Tag: automobile

Tesla Motors Shoots for Bigtime

  • Tesla's Roadster Sport - a 2-seat sports car priced at $100,000 (Photo courtesy of Tesla Motors)

If you want a clean electric vehicle to cruise the highway today, you really only have one option – a small, Silicon Valley company named Tesla. Tesla has plans to be a big player in the auto industry, but so far the company has only built a few hundred cars. Dustin Dwyer looks at whether Tesla can make it in one of the toughest industries around:

Transcript

If you want a clean electric vehicle to cruise the highway today, you really only have one option – a small, Silicon Valley company named Tesla. Tesla has plans to be a big player in the auto industry, but so far the company has only built a few hundred cars. Dustin Dwyer looks at whether Tesla can make it in one of the toughest industries around:

If you’re trying to get attention for a new vehicle, a big auto show is one of the best places to get it.

And even this year, as GM and Chrysler hobbled into the Detroit auto show on federal life support, and all carmakers scaled back, there was still a lot of hype.

Here’s GM’s introduction for the Chevy Volt.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the future of automotive transportation has entered the building.”

That’s how the big players make their announcements.

Tesla is not a big player.

CEO Elon Musk made his big announcement in a hotel conference room in front of a bunch of geeky auto analysts.

“A big announcement that I’ve just gotten this morning permission this morning to make is, um” (takes drink)

Here he takes a drink of his water.

“…that Daimler has given us permission to acknowledge that they are the automotive partner that we’re working with.”

That means Tesla is going to help make an electric version of Daimler’s tiny Smart Car.

Musk is not much of a salesman. But maybe he doesn’t have to be. While all the big carmakers are seeing huge sales drops, Musk says Tesla sales keep going up.

“And, well, actually we can’t produce them fast enough and we’re sold out through November of this year.”

Now, Tesla – at most – makes 30 vehicles a week. And its only car, a sporty roadster, sells for more than $100,000.

A company like GM sells thousands of cars a week, and people who aren’t movie stars can actually afford some of them.

But Musk says he wants Tesla to be more than just a small time player.

So now the company is working on a four-door sedan that will sell for about $50,000 – still pricey for most of us, but half the price of its two-seat roadster.

Here’s the thing though, right now, Tesla has the electric vehicle market all to itself. But all the big companies are working on their own electric cars.

So when Tesla comes out with its four-door sedan, the competition will be much tougher.

Michael Robinet is an auto industry analyst with the firm CSM Worldwide. He says Tesla’s small size is a problem.

“Economies of scale is one of the main drivers of this industry to get cost out of the vehicle and be competitive. And that’s where the major vehicle manufacturers are going to have a leg up in the future.”

Some who follow the auto industry think Tesla’s future could be as more of a partner to existing companies, like what Tesla is doing with Daimler.

But Elon Musk insists Tesla will continue to make its own cars. And it can succeed.

“You go through sort of stages of denial, I guess. You know, when we first said we’d make this car, people said you can’t make this car. It’s not going to work, the technology’s not going to work, and even if the technology works, nobody’s gonna buy the damn thing. And we’ve shown, hey, we can make the technology work and people really want to buy it. So, okay, then they go to the next stage, ‘Oh, well, sure, okay, people will buy that car, but they won’t buy a sedan.’”

Tesla plans to unveil the new sedan later this month (March 26). The car is expected to go on sale in 2011.

In the meantime, Tesla has not been completely immune to all the problems facing the auto industry. Tesla had trouble raising money last year to finance the new sedan. So it turned to the federal government for a 350 million dollar loan.

At least in that one sense, Tesla is already acting like a major player.

For The Environment Report, I’m Dustin Dwyer.

Related Links

Investing in Cars of the Future

  • Both studies agree that we need more efficient cars (Photo by Karen Kelly)

Recently two reports on the future of automobiles came out. They looked at cars and trucks from very different perspectives, but came to some similar conclusions. Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Recently two reports on the future of automobiles came out. They looked at cars and trucks from very different perspectives, but came to some similar conclusions. Lester Graham reports:

The first report was published in the journal, Environmental Science and Technology. It looked at what it would take to get U.S. automobiles to reduce the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, enough to lower it to 1990 levels.

Why cars? Because cars and trucks produce a third of U.S. CO2 emissions.

Greg Keoleian is one of the authors at the University of Michigan. He says there are three things that need work.

