In 2008, as gas prices shot through the stratosphere, new gas saving devices came out of the woodwork. One of the more popular was those HHO gas injectors where electrolysis is used to separate hydrogen from water. The resulting gas was then injected into the intake tract along with the air fuel mixture. All manner of wondrous improvements were credited to the devices, from smoother running engines to improved fuel mileage. Of course that also lead to the myriad websites claiming “Run Your Car on Water!!!!!!!!”

Anytime there is something new, there are skeptics, and rightly so. The scam alerts were on full tilt. You had the college professor types proclaiming that the devices violated thermodynamic law, and there was no way they could work. Then there were those people that incorrectly thought that cars using such devices used no gasoline at all, only the HHO gas, and that could never work.

There were also the skeptics that wondered why, if this technology was so promising, did the beleaguered Detroit auto manufacturers not jump onto the HHO bandwagon like kids mobbing an ice cream truck in August? For a mass-market auto manufacturer to find a technology that could enable them to easily increase horsepower and mileage, while lowering emissions would be a dream come true, and if such devices worked as advertised surely they’d be adopted post haste.

Many of these people questioning the auto makers forgot the morass of regulatory bureaucracy, safety issues, warranty concerns, and liability problems posed by a glass (or any other material) bottle of hydrogen under the hood.

Well, respected Texas racing engine builder, turned auto manufacturer Damon Kuhn (COO) and aftermarket manufacturer Ronn Maxwell(CEO) have some argument with the skeptics. Unlike all the e-book writers on the Internet who have been claiming the HHO technology will work if only you buy their e-book so you can see how to build and retrofit one of the devices on your own car, Kuhn and Maxwell have really put their money where their mouths are.

Kuhn, Maxwell, and ex-Dell executive Adrian Pylypec, who also sports an automotive industry background, are the three behind publicly traded Ronn Motors, and have they got a proof of concept for you! It’s called the Scorpion, and unlike those build it at home kits that you can learn how to assemble from an e-book for a few hundred to $1,000, their rig costs $150,000! That’s right, the Scorpion is a true to life exotic car, to compete with the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche. The public debut of the hydrogen powered Scorpion was at the annual SEMA show in Las Vegas in November of 2008, to rave reviews.

The Scorpion HHO Exotic Car

No kit car, this, the Scorpion is powered by a breathed on Acura engine. It is the 3.5 liter, Type-S unit used to power Acura’s top of the line sports-luxury sedan, the RL. Sporting all the usual performance and economy enhancing accoutrements, such as port fuel injection, variable valve timing and aluminum / magnesium alloy construction, it produces about 300hp when under the hood of an RL. Not bad, but not what the two from Texas felt was needed to power a super exotic. Plus, they wanted something that would be really special, and environmentally friendly to boot.

Boy, did they get their wish! The HHO and twin-turbo enhanced version of the smooth running power plant really delivers on all fronts. Not content to add only horsepower, they wanted to take something out; emissions. With all the worldwide concern for carbon emissions and climate change, Ronn Motors wanted to demonstrate that high performance doesn’t have to mean environmentally irresponsible.

The Scorpion HHO Exotic Car - another great look

They’ve succeeded in spades, as the HHO injected Acura mill not only delivers a robust 450hp, it does so while only producing about 10 – 20% of the carbon emissions produced by the stock Acura engine. It also returns 40mpg on the freeway according to Ronn Motors, although the car hasn’t been tested by the EPA or DOT yet. That, coupled with the sub 4.0 second 0-60 time is a potent combination, and one not found in any other production automobile, with the exception of the pure electric Tesla roadster. The Tesla however, has a limited range, and it’s top speed of 125mph pales in comparison to the 200mph promised by the Scorpion.

Like it?

Vendors of aftermarket HHO gas kits have pointed to smother running, increased power, better fuel mileage, and reduced emissions, and that’s just what Ronn reps note their modified Acura engine delivers. As you can see from the photos, and probably gathered from the stratospheric price tag, the Scorpion isn’t some backyard kit car. Ronn Motors has a real, 8,000 sq foot production facility that they own, and have another campus like facility in the planning stages.

