The Next Car...

 

 

"We have more natural gas than Carter has pills..."

 

We just returned from a short mini vacation to the North Shore. We took my new Chevy truck. This is the first long distance trip we have used it on without hauling something. One of the features on the truck I really like is the onboard computer. It will do many things including estimating average fuel economy. On the way home from Grand Marais, the truck recorded 20.1 mpg. For a large Chevy truck with a large V-8 engine, that is very good. However, it gave me pause to think - what will the next technology look like that will power our trucks and cars.

Usually when I think of the next fuel for cars, I think of natural gas. I have addressed this issue before in other postings. Our world is literally awash in natural gas. The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) published a finding in 2012 which said the following about our natural gas supply:

"EIA estimates that there are 2,203 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas that is technically recoverable in the United States. At the rate of U.S. natural gas consumption in 2011 of about 24 Tcf per year, 2,203 Tcf of natural gas is enough to last about 92 years."

The interesting thing about using natural gas in our cars is we don't have to invent anything. The technology already exists. Unlike battery technology which is decades away, natural gas technology has been around for a few years. It is cheaper, cleaner, and very easy on engines. Since we have almost a century of proven reserves (that number will go up as we are finding more all the time), why are we not using natural gas instead of problematic battery cars? Good question for your Representative or Senator.

Before President Bush (43) left office, he authorized $1B in spending for the development of automotive fuel cells. Many people, ranging from technocrats to environmentalists, were in total agreement that fuel cells are in our future. However, when President Obama was sworn into office, he had one unspoken rule - if Bush liked it, Obama would hate it. He ordered his Energy Secretary (Chu) to kill the fuel cell program and focus on other technologies.

The Europeans on the other hand, did not believe in those silly games. They believed in proven technologies that would work. The following was taken from an April 2010 article in Nature International:

In Stuttgart, Germany, nine major car manufacturers — Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Renault, Nissan and Toyota — signed a joint statement suggesting that fuel-cell vehicles could hit dealerships by 2015. In a coordinated announcement the next day in Berlin, a group of energy companies including Shell and the Swedish firm Vattenfall joined Daimler in an agreement to begin setting up the necessary hydrogen infrastructure in Germany.

As you can see from the names of these companies, they are serious players. They would not be investing in this technology if they did not think it would work. Putting all the eggs in one basket today with battery technology is a fool's errand. Truthfully, safe and economical battery technology might not ever work. Look at the problems the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is having with their "state of the art" battery system.

So as pleased as I am with my Chevy truck, I am keeping an eye on the future. We need to be nimble, we need to be smart. We need to stop being political. We have the energy. We have the technology. Lets use it.