We need to drive less, burn cleaner fuels, and, within about 40 years, increase the average fuel mileage way beyond the 20-miles per gallon we’re getting now.

“That would need to increase to 136 miles per gallon to meet the carbon targets. Alternatively, if we just focused on fuels, basically we’d need about 80% cellulosic ethanol by 2050. And the third scenario is a reduction in driving. It would mean we’d have to cut our driving in half by 2050.”

It’s unlikely we can accomplish any one of them, and the study’s authors suggest it’ll probably be a combination of more efficient cars, better fuels, and driving less if we’re to reduce greenhouse gases enough to make a difference.

The second report entitled ‘Envisioning an Uncertain Future’ comes from the Boston Consulting Group. It looks at the future of the automobile from a business perspective.

One of the authors, Xavier Mosquet, says the study assumes rising oil prices will force some changes.

“And that the pressure from the consumer on the governments will be so high that the governments will have to take energy actions to develop green products and green cars.”

But the report notes green cars will cost more – as much as 15,000 dollars more for hybrids or plug-in hybrids compared to standard cars.

“The consumer will look at these cars and say, ‘well, these are more expensive than I can pay.’ And therefore they’re not going to buy them. So, what I think the government has to do if they want to go that way is to look at the cost of putting those technologies on the market and either subsidizing the car’s manufacturers and suppliers or helping the consumer with much more tax incentives. Otherwise it will not happen.”

So, from a business perspective, the Boston Consulting Group report suggests without government help, manufacturers won’t build more efficient cars at a price we can afford. But we’ll need them because of high fuel prices.

The University of Michigan report on cars and climate change agrees the government will have a major role.

Author Greg Keoleian says if we take climate change seriously and are committed to doing something about it, we’ll have to change driving habits, encourage innovative manufacturers and invest government money.

“We are capable of doing this and the cost of climate change to society is tremendous. And each sector needs to play a major role in addressing the needs to reduce.”

The studies look at the future of the automobile from very different perspectives, but both agree we need more efficient cars and that won’t happen without the government pushing a little and helping a lot.

For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.

Related Links

Business Booming at Repair Shops

  • Despite the decline in new car sales, Sales Manager Joe Marken expects more business on the repair and maintenance side of of the dealership. (Photo by Julie Grant)

Not too many people are buying new cars these days. But that’s not all bad news for auto dealers. Julie Grant reports that more car owners are starting to spend money on repair and maintenance:

Transcript

Not too many people are buying new cars these days. But that’s not all bad news for auto dealers. Julie Grant reports that more car owners are starting to spend money on repair and maintenance:

(sound of construction)

Now there’s a sound you don’t hear every day anymore. Especially at a car dealership. It’s construction.

This Toyota Dealer in Kent, Ohio is in the midst of a 12-million dollar expansion.

Sales manager Joe Marken says they’re renovating the repair and maintenance garage. That’s where he’s starting to see the most growth.

“People are looking at, ‘do I want to encumber myself with a 60 month payment of some sort, or do I want to spend X and know that I can get a year or two more years out of whatever I’m doing?'”

Marken says lots of people don’t know if they’ll have a job in the next year or two.

The National Automobile Dealers Association expects more people to spend money on parts and service nationwide this year.

They say there’s an upside – maintenance improves gas mileage and resale value of the vehicle.

For The Environment Report, I’m Julie Grant.

Related Links

An End to Gas Guzzling?

  • President Obama's recent announcement is a clear sign that tougher fuel efficiency standards will come sooner rather than later (Photo by Ben VonWaggoner)

The Bush Administration stopped California from setting stricter fuel efficiency standards. Now, President Obama says his administration might allow the standards to go forward. Mark Brush reports it’s a sign that big changes are ahead for car makers:

Transcript

The Bush Administration stopped California from setting stricter fuel efficiency standards. Now, President Obama says his administration might allow the standards to go forward. Mark Brush reports it’s a sign that big changes are ahead for car makers:

President Obama’s recent announcement is a clear sign that tougher fuel efficiency standards will come sooner rather than later.

Mark Gillies is the executive editor of Car and Driver Magazine. He says, if stricter standards are passed, automakers will have to make big changes to their entire fleets of cars and trucks.

“It’s like a super tanker. Trying to turn the super tanker around is not easy. Trying to get cars to the point where they’re 25% more fuel efficient in 6 years is not the work of the moment. You’re going to see some car makers manage to do it and some car makers won’t be able to do it.”

