less that gasoline.

Problem number three: Making E85 is an energy-intensive process and those researching the economics are somewhat divided as to whether ethanol is an energy loser. The problem in the US is that we have to ship corn to processing facilities which yields 2.8 gallons per bushel. Brazil who uses sugarcane, is a bit more efficient in that they locate their processing facilities right where the sugar cane (their source for ethanol) is grown. This is not to say we can’t change and become more efficient producing ethanol from crops like switchgrass which requires less cultivating, and building new facilities closer to where the crops are grown to reduce the shipping cost.

Problem number four: We don’t produce very much in comparison to what we use. The United States currently has 98 ethanol production plants that can produce about 4 billion gallons of ethanol each year, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. It sounds good, but compare that to the gasoline we are actually using: 140 billion gallons annually. Even with the new Energy Policy Act that President Bush signed in August 2005, we are only projecting our production of ethanol to be 7.5 billion gallons a year by 2012.

Now I don’t want to sound like a anti-ethanol guy because I appreciate the efforts to move toward clean and renewable domestic alternatives to petroleum … but I’m a realist when trying to get a handle around the problem. Ethanol is not going to be the overnight solution to our petroleum addiction, but will play a part in the long term process of weaning off oil.

Category: Energy, Environment, Video | No Comments »
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Posted By RichC on March 1, 2006

For those of us interested in diesel powered small cars, we enjoy the exposure the RallyVW team gives to not only to our Volkswagen TDIs, but biodiesel as well. The 2006 Rally-America season is preparing for the third race of the season as the end of February marks a finish to the 100 Acre Wood Rally in Salem, Missouri. The race followed the January Sno*Drift rally in Atlanta, Michigan which was actually mild this year. According to the always positive Dan Sykes, the RallyVW team is “on the verge of doing something very, very cool and thats beating the fastest 2wd rally cars in the world over the course of a season. There is a long way to go but we can get it done.”

Jon Hamilton heads the team as driver, car owner and do it all team spokesman. In real life, he’s a father, husband and fireman from central Ohio who is personality plus and will eventually make some sponsor extraordinarily pleased; what else besides winning a National Championship could a sponsor ask for?

I still find it hard to believe that a biodiesel producer has not begged for positioning on the side of support truck and/or hood of the impressive TDI Rally Golf. It a perfect marketing match in my opinion.

The postings on the TDIClub by Jon, Dan and Oliver gave the followers of the RallyVW team a brief update as to how well the car and driver (and co-driver Ken Sabo) were doing. The rally is held over a long weekend in stages and after the first stage Jon’s comment speaks for itself: “It has been a very hard month after snow drift for the team, it was for me at least. We had so much trouble with traction that we had no idea what to expect and a bit of doubt (once again on my part at least) about the A4 TDIs ability to really go toe to toe with the fastest 2wd rally cars in North America and this car is doing it folks. I could wax poetic all night but facts are we are matching times and beating fast fast cars and we are just getting started. We have more left to come because every time we go out we forge new ground. We learn more and take that back to those we work with and get stronger, faster and better as a result.” After day one the guys were excited and in the running for a solid finish and possible 2wd first place.

Unfortunately on day two the Rally Golf pick up a large rock which didn’t play well inbetween the brake caliper and the rear wheel. The delay cost them 3 minutes (est) which was enough total time to make it near impossible to get a first place G5 Class finish. Wisely, Jon chose to finish the race for the overall point and not risk running hard in hopes to make up a few seconds of time. The G5 teams, an Eclipse and Dodge SRT4, now running first and second would have suffered a breakdown for Jon and Ken to catch them. Nevertheless, they were able to finish 3rd and complete the day with a healthy car. (minus one wheel) This finish (key word) puts them in the lead for the championship at this point of the season. Cross your fingers.

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Volkswagen | 2 Comments »
Tags: golf, jon hamilton, racing, rally, rallytdi, rallyvw, tdi, volkswagen

Posted By RichC on February 28, 2006

Since our nation has started talking about alternatives, I’ve been reading a little bit about the different alternative fuels and vehicles. One company taking a different tack is BMW, sort of re-inventing the steamer. Using an innovative concept, their engineers have successfully been harnessing the heat energy in a car. They are combining an innovative 1.8 liter BMW four-cylinder engine on a test vehicle with a special drive unit that reduced fuel consumption by up to 15 percent while generating nearly 14 additional horsepower and 15 lb-ft more of torque. This is sort of a ‘hybrid’ approach of increasing power and efficiency free of charge sort of like the electric hybrids being successfully marketed by Honda, Toyota and Ford.