The Scorpion uses a Hydrogen gas generator, the H2GO(TM), that will be available as an aftermarket unit for $999. This should generate substantial revenue for the company, as they are projecting sales of nearly 1 million units. If this comes to pass, the exotic car business will become an interesting sideline. The unit holds 1 gallon of standard tap water, which should last for 3,000 – 5,000 miles. That corresponds nicely to the oil change interval on most automobiles. It actually uses a separate computer to optimize fuel and has flow, accounting for a large portion of the fuel mileage increase. According to Ronn Motors, some diesel test rigs running the H2GO have reported over 80% increases in fuel mileage.

When can you buy one? Well, they have promised delivery will begin in 2009 for the first run of 200 cars. The $999 aftermarket HHO generators should be available sometime this year too. For those of you who’d rather roll your own HHO power plant, try Water4Gas; they are one of the leaders in the “build and install your own HHO” arena.

America has a new President, Barack Obama, who has a very different set of ideals and views than those that have come before him. Weather you agree or disagree with him, he is our President, and as was his mantra throughout his election, change is on his agenda.

That change may extend into all facets of your life, including what you drive. President elect Obama has some very ambitious targets. His programs are, to date, a bit short on specifics, yet long on promise. One thing is for sure, the old wheels will undergo a bit of transformation in the coming 4 years if our new President has his way. Just how will those changes affect what you drive to work every day?

A brief glimpse at his agenda sheds some light on the subject (President Obama’s proposals in bold)–

• Increase Fuel Economy Standards.

Questions – Fuel economy standards are already set to increase substantially in the next revision of the CAFÉ standards that are due to phase in completely by 2020. The revised CAFÉ standards provide for an increase from the current 27.5 mpg to 35mpg. Is Obama proposing an acceleration, a further increase, or is he just referencing those standards already set to take affect?

Development lead times on vehicles currently 2 – 5 years. That is for vehicles using current technologies. A radical revision of fuel economy standards would require advanced technologies, and subsequently longer development times for vehicles using them.

Americans have shown a propensity to desire larger, safer, more practical (until you have to park them) vehicles. They have also demonstrated a willingness to pay the extra in fuel costs is takes to drive them up to a point. The point was exceeded about late June of this year as drivers fled large SUVs and pickups like voters running away from the Republican Party in November.

This increase in fuel economy will have a negative effect on tax revenue, as I discuss further below.

• Get 1 Million Plug-In Hybrid Cars on the Road by 2015.

This is an extremely ambitious target, especially given the current state of the automotive landscape. The first plug in hybrid on the horizon is the Chevy Volt, set to debut in 12 – 18 months. This should be followed in short order by the Toyota Prius plug in. If you’ve looked at these vehicles, you’ve found they are not inexpensive.

The Volt in particular is far out of reach of the average car buyer, who stands to never recover the $18,000 difference between that and the 4-cylinder Chevy Malibu (by most accounts a pretty nice car). The Malibu gets 25 mpg, so it isn’t really a gas guzzler for a car that comfortably seats 5 adults.

One will note that vehicles rushed through the engineering stage tend to exhibit more flaws, technological glitches and malfunctions than those that have a longer technological gestation period. That’s something to think about when having a target of 1 million such vehicles on the road in only 6 years.

• Create a New $7,000 Tax Credit for Purchasing Advanced Vehicles.

This would doubtlessly offset some of the budget crunch Americans will feel when purchasing the much more expensive advanced technology vehicles. It also brings up another question, to whit – where is the money for this going to come from? There are currently generous tax incentives for such purchases put into place by President Bush. These new ones proposed by Obama are about 90% higher that the existing tax credits. This will cost taxpayers quite a sum of money.

It will assist the development of some new technologies by increasing consumer demand, but at what cost? You could watch for a healthy Federal gas tax increase to both make advanced technology vehicles more attractive to drivers by increasing the price of fuel, and help fund the tax credits. Fuel has a relatively inelastic demand, so revenue tends to rise as tax levels increase.

Hybrid and other advanced, fuel efficient cars will also drain from the nations coffers in another way. Currently, roads are largely financed by users in the form of motor vehicle fuel taxes. That is basically fair. The more you drive, the more you pay, and the heavier and harder on the road your vehicle, the lower its fuel economy, and the more you pay.

President Obama will probably have to push for Congress to increase the Federal fuel tax rate in order to avoid a drop in aggregate motor fuel tax revenues. Many politicians are loathe to do this, especially after the high fuel prices the nation endured this summer. No matter how they feel, the politically astute among them are well aware how raising gas taxes looks when the next election rolls around.