Gillies says if these new standards pass, you’ll see automakers scrambling to make more electric and hybrid cars. He says it could also curb development of sportier cars.

That’s because car companies might have to spend their resources developing the greener cars of the future.

For The Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

Related Links

Interview: International Automakers’ Plans

  • Honda rolled out the 2010 Insight for it's world premiere (Photo courtesy of the North American International Auto Show)

Car makers are showing off new
models at the North American International
Auto Show in Detroit. Domestic automakers
are rolling out hybrids and coming plug-in
hybrids. Foreign manufacturers have a
little more experience with hybrids.
Toyota has been doing well with its hybrid,
the Prius, and the Japanese company plans
to release a plug-in version early next year.
Lester Graham talked with Julie Halpert.
She’s a reporter who’s been covering the
preview of the Detroit Auto Show (opens
Saturday January 17th). She says
Honda, which started this hybrid trend,
hasn’t done much lately, but it is now:

Transcript

Car makers are showing off new
models at the North American International
Auto Show in Detroit. Domestic automakers
are rolling out hybrids and coming plug-in
hybrids. Foreign manufacturers have a
little more experience with hybrids.
Toyota has been doing well with its hybrid,
the Prius, and the Japanese company plans
to release a plug-in version early next year.
Lester Graham talked with Julie Halpert.
She’s a reporter who’s been covering the
preview of the Detroit Auto Show (opens
Saturday January 17th). She says
Honda, which started this hybrid trend,
hasn’t done much lately, but it is now:

Lester Graham: They’re paying a lot of attention to the Detroit Auto Show this
year because of the bailout and because of the new green cars that are being
displayed. Julie Halpert’s been covering the Auto Show. Julie, there’s a lot of
talk about the domestic automakers bringing on board hybrids and plug-in
hybrids in the near future, but it appears the Japanese automakers are coming
out ahead.

Julie Halpert: What’s interesting is the Japanese automakers feel it’s more
important in the near future to focus on regular hybrids. For example, Honda is
coming out with a new version of its Insight, that is comparable in size to the
Prius. And, it’s going to be the most affordable Hybrid. Priced under $20,000,
which makes it very attractive. Their argument is, these electric cars are
interesting, but there’s a lot of work to be done on the battery, and, so they would
rather see lots of people in hybrids, near-term. They think that’s going to make a
bigger difference environmentally than coming up with these plug-in hybrids,
which are going to be more expensive, and aren’t going to be offered for the next
couple of years.

Graham: If oil prices stay low, I’m wondering if domestic automakers will stay the
course of these more energy efficient cars. It sounds like they want the
government to force consumers into that market.

Halpert: Well, the government’s obviously placing a priority on this. And what
they’re very much hoping is that the government fuels demand by creating tax
incentives for these vehicles – they have the ability to do that, Congress has the
ability to do that. I think they’ve invested so much now, there’s really no
reversing course. The problem is that customers are very fickle. If gas prices
are low, they’re going to go back to their conventional internal combustion
engines. When gas prices were high, this past summer, there was a huge cry for
these alternative, more fuel efficient vehicles. The problem is that automakers
need to plan months and months in advance to bring out these vehicles. So
now, they’re on course to do that, it would be very difficult for them to switch
course at this point.

Graham: While Honda’s coming out with this new version of the Insight, Toyota’s
coming out with a third generation of the Prius, GM’s trumpeting the Volt, Ford is
going after smaller engines with turbo power. Why are they taking that
approach?

Halpert: Well, it’s actually quite a prudent approach. They’ve got this hybrid
Ford Fusion, which gets 41 miles per gallon. And, they’ve got this super turbo-
charged engine, which can boost fuel efficiency by 20-30%. And, their argument
is, let’s use more conventional motors to do this, because it gets into an
affordability issue. They can basically provide the power of a V8 engine in a V6
engine. And, consumers still want that power. They want low costs. So, they
figure, this new technology can go quite far in getting a lot of fuel efficiency and
not requiring consumers to pay this up-front premium that other hybrids cost.

Graham: That’s Julie Halpert, who’s been covering the Detroit Auto Show.
Thanks, Julie.

Halpert: Thank you so much.