The Turbosteamer “ as BMW calls it “ is based on the old steam engine. In the case of the test vehicle, a fluid is heated to form steam in two circuits and this is used to power the engine. “The primary energy supplier is the high-temperature circuit which uses exhaust heat from the internal combustion engine as an energy source via heat exchangers. More than 80 percent of the heat energy contained in the exhaust gases is recycled using this technology. The steam is then conducted directly into an expansion unit linked to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine. Most of the remaining residual heat is absorbed by the cooling circuit of the engine, which acts as the second energy supply for the Turbosteamer. This innovative drive assist verifiably increases the efficiency of the combined drive system by up to 15 percent. The Turbosteamer reinforces our confidence that the internal combustion engine is undoubtedly a technology fit for the future,” comments Professor Burkhard Göschel, Member of the Board of Management responsible for development and purchasing at BMW AG.

BMW is testing in several “packages” in order to fit existing platforms like the BMW 3 Series. The engine compartment of a four-cylinder model offers enough space to allow the expansion units to be accommodated. The long-term development goal is to have a system capable of volume production within ten years.

Category: Automotive, BMW, Innovation, Video | 2 Comments »
Tags: BMW, steamer

Posted By RichC on February 27, 2006

Motorweek updated their views on the Jeep Liberty CRD. They were impressed with the performance but the mileage was far lower than even most avid diesel drivers could tolerate. Here is a short video clip.

A regular poster that I know from a couple of forums is also a Jeep Liberty CRD owner. His conclusion is that the highway performance is very good, but the city driving is not so great. I’ll include his comment directly below:

What I have found with *our* CRD and driving style and all that, is that the CRD sucks for city mileage. When we have a tank go to 100% city, which for us includes lots of short trips, stopping and go traffic – we get only about 19mpg (per the calculated data). However if we have a tank go to highway miles – that jumps real quick. A 50-50 blend highway to city will bump our mileage to about 24mpg average. We have gotten 28mpg on almost all highway.

Today I had about 50 miles on interstate that I decided to play with. Remember, my EVIC is about 1mpg low, and all of these following numbers are from my EVIC.

The freeway I was on was fairly flat, but not completely. Some small inclines and slightly curvy. A pretty good average interstate. Winds were mostly calm. No traffic mid day rural areas…

I got up to 70mph, set the cruise control, and reset the EVIC fuel economy calculator. I drove 25 miles. At the end of 25 miles at 70 mph my average miles per gallon via the EVIC read 27.8.

I then slowed to 65mph, set the cruise, reset the EVIC and drove another 25 miles. After 25 miles at 65mph my EVIC was reading 31.5 mpg average.

I then exited to a 2 lane country road that was fairly flat as well – for about 10 miles. On that road I set my cruise at 60mph, reset the EVIC. At the end of those 10 miles my EVIC read 33.1 mpg average crusing at 60 mph!

I know that these were fairly short distance tests – for a real test maybe 40 miles each would establish a good solid average. And if my EVIC is reading low like it usually does, then I can get between 29 and 35 miles per gallon highway!

And currently my B20 has 80% winterized diesel. I also use PowerService winter treatment (the white bottle) as an anti-gel and cetane booster. So between that and the B20, I am getting good clean high cetane fuel.

I will have to run more “tests” in the summer with non-winterized B20, B50, and B99.

But my conclusions thus far are:

1. The CRD engine is not a good fuel economy performer in the city.
2. Below 60mph and the engine running parameters and transmission settings make the CRD not as efficient as possible.
3. Between 60mph and 65mph is the “sweet spot” for mileage in the CRD.
4. At and above 70mph you start to see the effect of the terrible aerodynamics of the Liberty, and fuel economy suffers greatly.

For me, 60mph is too slow. 70mph is about where I would like to cruise. But on a long trip – the extra 3mpg by driving 65 could pay off, if you are not pressed for time…

And remember – any accessories you add to the top of your jeep suck fuel economy at highway speeds. Racks, lights, cargo boxes. Some people have shown that the Renegade style light bar alone can decrease 1mpg of fuel economy at highway speeds…

Valkraider

Category: Automotive, Video-TV | No Comments »
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Posted By RichC on February 26, 2006

The Cincinnati Auto Expo was busy on Saturday afternoon when my 16 year old son and I visited. We spent about 2-1/2 hours checking out the new and seasoned vehicles each auto maker had on displayed. As auto shows go, it seemed very well attended, and in my opinion, of an appropriate size for a city like Cincinnati.