High motor fuel taxes are not conducive to rebuilding the economy, as it costs businesses, and thus consumers, dearly. It will also cost jobs, because when they are confronted by price increases in one area, businesses look to cut costs in others. The largest cost component of almost every business is labor. That means it is also the most likely to be cut when other costs increase.

• Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
• A “Use it or Lose It” Approach to Existing Oil and Gas Leases.
• Promote the Responsible Domestic Production of Oil and Natural Gas.

The extent of which this occurs will go a long way to determining three things; maintaining low fuel prices, national security due to increased supply reliability, and the reduction of our dependence on foreign oil.

In addition, does anyone think other areas of the world are actually more environmentally conscious than we are in the US when exploring for and extracting oil? That would mean that the more oil we pull out of the ground here at home, the better off the world is environmentally. In addition to the lower environmental cost of production, there is a lower environmental cost of transporting locally produced oil.

One more thing to examine is the tremendous number of different environmentally required gasoline blends currently in use throughout different areas of the United States. That incurs increased transportation costs, poses a greater environmental impact, and lowers delivery efficiency. It also drives up fuel prices and causes localized availability problems. This is one area that stands to be looked at and in the spirit of the new Obama administration, changed.

So, how will President Obama change what you drive? Who can tell for sure, but here’s what it could be like:

It will get much better fuel economy, possibly through much more advanced hybrid technology.

Power plant for the Obama car – A very small, algae-biodiesel fueled (this would help meet his targets for lower carbon emissions) turbo diesel that would run constantly at its most efficient RPM and be used only to charge batteries. In many cases it wouldn’t run at all and the car would be driven solely by its advanced electric motors. They would be used for greater efficiency and lower weight. Advanced technology batteries could be charged from a standard 220 or 110 volt wall socket if needed.

Weight is the enemy of fuel economy so look for advanced materials in everything from power window motors (rare earth magnets) to body panels (fiber composites). In addition, you’ll be leaving your boat at home, since vehicles large enough to tow them may be levied a special tax in order to help consumers decide not to drive them. Such a tax exists now, but isn’t applied to trucks and SUVs, only cars. This policy could change.

Look for tires and wheels to get lighter in an attempt to reduce rolling resistance and rotational inertia. This will help increase fuel economy, vehicle performance, and ride quality.

Cars will get smaller, but safety targets won’t, so look for advanced safety technologies to be used, as long they don’t substantially increase the weight of the vehicle. Radar and Lidar proximity sensors will be coupled with stability control, inertial sensors, and GPS systems to help avoid crashes.

Advanced materials will be required to maintain the structural integrity of the passenger safety cage, while reducing the size of heavy, energy absorbing crumple zones. The crash energy will still have to absorbed and dissipated before reaching the hapless passengers trapped inside the vehicle, or deaths and injuries will rise.

The light weight vehicles and high torque electric motors could give us greatly enhanced fuel economy with pretty spritely 0-40 times. This will be great fun around town, but it’s possible that the heavy hand of government knowing what’s good for us may step in to limit our fun – in the name of fuel economy, environmental responsibility, and safety, of course.

We will drive some advanced vehicles, but we’ll probably live in interesting times.

What is a hybrid car? Even with the myriad new coverage and the copious advertising for hybrid vehicles, the fact is that many people are unsure what one really is or how hybrids work. As the name suggests a hybrid car (or any other hybrid vehicle) is one that uses a combination of two power plants to increase fuel economy and reduce emissions.

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In the majority of cases hybrid vehicles use a gasoline engine and one or more electric motors. Some manufacturers are developing hybrids that use a small, high efficiency, turbo diesel engine in lieu of the gas engine. Using a turbo diesel as part of the hybrid power train will have advantages in efficiency, emissions, and the ability to use renewable biofuels. The manufacturers developing diesel / electric hybrids are principally European, which makes sense given the popularity of diesel vehicles in Europe. So far Citroen, VW, Opal, and Peugeot have all showed prototype vehicles that have strong production possibilities.

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The hybrid’s electric motors draw their power from a large battery bank in the vehicle. This is recharged either from a generator connected to the gasoline engine, or by a process known as regenerative braking. The regenerative braking is merely recapturing the energy contained in the vehicle because it is moving. Any object that is moving required energy to get it moving at the speed that it’s traveling and maintain that speed. To slow it down, the energy must be removed.

