Max Boot is correct that neither party has seriously addressed our "growing crisis"
of ensuring overseas oil supplies. Drilling-out our domestic oil just leaves us more dependent on others, while
conservation is easier in word than deed.
Boot identifies the essential problem as lowering the use of oil-based products in our driving mix. The public
will have difficulty accepting any significant change in driving patterns, ruling out sudden shifts to mass transit,
pure battery-powered Electric cars, or compressed-gas Hydrogen cars.
There are many drivers of pure battery powered vehicles who are demonstrating that even small rooftop solar electric
systems can replace gasoline in normal driving patterns. This enables ordinary commuters to drive essentialy "oil-free".
It's not clear if Boot knows about the campaign to save the GM EV1 Electric car, but he uses the lessons learned
to hint at one realistic solution to our crisis, plug-capable serial hybrid cars.
Hybrid Prius that cannot plug in can never attain more than 80 mpg. They depend on gasoline for all motive power,
and that's the theoretical limit of gasoline efficiency. Even worse, none of those miles are powered by off-peak
electric power, which we have in abundance.
But hybrid cars that draw all or part of their energy from being plugged in to cheap off-peak electric power can
easily demonstrate less than one gallon of gasoline for normal driving of 100 miles (corresponding to better than
100 mpg) as demonstrated by one prototype plug-capable Prius on display at the upcoming EVS-21 in Monte Carlo.
This version of the Prius substitutes electric charging of the expanded battery pack for some gasoline-driven miles,
thus effectively lowering the gasoline-per-mile number.
Augmenting the grid with rooftop solar electric power systems promises overall "well-to-wheel" efficiency
of up to 500 miles driven per gallon of gasoline, even without biofuel or ethanol.
Thanks to Boot for casting the essential problem in terms of reducing "gallons of gasoline per mile driven",
which inverts traditional wisdom. And thanks for bringing the outlines of the plug-capable solution to the public
eye. |
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Excerpts from Max Boot's original article in the LATimes:
http://www.latimes.com/business/taxes/la-oe-max24mar24,1,3947170.column
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"Soaring oil prices — crude is over $55 a barrel and unleaded gasoline over $2 a
gallon — are not much of an economic or political issue. Yet.
"... the U.S. economy could go into a tailspin. As it is, high oil prices provide money for Saudi Arabia to
subsidize hate-spewing madrasas and for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
"... neither party is serious about solving this growing crisis. Democrats who couldn't tell the difference
between a caribou and a cow grandstand about the sanctity of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, even though 70%
of Alaskans are happy to see a bit of drilling in this remote tundra. Republicans, for their part, pretend that
tapping ANWR will somehow solve all of our problems. If only. A government study finds that, with ANWR on line,
the U.S. will be able to reduce its dependence on imported oil from 68% to 65% in 2025.
"...The Middle East, home of two-thirds of the world's proven oil reserves, will remain of vital strategic
importance unless we can develop alternative sources of automotive propulsion...An ambitious agenda to achieve
those goals has been produced by Set America Free...
"... existing technologies [can] wean the auto industry from its reliance on petroleum...hybrids that can
be plugged into a 120-volt outlet to recharge like a cellphone... you could build vehicles that could get...500
miles per gallon of gasoline. That's not science fiction; that's achievable right now..." |
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Serial Hybrid and other hybrids that plug in
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Back to EV1.org, Electric cars for everyone
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