I personally enjoyed the walk way view of the floor as it offered a sky view of what we were going to be looking at. Don’t bother to read further if you don’t want your connection to download a bunch of photos.

I was disappointed not to see more innovation or knowledgeable support staff reflecting alternative fuel capable vehicles. I expected with the “Live Green, Go Yellow” campaign that GM has in full swing, and the Bill Ford ads bragging on what Ford was doing, that these technologies would be high profile; they were not.

Toyota had several hybrid vehicles, Hondas’ hybrids were not as noticeable. (it might have been my oversight) VW’s display of the biodiesel capable TDI was at one … a New Jetta although it has been available for a while. I talked at length with Jerry Lewis of Northland VW, and he indicated that to his knowledge there wouldn’t be any additional diesel models coming from VW until 2008.

The New Passat was comfortable but … ho hum, the Touareg was banished to the back corner.

The New Golf “Gasser” will be starting around $15,000 … not bad.

The New Golf GTI is the 200 HP hot rod of the bunch … “sweet” as a 16 year old would say.

The two eye catchers were the New Golf, particularly the GTI, and the very cool EOS hardtop convertible. I would have shot a little video of the top going up and down but the crowd around it was impressive. Unfortunately the comments being made by sales people is that it will still be a while until one shows up for sale in the US and “you better get your order in now if you want one.” From a 16 year old, I was able to see who’s marketing and styling was paying off. After years of armtwisting about our two VW’s, he finally acknowledged that the VW New Golf was ‘hot.’ (check out the videos in the previous post) We thought that the Honda Element would make a great ‘diesel’ powered multi-functional vehicle … no its not happening … but I thought it would be great.

Always appreciated are the exotic cars that most of us will never drive let along own.

Its too bad the hood stays closed on Maserati … maybe they need a window? They had a couple impressive cars as did the folks in the Porche area.

Perhaps a favorite was the ‘stealthy’ Audi A8 … maybe only because we had just rented The Transporter II. The smaller A3 was an impressive ‘little’ car as it had the DSG transmission and paddle shifter just like a few high end sport models. ($30,000) There was no mention of the Q7 or availabilty let alone anyone who knew anything about the diesel version slatted for the US.

I did talk with the Mercedes reps a little bit and they ‘stated’ that the R and M class will have the 6 cylinder CDI engine this fall. (I had not heard that anywhere)

They went on to state that the new GL (not available until April) will follow with the diesel shortly after the R and M class. Although I thought there cars were beautiful, I don’t see myself spending $50+ thousand on a new car until my kids are off and on there own.

GM drew attention with there ‘concept’ vehicles and sports cars, Ford and Mercury had a few interesting family vehicles, Chrysler’s Hemi dressed vehicles were drawing a few eyes and the Jeep vehicles seemed to be getting traffic.

Dodge Charger is new and another retro vehicle sure to bring back memory buyers as well as new muscle car ‘want to be’ owners.

I saved the BMW display for last, and enjoyed drooling on the 745 and M3, but found myself thinking how nice a X3 with a diesel would be … I might buy one without even looking at the sticker?

All in all we had a good time at the show and look forward to doing it all over again next year. I’ll post a couple photos below in case you are looking for a ‘fun’ car … first the Ford Shelby Cobra Mustang …

Then the ‘cool’ two seater convertible from Saturn call the Sky. (the sister car is the Pontiac Solstice starting at just over $20,000 if you get your order in soon. See link.)

And of course a little American performance … not much can touch the price/performance ratio of a Corvette.

Category: Automotive | No Comments »
Tags: auto, cincinnati, show, taylor

Posted By RichC on February 24, 2006

I can’t help myself … here are three quick “Vee Dub” commercials that we may not see in America?
EDIT: Thanks to Dennis and Ron, I will retract my “may not see in America” comment as according to these two automotive gurus, the ads are aready here! I need to watch more TV … “honey, can I pull you away from Olympic Figure Skating for a little “Speed TV?” 🙂

Category: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
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Posted By RichC on February 24, 2006