Related Links

Detroit Gets Electric

  • A new element highlighting the green future of the automotive industry has been added to the show. Attendees will be able to experience the latest in technology in a ride-and-drive format on a track built in Michigan Hall. (Photo courtesy of the North American International Auto Show)

Car makers are at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to show-off their hybrids, and coming plug-in hybrids. Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Car makers are at the North
American International Auto Show in
Detroit to show-off their hybrids,
and coming plug-in hybrids. Lester
Graham reports:

GM, Ford and Chrysler have all built hybrids and have plans for more – and all plan
plug-in hybrids. Those kinds of cars need good batteries.

Soon lithium ion batteries will replace what’s being used now. But, it’ll still only get
you 40 miles at best in plug ins before it runs out of juice and needs the gas-powered
engine onboard.

So making even better batteries is important to GM, Chrysler and Ford’s Executive
Chairman Bill Ford.

“I actually think the battery break-throughs will now start coming relatively quickly.”

But what if gasoline prices stay low? Will the majority of car buyers care about fuel
efficiency?

GM’s Rick Wagoner bets as the economy improves, gas prices will go back up.

“In general we’d expect oil prices to resume an increase. Hopefully a more gradual
one than we saw last year.”

And the automakers hope the government continues to encourage sales of fuel
efficient cars with tax credits.

For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.

Related Links

Part One: Kicking Gas to the Curb

  • Ted Bohn, a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory in the Chicago suburbs, shows off a modified Saturn Vue with a lithium-ion battery in the rear (Photo by Gabriel Spitzer)

One of the great hopes for a green
car is the plug-in hybrid. It’s like a regular
gas-electric hybrid, only you can plug in at
night. That charge is supposed to let most
people make a typical commute without the gas engine. Carmakers and the government are throwing a lot of money at the technology – GM and Chrysler both hope to release models in the next few years. But the cars might not deliver what boosters promise. In the first part of our series on saving gas, Gabriel Spitzer
reports on what new research says about plug-in hybrids in the real world:

Transcript

One of the great hopes for a green
car is the plug-in hybrid. It’s like a regular
gas-electric hybrid, only you can plug in at
night. That charge is supposed to let most
people make a typical commute without the gas
engine. Carmakers and the government are
throwing a lot of money at the technology – GM
and Chrysler both hope to release models in the
next few years. But the cars might not deliver
what boosters promise. In the first part of
our series on saving gas, Gabriel Spitzer
reports on what new research says about plug-in
hybrids in the real world:

Ted Bohn is a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory in the Chicago
suburbs and he’s showing off his ride.

“So this a prototype, plug-in hybrid vehicle. The rear half is a 10
kilowatt-hour battery.”

It’s a modified Saturn Vue, with a big old lithium-ion battery in the rear.

That battery is like what runs your iPod – only it weighs as much as a
linebacker.

Ted Bohn: “If you actually had to drive less than 40 miles on a typical
day, you could drive the whole day without starting the engine.”

Gabriel Spitzer: “Could you drive this very vehicle 40 miles round-trip
without starting the engine?”

Ted Bohn: “Close. If you drive slowly. To be honest, 25 to 30 is what
you’ll really do – driving on a nice day downhill with a tailwind is 40,
more realistically, 25 to 30.”

The thing is, you don’t hear those little caveats from some people, like, say,
General Motors.

“You plug it in. And they expect you’ll get up to 40 miles without a drop
of gas. Wow. The Chevy Volt. I’ve heard the future, and it hums.”

That 40-mile range is based on EPA tests.

Argonne scientist Aymeric Rousseau, with backing from the government,
compared those measures to how people drive in the real world.

Based on more than 100 drivers in Kansas City, he found that 40 mile range
shrinks to about 30.

Flip on your AC, and it’s more like 20.

“People now think about, you know, your mileage may vary. Now we
have to think about, your electrical distance may vary, depending on
how you drive, and what accessories you’re using.”

Rousseau says factors like aggressive driving sap the all-electric range.

And don’t forget – we’re talking Kansas City, here.

“When we talk to people from the EPA they actually say that people in
California drive more aggressively than people in Kansas City.”

General Motors concedes the point.

Rob Peterson is a spokesman for GM.

He says driver behavior can have some affect on the all-electric range.
Though …

“I wouldn’t go as low as 28 to 32.”

He says for a reasonable driver, the Volt can still get about 40.

And how about those pedal-to-the-metal Californians? Well, he says GM
studied exactly those people.

“For 64% of the people that we tested, they would be able to finish their
day with a petroleum-free and a tailpipe-emission-free commute.”

