Hydrogen and CNG - the rest of the world gets it, why won't the U.S.?

We'd love to see Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles filling our L.A. traffic jams, wide open Mid-Western forgotten roads, Miami beaches, and New York toll roads... Hydrogen vehicles have a long road of real obstacles ahead of them before they become commonplace: cost and durability prohibit realistic commercialization, the fuel cells themselves are HUGE and heavy, and current Hydrogen storage solutions leave a lot to be desired. No amount of lobbying, legislation, hipster exhortation, or hemp laden hippy marches stands much chance against these challenges. Who remembers California's Prop. 10 from 2008? While imperfect, it would have made a good step, especially with California playing such a leading role globally.


So what can we do? We can do the same thing that works for the rest of the world, and make serious efforts to convert to Compressed Natural Gas. 


By the end of 2009, Pakistan had was in the lead, with over 2.3 MILLION Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) on the road, with over 3,000 filling stations supporting them. Argentina had over 1.8 million in use, and more than 1,850 station supporting. Iran, which happens to have a LOT of oil was a close third, at 1.6 million NGVs and over 1,000 places to fill up. Yes, really. Rounding out the top ten on the list is Brazil, India, Italy, China, Columbia, Ukraine, and Bangladesh. The United States ranked just below Egypt, and just above Armenia with 110,00 NGVs and an impressive ratio of 1,300 CNG capable stations.


Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has been called the "Pathway to the Hydrogen Highway" and it's merits are many: 


According to the Department of Energy, natural gas (CNG) vehicles produce between 93-95% less overall toxics when compared with gasoline and diesel vehicles. 


According to CleanEnergyFuels.com, 


"Natural gas is the most efficient feedstock for the production of hydrogen as America focuses on the eventual use of hydrogen in transportation.

Expanding the natural gas fueling infrastructure today will have long-term value since natural gas stations can be easily converted to hydrogen delivery due to their common properties."

A couple of CNG facts in relation to gas and diesel:

• if a vehicle can burn either, it can be converted to use CNG.
• it's safer if it "spills" since it's gaseous and will dissipate quickly.
• lacking benzene or lead, spark plugs in CNG cars will not foul, a common cause of poor efficiency and stress on engines.
• CNG systems are sealed, and don't lose fuel to evaporation.
• CNG doesn't dilute or contaminate crankcase oils, furthering the reliability of NGVs.
• CNG typically costs about half as much as gas or diesel.

General CNG facts:

• it can be mixed with Bio-gas, which can come from Landfills, and even wastewater.
• CNG produces nearly 40% less CO2 per comparable unit of energy derived from other fuels.
• A CNG vehicle uses the same gas that your stove uses.
• Italy started using CNG in its vehicles in the 1930's.
• It's relatively easy to find a station in Canada. (you've threatened to move there several times!)
• There are some pretty hefty tax credits for buying an NGV.

Obama lends credence to Pickens Plan; the word "change" conspicuously absent, basic math challenged.

Quotes from: DallasNews.com


"T. Boone Pickens, who made his fortune in the oil business -- and I don't think anybody would consider him unfriendly to drilling -- was right when he said that this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of," Obama said at a White House news conference. "We can't place our long-term bets on a finite resource that we only control 2 percent of....Even if we tap every single reserve available to us, we can't escape the fact that we only control 2 percent of the world's oil but we consume over a quarter of the world's oil."


Yes, Mr. President, you are exactly right. However, at some point we'd like you to live up to all that "change" you campaigned on and change what we use to power our vehicles and electrical grid, at least our larger industrial and commercial vehicles and power sources. 


Los Angeles has seen great rewards with it's more than 2200 vehicle Metro bus system transitioning to Natural Gas. Google, eBay, and Walmart have already been switching to clean, cheap electrical power from fuel cells that run on natural gas rather than get their power "on the grid." 


While we'd like to think such large organizations made these changes through  altruism, the truth of the matter is likely that they see the fiscal sense of these changes. Meanwhile, the U.S. is still spending greater than $640,000 A MINUTE on foreign oil. Oil from places unfriendly to us and UNlikely to put any money back in our economy, and much more likely to be spending that money trying to harm us. It doesn't matter what your leanings may be, if you're American, you agree this money would be much better spent circulating IN America; jobs created, technology developed, schools filled, and society benefiting.