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With a normal vehicle, friction brakes are used for slowing and stopping. These transform the energy contained in the moving vehicle into heat, which is then dissipated into the air. If that seems like a complete waste, it is. The hybrid’s regenerative braking systems actually recapture that energy and store it in the batteries used to power the electric motors for later use. There are one or more generators that are coupled to the wheels under braking. The drag created by the generators when turning the car’s spinning wheels into electricity provide much of the stopping power. This has two benefits; greatly increased brake life, and capturing energy that would have been wasted as heat (and that you already paid for).

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Because internal combustion engines such as gasoline and diesel engines exhibit increased efficiency during different operating conditions, the vehicle can be operated on the optimum power source for a given load condition. At times such as peak acceleration, both power sources can be used in combination. Electric power is typically used when starting out and at low speeds when electric motors are most efficient. The internal combustion engine takes over at higher speeds or when the batteries are discharged.

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There are different types of hybrids. Pure hybrids can move completely on electric power. This can be kind of weird if you’re not expecting it. The first time I experienced this, a Ford Escape hybrid pulled away from a stop as I was standing next to it. It was eerie as the truck silently glided away from the curb, as if by magic. After it was moving about 10 mph, the gas engine kicked in and it motored (engined??) away.

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The stored energy in the batteries let the hybrid’s engine be completely shut down when stopped. The engine is only restarted after the vehicle’s electronic control unit decides it would be better to let the gas engine handle things. More efficiency is gained by using this method. This is similar to the technique used by your internal combustion powered golf cart, but far more sophisticated.

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In fact, the sophistication of engine and control electronics are one of the reasons that practical hybrid vehicles are on the road today. Juggling the optimum mix of power between the two power systems, and recapturing the heretofore lost energy from the moving vehicle would have been impossible to accomplish affordably and practically a few years ago.

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So, that’s what a hybrid car is and kind of how it works. My favorite is the Honda Civic hybrid, followed by the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, but I’m waiting for someone to make a really cool sports car hybrid, which reportedly Toyota is doing as a replacement for the dear, departed Supra. Toyota probably has more experience than any other manufacturer with hybrids, so they should be well equipped to handle such a task.

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Not to be outdone, Honda is reportedly releasing their CR-Z in about 2011. The CR-Z is a sports coupe in the same vein as the Honda CR-X of 15 years ago, but with a sexy, modern body, great handling, and the hybrid power train from the new Civic hybrid.

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Until next time……..

It’s true. Well, the easy part is a total fabrication, but if you can design and build a 100mpg car that people actually want to buy, you could win the $10 million automotive x-prize. It is the automotive version of the x-prize that got (well funded) private citizen groups everywhere scrambling to be the first into space in their own vehicle.

The Anasari Foundation what worked so well as a technology driver for space vehicles could spur innovation for those on terra firma as well. It’s not as easy as it sounds. You can’t just take a racing bike with a lightweight faring, put the most fuel efficient engine you can find on it, and go pick out your yacht. Anyone with half a brain could pull that off.

No, the foundation has much more difficult criteria one must meet before they get to make their banker’s day. There are actually 2 categories, but the one with the most dough requires that your car must carry 4 adults, meet federal safety and emissions standards, and (here’s the tough part) be a car that consumers would actually want to endure an afternoon at the dealership enough to purchase with their own money.

Consumers are a demanding bunch for the most part. They’ll want a car that goes and stops much like any other, although I’ll bet they’ll make a few concessions to reach the century mpg mark. If gas should go much past $5.00 a gallon, you’d probably find enough drivers willing to give up A/C and power windows that you could actually market about anything that got 100mpg.

One more thing – Performance is essential, because the $10 million prize will go to the fastest car that meets the specifications.

Here’s my plan for the 100mpg car:

100mpg Powertrain:

• ½ liter, common rail turbo diesel-electric hybrid.

When running, the tiny, high-pressure rail turbo diesel is always working at its most efficient rpm range. It only charges the batteries. The drive wheels are powered entirely by a high efficiency electric motor.