That’s not exactly what Argonne found.

Granted, the batteries they looked at were a little smaller than the Volt’s.
Size matters when it comes to batteries.

Said Al-Hallaj teaches at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

He says carmakers could build a battery that would boost up the all-electric
range – the problem is money.

“If you’re talking about a 25% increase, you know, from 30 to 40 miles,
that could mean thousands of dollars. So that could take it out of the
price range that will make it actually practical for the industry to make
it.”

Al-Hallaj says as the technology improves, so will drivers.

People are already getting better at squeezing fuel efficiency out of their
cars.

“For the first time I see people even worried about closing the window
versus opening the window because of drag. And we’re talking about
common people here, just trying to pay attention to, if your tires are not
properly inflated, the you have prob — so people start adapt and
probably get the best out of your battery.”

So it’s not that a plug-in hybrid can’t get 40, it’s just that you need to drive
like a grandmother to do it.

But if gas prices continue to climb, we may be seeing a lot more grannies
behind the wheel.

For The Environment Report, I’m Gabriel Spitzer.

Related Links

Part Two: Kicking Gas to the Curb

  • (Photo by Julie Grant)

Lots of new hybrids and electric
cars are coming to the market. But some
say you don’t need an expensive new car to
get really good gas mileage. In the second
part of our series on saving gas, reporter
Julie Grant met one group of guys who says
you just need to take good care of your vehicle
and drive like your grandmother:

Transcript

Lots of new hybrids and electric
cars are coming to the market. But some
say you don’t need an expensive new car to
get really good gas mileage. In the second
part of our series on saving gas, reporter
Julie Grant met one group of guys who says
you just need to take good care of your vehicle
and drive like your grandmother:

John Stine – aka Johnny Mullet – has always been crazy
about fast cars and big trucks.

But in the past year, this self-described country boy put
aside the hot rods and four-wheel-drive pick-ups and bought
an old Chevy Metro with a tiny 3 cylinder engine. He made a
few changes to make it more aerodynamic such as taking off
the passenger side mirror and even the radio antennae.
And, Stine also started driving really slowly.

It took a while for Johnny Stine’s wife to come around to the
changes.

John Stine: “What did you think at first?”

Mrs. Stine: “At first?”

John Stine: “I’m a nerd. You’re crazy.”

Mrs. Stine: “I thought he was a big nerd. I thought ‘oh my
God.’”

John Stine: “What are you doing to my car?”

That all changed pretty quickly as prices at pump went up.
Her nerd went from geek to chic.

Mrs. Stine: “Anything to save gas. We have a big truck. It
was costing us over $160 a week in fuel. But when he got
57 miles to the gallon, I was just like, ‘wow, what a
difference.’”

(sound of car talk)

Stine is meeting up today with about 20 other motor heads
from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and as far as Virginia. They’ve
gathered at a state park to check out each other’s souped-
down vehicles.

The parking lot is not lined with macho- muscle cars with 20-
inch rims. These guys drive refurbished Ford Festivas, Geo
and Chevy Metros on the skinniest tires possible.

Paul Keim says they’re just trying to save a few bucks on
gas. But his wife isn’t completely sold on this hobby.

“Ask her. The lady in the green shirt, she’ll tell you, my
name is ‘cheap bastard’.”

Keim says his wife does appreciate his gas saving tips.

She’s picked up 5 miles per gallon – just by keeping up the
tire pressure, changing the oil regularly, and, adjusting the
nut behind the wheel.

“You are the nut behind the wheel. Once you adjust your
attitude, and your driving style, you can get incredible
mileage.”

So, what do we need to change behind the wheel?

(sound of car doors)

John Stine is going to give us a few tips.

First, pay attention to your aerodynamics.

Julie Grant: “It’s pretty warm, am I allowed to have the
windows opened?”

John Stine: “The windows open when we’re sitting is fine.
As I’m driving, I like to keep them up unless it is very hot.”

Open windows are bad for aerodynamics. Air conditioning
wastes gas.

So, there are sacrifices. You might get a little sweaty – just
carry some extra deodorant.

Everyone here today drive cars with a stick shift because it
means better gas mileage.

Stine does whatever he can to keep momentum and not stop
at a traffic light. That can mean coasting very slowly up to
an intersection.