T. Boone Pickens has formulated his "Pickens Plan," a viable strategy to get the United States free from foreign oil by increasing efficiency when oil is necessary, and using natural gas, solar, and wind energy strategically. He also agrees with Obama, however, that diving into our strategic oil reserves won't do much good.

"Tapping into our Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not the answer. Storing foreign oil for a rainy day is no more of a strategy than stocking your basement with canned goods as a way to avoid a nuclear attack. It's a short term fix for a long term problem," Boone said.

Koenigsegg's Agera R - 1100+ hp E85 BIO-fuel monster!

"OK, hippies, I have had it UP TO HERE with your clunky french fry machines." ... At some point in time that phrase was uttered in Swedish, and a pen was put to paper.

We all have to dream. If you don't dream, then life can easily turn into a bland, wearisome existence slowly grinding out your days balancing your fiber intake with the grand excitement of a sale bin at Wal-Mart. There is simply more to life, and Koenigsegg's Agera R proves this.


This is why we buy lottery tickets and find faith in the heavens and why people flock to the Geneva Motor Show every year (not just for their Natural Gas vehicle booth). Machines like this are triumphs of humanity, they are the poems of innovators and engineers. In Swedish, "Agera" means to "take action" in much the same way the word "karma" is derived from the word "action" in Sanskrit. The ancient Greeks had a word, "Ageratos," and it meant a state of agelessness. These are the words spoken by the remarkable and unique growl of the Agera R coming from it's titanium exhaust. It is also heard nicely with the roof removed, as the Agera´s unique carbon fibre monocoque chassis allows you to go topless with no loss of performance. With the top on, you have the option of using the Thule Lightning custom carbon fiber roof top box, dubbed the fast roof top box ever, for all of the luggage you'll need to take with you; part of the Koenigsegg "winter package" is a winter resort experience in Åre - Sweden's most popular snow resort and the place where Koenigsegg makes their skis.


EV car buffs will get a small grin out of the use of a Intelligent Lifepo4 Battery, a very lightweight and intelligent battery that is highly sought after for use in Electric Cars. 


Engineering fanatics that didn't already have enough to drool over should take note of the rear wing. This is NOT some "stroller" - there is a lot of tech here. According to the official site, "The wing changes its angle of attack, not with the help of hydraulics, but with the pressure of the wind. It is therefore dynamically controlled by the speed or wind resistance at any given moment in time and thus actually compensates for headwind or tailwind at the same given speed. This is an intelligent way of dealing with adaptive aerodynamics, as the system becomes lighter, less complex and more intuitive... Furthermore, an interesting multifunction feature of the adaptive wing is that the pylons for the wing also act as air extrusion channels. The air channels goes from the engine bay to the back of the pylons, thereby creating an air passage. This causes a venturi effect, from the air rushing past the pylon, evacuating hot engine bay gases, reducing pressure in the engine bay and increasing the flow of cooling air through the side radiators. This also means that the pressure under the car is reduced and giving more low drag down force."

Koenigsegg approached this machine with a sense of minimalism uncommon to such "hypercars," but you can find a degree of existentialism throughout, just under the surface of the details. Nothing is wasteful or overly opulent or unnecessary. There is something more than machine, and somewhat "alive" about the Agera R. Perhaps this stems from the fact that Koenigsegg is a rarity among the rare - they develop and produce their engines in house, something other hypercar manufacturers dismiss as impossible or too expensive to be practical (yes, even here an element of practicality is found.)

Koenigsegg not only shows that this is possible, but having done so, are also able to claim they produce the lightest and most compact hypercar engine. The aluminum and carbon fiber "flex fuel" 5.0 liter bi-turbo engine in the Agera R puts out over 1100 horsepower ON E85 BIOFUEL (over 900hp on standard 95 octane!), and outperforms the best diesel and gasoline engines in terms of efficiency per liter. All this while being able to pass the most stringent emissions (EU5 and LEV2) standards in the world, passing tough US crash standards.... oh, and  having a top speed of 245mph and being able to go from 0 to 124mph and back to a complete stop in 12.7 seconds. Truly astonishing. 