• Regenerative braking to recapture energy
• Advanced Li-Ion battery pack

100mpg Chassis:

• Carbon fiber monocoque construction – lightweight and strong
• Lightweight is of the essence to reach 100mpg and have good acceleration, so the design goals would be to keep weight as low as possible.
• Target weight – 2,200lbs. wet, less passengers
• Innovative technologies will be used to keep weight low, such as active noise cancelling to minimize interior noise, rather than using heavy sound deadening. No one will buy a vehicle without a sound system anyway, so it can serve two purposes.

Performance Targets:

• 0-60mph – <10 seconds
• An 83 hp motor should be required to be less than 10 seconds to 60mph and equal the Toyota Prius ¼ mile ET and terminal velocity with a 2,200lb weight and a 150lb driver aboard.

I’ll leave it someone else to fill in the details. I’m sure greater minds than mine are hard at work on this project already.

The Chevy electric car, or more properly, the new Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, and the similar cars its’ success is sure to spawn, is the best chance the General has to return to profitability after an especially bleak quarter. Even GM can’t absorb too many -$15 billion quarters and expect to survive. To be fair to GM, some of this can be attributed to non recurring events and write downs, that aren’t likely to be repeated.

As a manufacturer built on the success of relatively fuel inefficient vehicles, such as the Silverado and Tahoe, GM needs alternatives that consumers want to by with the same fervor that they flocked to lots with when gas was $1.80/ gallon and new Tahoes had dealer incentives. With gas hovering at $4.00 per, those days may never return, but GM’s hoping that a new era of profitability returns, driven by $30,000+ plug-in hybrids.

$30,000+? Yes, the initial versions of the Volt promise to carry a fairly robust price tag. Don’t for get that fuel efficient vehicles will continue carry with them some pretty attractive tax incentives. Unfortunately the $30,000 price for the first versions of the Volt likely factors those tax benefits in already. The actual price is closer to $40K! Now, if you’re Leonardo DiCaprio, that’s no big deal. For those of you that get your paychecks from Paramount Sand and Gravel, Paramount Landscape Services, or Paramount Electric, rather than Paramount Pictures, the Volt’s price may be a bit of a stretch.

If Chevy can just get the Volt to have the same cachet among the ultra green set as the Prius enjoys, the same automaker that draws ire and wrath for daring to concoct the Tahoe / Suburban will ironically be lionized for popularizing the plug-in hybrid.

One thing’s for sure, it will take more than $4 or $5 gasoline to make the Volt a success. Chevy’s marketing department had better do a bang-up job. After all Toyota will be hot on their heels with the plug-in Prius. The Volt promises a higher level of technology than the Prius, and will be larger, theoretically appealing to those with larger (Suburban sized?) families.

The Volt will face stiff competition in the marketplace when it arrives however. Besides the aforementioned Prius plug-in, Honda is readying a few possible competitors, such as a hybrid version of the already economical Fit, a “Global Small Hybrid”, and the new CR-Z, being referred to by some as the “CR-X for the 2010’s”. All will feature hybrid power trains and outstanding fuel economy. Nissan also has electric cars just around the corner, having announced them in May of this year.

The question is weather or not Chevy’s “electric car” (it can go up to 40 miles on electric only power), as they like to call it, will rise above the competition and generate sufficient sales and profits to pull GM out of its doldrums. GM may be able to generate substantial licensing revenues from some of the technologies it’s developed for the new car and its E-flex drive train. GM has substantial engineering might, and has developed some of the things we take for granted in cars today, like another electric enhancement to our rides, the electric starter.

It’s already reportedly talking with rival Ford to use some of the power train. How long will the batteries in the Volt last? GM is saying that they expect a 10 year battery life, which is a good thing, considering the initial cost of the advanced lithium ion battery pack. Priced a replacement lithium ion battery for your laptop recently? Now you see what I mean.

So, although the Chevy electric car may be a paragon of modern technology, and may in fact help the General return to profitability, it will not be a cheap car for the masses, which may be okay, since they’ll only build about 10,000 units the first year, and could probably sell them all, even at $40,000. If the price of gas remains above the magic $4.00 per gallon barrier, or people expect it to, the Chevy Volt will be a slam dunk for GM.

If the price of gas should decline to around $3.25, and people expect it to stay there, the less expensive traditional hybrid alternatives will be much more attractive to car buyers, especially given the rising price of electricity.

Until next time, save that gas, you’ll need it.