Fast cars are in my background and my blood. My father was a
race car driver as a hobby, and we had a Formula 1 in the driveway for a while.
I spent many weekends at the track learning about engines and the perils of
corkscrew turns. I try to drive my Prius like a sports car with mixed success.
In the mid-1990s, I did a stint working at General Motors in Detroit for the
EV1 electric vehicle. Yes, the one that they eventually crushed. The EV1 went 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds because
electric motors deliver instantaneous torque; no shifting needed. Despite its old school
inefficient lead-acid batteries and anemic range, I loved that space-age machine. If you have a need for speed and no need for
profit-guzzling oil companies, the electric car is your new best friend.
Now we all know that the Ferrari is not the most
eco-friendly car around with its gas mileage of 11 - 17 mpg. It sure looks and sounds darn good though. A
Lamborghini did get 21 mpg recently which is not bad for a V-10 engine with 500
horsepower.
A new generation is on the verge of bringing the EV back,
and its cousin, the plug-in hybrid or PHEV. The plug-in is the perfect bridge
to the future because you can cruise elegantly on electricity around town and
then switch into engine mode for your weekend trip to Vegas or Tahoe. Plug the
car in anywhere ideally because electricity is virtually everywhere. No
proprietary charging infrastructure this time, please. The net result can be
gas mileage of 100 mpg or more with no limits on range. Now that is what we are
talking about.
Tesla Motors: Entry
No. 1 in the race to deliver the car of the future is the Tesla Roadster of
course. Preceded by the AC Propulsion Tzero, the Tesla offers the best of both
worlds. A sexy gorgeous pure-electric sports car with high performance and an
even higher profile. No lead-acid or NiMH batteries this time, but rather
thousands of streamlined Lithium-Ion cells. There is some debate over whether
small cells or one large Li-Ion battery would be better, and the conclusion is
still as elusive as the Volt. Let’s give Tesla a break because what they are
trying to do and succeeding in doing so far is one of the hardest feats alive –
launching a new car company. Chairman Elon Musk was beaming last month on April
18 when he took delivery of his sleek black Tesla Roadster in Los Angeles, the first one to roll off the
production line. Congratulations and champagne indeed!
Last week, Tesla unveiled its inaugural showroom in Beverly Hills with a star-studded party attended by Daryl
Hannah, the voice of Quincy Jones, and enough Hollywood buzz to charge an entire fleet. Not to
worry, Menlo Park in the SF Bay Area will be the home of Tesla showroom no. 2 this summer for
the well-heeled eco set and car fanatics alike. The
Tesla is as quiet as a mouse and almost as fast as a cheetah.
Automotive X Prize: Entry
No. 2 in the race is a race itself. The Progressive Insurance Automotive X
PRIZE is offering a $10 million pot of gold to the best car of the future. Teams from around the globe will compete to
design super fuel-efficient cars that people actually want to buy. To win, the
cars must be production-capable and exceed 100 MPG or its energy equivalent. A major focus will be put on affordability,
safety, and the environment. Concept cars, you have had your day in the sun. It
is time for real clean cars to have their day on Earth.
Huge kudos to Progressive Insurance, a 70-year-old company,
for stepping up and supporting this revolutionary prize that will help the
world break its oil addiction and drive full speed ahead to a cleaner future. See
the Jay Leno video on cars and the X Prize. He collects old cars and even has
some of the first steam and electric cars in the Jay Leno Green Garage. There were electric cars in 1909 – the Baker!
As announced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the cross-country
race will begin in New York City in September 2009. Vehicles in
competition will be tested in real-world conditions. Potholes anyone? Over 60 teams from 10 countries have signed
up so far, and the initial cars are ultra-mod and fabulous. Check out the Fuel
Vapor ale car and the Velozzi supercar for starters. www.xprize.org
Smart Cars: In other
exhilarating car news, the Smart fortwo cars have launched in San Francisco and are taking the city by
storm with their small form, even backing into impossibly-small parking spots and
confounding the meter maids. It is over
2 feet shorter than a Mini and can yield fuel economy of 40 mpg in the city and
45 on the highway if you drive smart. I fell hard for the micro Smart cars in Milan and Paris and have been waiting for them to hit our shores ever since. They are here.
Think City: Smart’s
rival for cute eco car of the year may be the upcoming Th!nk City electric car from Norway. Revived from the grave by new CEO Jan-Olaf
Willums, Think recently raised an impressive $78 million from Silicon Valley and European investors including Kleiner Perkins and Rockport Capital Partners and held a strategy session at
Google. Think will be buying lithium-ion battery packs from none other than
Tesla. Let’s hope that someday Ford will regret selling the adorable and eco-in-every-way
Think in a fire sale hotter than a globally-warmed planet.
Chevy Volt Concept: I am not going to comment on the Chevy Volt concept car except to say that seeing is believing, and I hope they do it by 2010. One question: why are they calling it an electric car when indeed it would have an
E-Flex range-extending power source that runs on gas or E85 ethanol to recharge the
lithium-ion battery pack? It would be a
plug-in hybrid electric car (PHEV), which would be great because people wouldn’t
be scared off by a lack of range. You
could also charge it using a normal 110-volt household plug - excellent. In the meantime, I think General Motors
should not be running ads that say “from gas-friendly to gas-free” because they
don’t sell any gas-free cars. The slogan is nice and peppy, and false
advertising.
Toyota: Speaking of plug-ins, Toyota is rumored to be testing a plug-in hybrid. The Prius is still the best green car on the market today, and a completely redesigned 2009 model is coming soon. A plug-in version would be the holy grail. However, it would only have a cruising range of 8 miles on
electricity? This is not enough. At
least the Volt is purportedly aiming for 40 miles of range in the city on pure
electricity. Toyota’s toe in the plug-in water is no doubt due to the great
work of CalCars, Plug In Partners, and the new Google RechargeIt program, all
proving that 100 mpg is possible right now with existing technology.
So if 100 mpg is within our grasp, why did Congress just pass new fuel economy standards
mandating an average 35 mpg by 2020, thereby keeping us handcuffed to crude oil and throwing out the key? Something is better than nothing after 32 years, but today’s
technologies can produce far greater gas savings at the sticker-shocking $4.00 pump. California wants to see an average of 44 mpg by 2020 so that it can meet its aggressive
AB32 targets to slow down carbon emissions. The state feels so strongly about
it, Attorney General Jerry Brown is taking the federal government to court to allow the waiver. That is the maverick Jerry we like.
If everyone could drive a car that gets 40+ miles per gallon, the US would not have to import oil from the Middle East currently and use military power to protect oil
reserves in these unstable regions.
Some hypermilers are taking matters into their own hands with
the MPG Challenge this summer. Their
game is to squeeze every mile they can out of each drop of gas. While their tactics might be a little extreme,
we can all pick up a few tips like driving with a light foot and cruising
down hills. Look mom, no feet.
The best defense is a good offense. If you are in the market for a new car, try to buy the model (that you like) that gets the highest possible gas mileage, regardless of its hybrid label or not. Fuel economy is where it's at.
The dream remains plug-in electric cars that connect to
chargers powered by solar panels. Plug
into the sun, and even store electricity in the battery and sell it back.
Vehicle-to-grid. What could be better? Now that is truly gas-free.
Let the race to make the car of the future begin and
end. May the cleanest, fastest, and sexiest car win. My dad and I look forward to buying one and breaking a few speed records at the track.