The Top 10 Greenest Cars

I bet you think you know what comprises a "green" car, don't you? I mean, you're a worldly soul, you use the recycle bin at Starbucks, eat your veggies, and some of your best friends drive hybrids, right? It's a given that your Environmental Impact Award is on it's way any day now...


All sarcasm and sexy ad campaigns aside, there are reputable, clear criteria out there, outlined in the (non-profit) American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) "Green Book," that comes out every year. Using logical, real world data, to include the VERY important and oft overlooked environmental impact of actually BUILDING and powering each vehicle, as well as the usual model of MPGs and tailpipe particulates. 


Ostensibly hyped as a "toy for the rich" by some very reputable sources, to include WIRED, we're not surprised that the rather lackluster Chevy Volt (which is not truly a pure EV) didn't make the top ten. That's not to say  there weren't a few intriguing entries we were happy to see, and one glaringly obvious winner that we love to report has been touted as the "greenest car" in multiple arenas for 11YEARS now. If you think it's a hybrid, I have a bridge or two I would like to sell you. The only hint you get is that you can fill it up at home, safely, and cheaper than electric.


On to the list:


8th, 9th, and 10th placeholders were a tie. Chevy's new Cruze ECO offering finds itself tied with Hyundai Elantra and the MINI Cooper base model. This is actually very encouraging (especially with an American offering), as we see all three of these cars being specifically tuned for efficiency and with body work that reduces drag. They also feature low rolling resistance tires, something we hope to see become more ubiquitous on new models.
We just hope to see these companies playing up the "green" aspect of their lineups more in future ads, especially as we see gasoline soon to be returning to $4/ a gallon.

(and you already know what a Mini Cooper looks like.)

We don't recall the Ford Fiesta being much of a party machine in the past, but was able to come in 7th place. We are glad to see another American company make this list, it shows a lot of promise, and Ford has done much in recent years to gain a new reputation for quality. With the SFE model's 40mpg/hwy and 29mpg/city, light curb weight, 6 speed dual clutch, and a growing body of praise, it seems like a great option for the price.

6th place belongs to the Honda Insight. Honda actually built the Insight sometime ago, but it somehow didn't seem to capture the public's attention in quite the way the Prius did. With a lot of redesign, and very blatantly taking styling cues from it's nemesis, it's back, with 4 doors, and a bit more room than it's peer, and ranking highly in safety tests and initial quality. Factor in a lower price point and peppier performance than a Prius, and it seems like it may have some staying power.

Honda's Civic Hybrid came in 5th place. It's a respectable entry with 40mpg/city and 43mpg/hwy but there's not much else to say about it that make it a remarkable entry. It's a Civic. It's good on gas,  and reliable.


Toyota... we wonder how they feel being in 4th place on here? After so many accelerator pedal issues, I'm sure they would have liked a win for their popular Prius, however, it must be nice to still outrank the Civic Hybrid. Rumor has it Toyota will be offering free pairs of lensless hipster glasses, free parking at the Silverlake library, a fixed-gear bike, and rare 12" records by bands you've never heard of with purchase or lease. Ahhh, but we jest. They have managed to garner the claim of the "best fuel economy in a gasoline car" for new cars this year in the US (don't mention European models!) by pulling off a respectable 51mpg in the city and 48mpg on the highway.


SMART comes on to the list in 3rd place with it's "interesting" (in the way that your grandmother calls your clothes "interesting" when struggling to say something nice) "Fortwo" cabriolet and coupe. The long and short of these cars?

They're so small you don't even have to orient the vehicle properly to park them, yet to qualify for this list they had to be equipped with manual transmissions and required premium fuel. The ACEEE says the electric version would have made the list if it wasn't limited to a production run of only 250 cars this year, but when you factor in the $600/mo. lease those scant 250 offerings require, they really aren't so attractive the "average Joe" (or Jane).