UPDATE as of 2/24/2006 -15:30 EST: Judge James R. Spencer of Federal District Court in Richmond, declined to rule on an injunction that would shut down Research in Motion’s Blackberry service. The judge indicated that he was disappointed that the companies had not been able to reach a settlement.
================================================
As the Blackberry (RIM) situation continues many investors and ‘crackberry’ addicts wish RIM’s chairman Jim Baisillie would just pay up. I’ve commented on the story as what this patent infringement case is about. From the laymans perspective, Mr Baisillie seems to be using the slow wheels of the legal system to give his company time to work out a technical solution. According to RIM, their ‘workaround’ solution is already in place and they are prepared in case the ‘off’ switch is thrown.
Competitors like Palm and others are seeing improving sales of their products, partly through aggressive advertising by their cell phone partners and adopting the windows operating system on their popular Treo 700w. Ken Wert was on CNBC’s Squakbox this morning and commented on how the RIM/NTP wrangling has impacted Palm’s business. The question arises if they can handle a switch if corporations decide to toss their Blackberrys. (listen to short mp3 clip)

A little more history:

Don Stout and the late Thomas Campana developed a way to send emails wirelessly in 1992. Their patent for this “push” email technology was upheld by Judge Spencer in a suit filled again RIM in 2001 in a ruling in 2002. The jury determined RIM had violated NTP’s patent and ordered RIM to way $53.7 million. (8.55% royalty on US Blackberry sales and service) Of course this was challenged by RIM in appeal which the Supreme Court refused to hear. Back to Judge Spencer — so RIM decides they will attempt to postpone (IMHO to develop a workaround) by filing another suit challenging the validity of the original patent held by NTP … which conveniently could take another year to come to court.

In the technology world this time frame only seems to favor RIM as the original suit was filed in 2001 and now they are talking adding another year to 2006? Five years will have gone by with RIMs’ engineers working on a internal solution. Judge Spencer is not too happy with this and will hold a hearing Friday on the injunction. He could rule immediately, or take more time to consider the case. RIM says it has a software “workaround” that will ensure continued BlackBerry service, but NTP has vowed to challenge such a move.

The biggest fear for consumers is that their blackberries that they pay for will not work. Some are high ranking government officials and others are emergency responders … can you say “class action suit” if this happens? Considering the size of RIM, the popularity of the Blackberry and the cost to continue the legal battle, would you think it is advisable to just pay up?

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Posted By RichC on February 23, 2006

No, the new diesel SUVs are not here yet … even if you can cost justify them. I’ve been monitoring the diesel options soon to be available from the likes of Mercedes (Alabama build SUV GL-class above), BMW and Audi as they have all commented that more diesels will be available in the United States soon — a relative term. Currently diesel lovers are limited to a handful of ‘car-sized’ vehicles from Volkwagen, a single Jeep Liberty ‘smallish’ SUV and a ‘lone,’ but superb, Mercedes E320 CDI ($50K+). In 2005 BMW let Automobile Magazine know that they were planning to offer a diesel in ‘something’ by 2007. (no new news that I could find as to what models)

Audi has been working on a SUV killer ever since Volkswagen Touareg received lavish praise in the US and around the world … particularly in rally racing in Dakar and DARPA challenge with the diesel versions. (VW only brought a handful to the US, and only the $58,000 V-10 version. – see 3/2005 VW Press Release) According to Edmonds Inside Line, the Audi Q7 platformed vehicle will show up first as a V-8 and then finally with a diesel option in 2008. If the preliminary numbers reported are correct, you can leave your checkbook behind and start the application for your second mortgage.

I suspect that once the ULSD is successfully available throughout the US (2007 model year vehicles) and the EPA approves the NOx reduction technology and particulate filters, that diesel craving American drivers will soon have a few more efficient vehicles to chose from.

Category: Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: volkswagen

Posted By RichC on February 22, 2006

And you thought “Quisp was for kids?” (or is that Trix?)
🙂
NV Satyanarayana, a science graduate based in India, has developed a Micro Windmill Mobile charger designed to use the wind to charge cells phones. It is fan blade connected to a generator with an output wire which connects to your mobile phone.
The big advantage is that the average efficiency of windmills is 35% whereas the comparable solar units are about 15%. According to NewLaunches website, the Mobile Windmill unit is weather proof and lightweight. It can also be used to charge batteries for other devices such as laptops, handheld computers/PDAs, MP3 players and video games.

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Posted By RichC on February 21, 2006

Someone forwarded me this interesting piece of driving from somewhere in Russia. Its a BMW M5 chasing an old style Audi RS4 down a busy 4 lane highway. Considering this clip is ‘real’ and not Hollywood, its sort of frightening. I does make me realize just how quick the M5 is. Hey, Dave can you put my name on The BMW Store M5 waiting list?
🙂

Category: Automotive | 4 Comments »
Tags: audi, BMW