Some guys here say it’s been tough to adjust their driving
habits. To drive slowly – especially when the driver behind
them is bearing down on the bumper in a race to the office.

Ken Pietro of Detroit says he knows it irritates other drivers,
but that’s their problem.

“It’s just like, ‘hey, go around, go around,’ we’re in no hurry.”

Pietro says he doesn’t care, since he’s getting more than 52
miles per gallon. What’s your mileage? He didn’t even have
to buy a hybrid.

“People just can’t believe I’m getting that. You’ve got all the
newer Priuses and Honda Insights and all that. And these
people are shelling out 20 or 25 thousand dollars to get good
gas mileage with these hybrid vehicles. Which is fine, you
got the money to do it. That’s great, save the environment.
But I can do it in a $500 car and I’m getting better mileage
than them.”

And while you might complain about their slow driving, they
might just beat you home – they won’t have to make a pit
stop at the pump.

For The Environment Report, I’m Julie Grant.

Related Links

Part Three: Kicking Gas to the Curb

  • Reporter Rene Gutel gets tips from Mike Speck, a master eco-drive trainer at Pro-Formance Group of Phoenix (Photo courtesy of Rene Gutel)

We’ve all heard we can improve our
gas mileage by changing our driving habits.
And you might think you already know what
that means – coast more, for example, or check your tires’ air pressure. But according to Ford Motor Company, if you really want to get better mileage, you need a trained coach in the passenger’s seat teaching you how to do
it. In the final part of our series
on saving gas, we sent reporter Rene Gutel out to learn how to eco-drive:

Transcript

We’ve all heard we can improve our
gas mileage by changing our driving habits.
And you might think you already know what
that means – coast more, for example, or check
your tires’ air pressure. But according to
Ford Motor Company, if you really want to get
better mileage, you need a trained coach in
the passenger’s seat teaching you how to do
it. In the final part of our series
on saving gas, we sent reporter Rene Gutel
out to learn how to eco-drive:

(sound of car)

So I’m behind the wheel of my silver Mini Cooper and eco-driving instructor Mike Speck
is coaching me on how to get the best gas mileage I can, as safely as possible.

“Try to keep just a steady throttle input. You can see you are on and off the gas quite a
bit.”

We’re on suburban Phoenix roads at the beginning of rush hour. I drive a stick-shift and
one of the first lessons Speck teaches me is to shift gears a lot more quickly than I’m used
to.

Mike Speck: “And upshift.”

Rene Gutel: “Already?”

Speck: “And upshift.”

Gutel: “Oh! But we’re only going 30 miles an hour in fourth gear?”

Speck: “Yeah, it’s below 2000 RPM. The car is perfectly fine doing it.”

Speck is what they call a master eco-drive trainer at Pro-Formance Group of Phoenix.

Ford Motor Company recently teamed up with Pro-Formance to offer nearly 50 eco-
driving tests in Arizona. They studied the results which showed that by working with a
coach like Speck for just a few hours, drivers can improve their fuel economy by 24%.

The nuts and bolts of eco-driving are simple enough: Accelerate and break smoothly.
Slow down and watch your speed. Also, anticipate traffic signals as you’re going down
the road. But all this sounds way easier than it really is.

Speck: “Now we know there’s another slow left-hander coming up so off the gas.”

Gutel: “Okay, I’m off the gas.”

Speck: “And just let it coast around the corner.”

Gutel: Okay, I feel like you’re teaching me to drive my car all over again.

Speck: “I’m trying to do it as mellow as I can.”

That feeling – of going back to driver’s ed – is actually part of the experience of learning
to eco-drive.

Curt Magleby is the Director of Government Relations at Ford and he says to learn how
to do it right, you do need a coach.

“It’s not about tips and that’s what you’ll see on many websites throughout the US: tips
on how to be a better eco-driver. It’s got to be the hands-on coaching experience that
changes behavior.”

Ford is part of a new nationwide effort to encourage eco-driving. Magleby says there’s
talk of putting trained coaches at Ford dealerships.

“So when a person comes into a dealership and they’re considering the purchase of a
vehicle and we can talk to them about not only, here is the technology vehicle, here’s
what you can do, but you are a part of that equation.”

And down the line, Magleby says Ford might be pushing to have these techniques
become a part driver’s ed classes.

(sound of driving)

Speck: “You are accelerating very smoothly… very linearly. It’s very good!”

Gutel: “This is a different feel to driving. I feel like I’m coasting everywhere.”