...and our WINNER IS... well, this year it's actually a tie as well! The perennial favorite by the logical green crowd, the Honda Civic GX, shares the crown with a newcomer, the Nissan Leaf. The Civic GX is our personal favorite, in spite of a few minor downfalls, most notably that it's only sold new in NY, CA, UT, and OK.


The Leaf is very promising as an EV, with a 100 mile estimated range per charge, and remember that ACEEE ranked it this highly with the inclusive considerations of battery production and the environmental impact inherent in charging the car. We do, however, feel that the Leaf falls quickly to second place when cost and appearance are considered.

Hero: Dean Jeffries and his Kyote II EV

You might not recognize the name Dean Jeffries, and he's probably OK with that... but chances are you know his work customizing and building cars. He's done work for James Dean, Parnelli Jones, Gary Cooper, Steve McQueen, and Carroll Shelby (and many, MANY others) and even developed his own paint, "Jeffries Indy Pearl." He's also built a lot of famous cars for TV and movies, to include the original Black Beauty cars from the first Green Hornet, the Monkees' Monkeemobile, the moon buggy from James Bond - Diamonds Are Forever, and even worked on the Batmobile! He's also an accomplished stunt man, with many credits in movies like Die Hard, Bad Boys, Death Race 2000, and The Blues Brothers. Jeffries even created the famous flying eye design  that made Von Dutch famous. You can see a lot of his work at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.


As a stunt man on the film Honky Tonk Freeway, he made a five-ton truck jump a 110 foot gap over a collapsed freeway overpass; he succeeded in the jump, but the shock system in his seat was too stiff. In his own words in a AAA.com interview, upon landing, "I broke my back. Now I’m in a five-ton truck going over 100, and my legs don’t work, so I picked up my right leg with my hands, put it on the brake pedal, and pushed as hard as I could.” He was able to safely stop the truck, but when he got to the hospital, no one helped him for an hour... so what did he then do? He went to his shop, made a custom brace for his back out of aluminum and got back to work. “I was stunt coordinator, we still had one more to do that day. Wasn’t no big deal.”


So, other than being one of the toughest guys to ever make a cool car, how did he come to make it to our "Hero:" category on ForgetOil.com?

In the midst of making crazy dune buggies, super hero cars, and basically being an indispensable part of SoCal Car Culture and Hollywood history, his philosophy, skill, ingenuity, and attitude he holds have made him known as a great person to nearly everyone he's ever met... and he also built a pretty cool electric race car, the Kyote II EV way back in 1970! It's pure electric, and based upon his standard Kyote (pron. "Coyote") II dune buggy. Here's a few videos of it in action:

In all of this business of reducing the world's dependence on oil as a fuel, we have to remember to have fun, we have to innovate, and we have to work to capture the imagination. It seems like Jeffries' Kyote II EV did just that, over 40 years ago.


Jeffries says in his AAA article, “I’ve been very lucky. I didn’t plan nothin’. I just took things day by day. There’s been some bad times, but that’s just life, you know? Now I wake up every morning happy that I woke up. I love what I do, and I’m thankful for every day I get to do it.”


Keep going Dean, we're fortunate to have you.

pickensplan Pickens Plan 

"There is no question that people want to get off oil from countries that are not friendly to us." @boonepickens http://ow.ly/3Zbew

"Toward a clean energy future" - C. Boyden Gray

From Twitter:

pickensplan Pickens Plan 

RT @angaus: “#Natgas emits nearly 50% less carbon dioxide, with almost no sulfur dioxide, particulates or mercury” http://bit.ly/fFqcth

From dyn.politico.com

"Despite all the rhetoric in recent years, little has been done to address the nation’s energy problems. To get oil, we still send hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. wealth annually to nations that are not friendly toward us."

"... we need a bridge to a future where our nation’s energy needs are supplied by a mix of lower-emission resources, like cars and trucks powered by clean alternative fuels, including electrification. That affordable bridge is natural gas.

Natural gas, which already generates 23 percent of our electricity, is cleaner than energy sources like oil or coal, which generate deadly fine particle pollution. Natural gas emits nearly 50 percent less carbon dioxide, with almost no sulfur dioxide, particulates or mercury.

New, abundant supplies of natural gas have been found domestically, so it can be the first step toward a new era in which energy generation and use in transportation are homegrown, cheaper and safer."

"Energy security is the most important issue of my generation. It holds future generations in the balance across so many levels. Now is the time to act — for the sake of national security, public health and economic prosperity. Let a new, cleaner energy economy allow America to become a leader in innovation yet again."

- C. Boyden Gray, who served as White House counsel to President George H.W. Bush and as an adviser on energy policy. 

Circa 1897: the first truly electric car? the "Runabout" by KFI 640 AM's founder, Earl C. Anthony

I (JP) took this photo at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and while already a fan of AM talk radio station, KFI and of electric vehicle, couldn't possibly have imagined that the history of the two were so beautifully intertwined.


Newcomb Weisenberger, an engineer for KFI AM 640 for 33 years, and I'm sure one of their greatest treasures, had the great pleasure of working directly with Earl C. Anthony, and had the wherewithal to preserve many  amazing  pieces of not only automotive history, but also military and technological history.  OldRadio.com has been gracious enough to host Newcomb's memoirs, which are a fascinating and delightful experience to read.


I'd like to directly show you to his account and recollection of Earl C. Anthony's "Runabout," which has been touted as the "first fully electric car" by many in the field, perhaps even utilizing an early form of regenerative braking! ECA built it at the young age of only 17; according to the placard at Petersen, he was, "a competent electrical engineer who also designed and built the 1.5 horsepower motor that powered the car." 


The vehicle you see in the photo is believed to be a reconstruction built on a new wooden frame and using the existing other parts (to include bicycle forks!) due to an accident the vehicle was involved in on the very rough and unkind early Los Angeles roads.

Circa 1966: the first Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle

Another great find at the Petersen... If only it were possible for us to keep pretending that Electric Vehicles, Hybrids, or even Hydrogen Powered Fuel Cell Vehicles were even a somewhat recent endeavor... they aren't.

In 1966 GM presented the "Electrovan," based on the 1966 GMC Handivan, which is credited as "the first hydrogen fuel cell car ever produced." Hydrogen power is by no means new, at the time of the Electrovan, fuel cells had already existed since the early 1800's, and even NASA's Gemini spacecraft ran off hydrogen, with the water produced actually being drunk by the astronauts! General Motors does seem pretty secure in its claims to have been first to use a fuel cell to power an automobile, though.

HydrogenCarsNow.com has a great article on the van, it's capabilities, weaknesses, and a lot of other valuable information on Hydrogen cars.

eROCKIT - a Segway Killer? a new vehicle altogether?

The recently launched eROCKIT (http://www.erockit.net/) is creating quite a stir, most notably on a recent TechCrunch article touting it's abilities and applications while trying to somehow tie it to the Segway in terms of tech without making it seem like birth control on wheels. 

Barring the eROCKIT's creator's claims of feelings of "moral superiority," feeling "super human" and being "king of the road," it is strides more attractive than a Segway, and much faster, but it isn't quite garnering the attention that we're sure the Ferrari's he's passing are.

So what gives? Are we the only people thinking this thing is going to need more than an ad campaign scored by Herbie Hancock?

Well, you kind of just have to watch the videos to understand. They give a small taste of what Electric Vehicle enthusiasts have been calling the "EV Grin" for years now. It's cool, it's clean, it's fast... it's quiet, yet has gobs of torque from the moment you hit the accelerator through the point you pass yet another filling station that holds no sway for your wallet (unless you want a Redbull.) Now, if only the price point for this will come down low enough for it to be more than "a toy for the rich" as the Volt and Leaf are being labelled here and there, that could REALLY be what would make the eROCKIT stand out. That, and if they throw in a cool pair of shades like he has in the video.

An Intro to the Pickens Energy Plan

"I'm only opposed to one thing: our imports of oil"

Pickens: We are in a crisis. In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil; today it's 70%.

T. Boone Pickens on CNBC, breaking down how we can cure America's addiction to foreign oil. Why ethanol and bio-fuels will not provide large scale results, and how Natural Gas and wind farms CAN do this.

He's leading the way for America in terms of oil independence.