Speck: “You are, and most people freak out about how much time they’re going to take.
When we validated the study, the average time increase was only 10%.”

Speck and I drive the same route three times during my eco-driving lessons. The first run
was the control, no tips from him at all, and I averaged 27 miles a gallon. But by the end
of the third run, we boosted that to 36 miles a gallon. Not bad, huh? Now if I can only do
that well on my own.

For The Environment Report, I’m Rene Gutel.

“Now try second. Well done! Go to third and just let it coast. Very well done.”

Related Links

High School Student Is Biofuel Whiz-Kid

  • John working on his converter in his workshop (Photo by Sarah Russell)

It’s hard to be optimistic about
paying $4 a gallon at the pump.
But when you’re a teenager working on new
ways to make cheap fuel, it can be pretty
exciting. Julie Grant met one high school
student who is showing off his biodiesel
converter at the county fair:

Transcript

It’s hard to be optimistic about
paying $4 a gallon at the pump.
But when you’re a teenager working on new
ways to make cheap fuel, it can be pretty
exciting. Julie Grant met one high school
student who is showing off his biodiesel
converter at the county fair:

(sounds of the fair)

The Fairgrounds sit in a quiet countryside of rolling green
hills. Small children yell and wave to family members as
they enter the Fair. There’s a steer auction in the barn. And
an antique tractor pull in the grandstand.
It’s like a scene is right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

I’m here to talk with John Russell. He’s walking around in
faded wrangler jeans. A red t-shirt with the sleeves cut off.
And a ballcap advertising a tractor company.


“We’re at the Columbiana County Fair in Lisbon, Ohio. In
the junior fair building.”

John is 17 years old, and amidst 4-H project displays, he has
set up his view of the future. His homemade biodiesel
converter.

It’s a rectangular box – nearly as tall as me.
It’s made of stainless steel. There’s a row of toggle switches
along the side. They light up when John plugs it in. He’s
been working on this for more than a year, and says it
makes vegetable oil into a usable fuel.

“I started out with new oil from Save-A-Lot. I went down to
the local grocery store and picked up a bottle of frying oil.
And just from a recipe I found online, with methanol from an
auto parts store, they sell it as heat. It’s gasoline antifreeze.
Just methanol from an auto parts store, Caustic soda from a
hardware store, and oil from a grocery store, I set out to
make this fuel. And it took me couple of times. I finally got it
right when I actually tried a batch of waste vegetable oil from
the valley drive in. So that was my first successful batch.”

Last year, John was only able to fill a Gatorade bottle with
his fuel. Soon, he expects to convert 240 gallons of
vegetable oil into biodiesel in a day.

He hasn’t quite figured out how much the electricity costs to
run the thing, so he doesn’t know how much it’s costing him
to make the fuel.

Back five years ago, he met a guy who claimed to be making
biodiesel for 46 cents per gallon.

Headlines then were already screaming about skyrocketing
fuel prices. 1.60 per gallon. That’s what sparked John’s
interest in making his own converter.

“46 cents a gallon was pretty cool. And I’m into sustainable
agriculture. It’s recycling and its ecofriendly. The
culmination of all those things, that’s what makes it
interesting for me.”

Now that’s he’s almost 18, most of John’s friends are into
cars. And they’re taking an interest in his biodiesel project.

John Russell: “I’m a senior in high school. So most of my
friends’ reactions are ‘when are you going to give me free
fuel?’ But they all think it’s pretty sweet. It does make fuel a
lot cheaper than you could buy it at the pump.”

Julie Grant: “How much are you selling it for?”

John: “Well, I can’t sell it. Or else I’ll get in trouble with the
big man.”

Julie: “Is your dad the big man?”

John: “no. The IRS.”

He’s got to do some research into state and federal laws.
John wants to use the fuel to run his family’s tractors and
help heat homes in his neighborhood.

He’s not sure if biodiesel is the future of fuel, or even in his
long term future. But John is sure he wants a career in
green industry.

“Anything that’s gonna be tied into this fuel situation that
we’re faced with. Something’s gonna change and
something’s gonna change fast. So I’m very excited for
what’s going to happen.”

For now, John’s trying to put the finishing touches on his
converter so it’s ready for the Ohio state fair later this
summer. He’s the new face of agriculture – making eco-friendly practices into traditional American values.

For The Environment Report, I’m Julie Grant.

Related Links