[SEL] OT, completely: Hydrogen as a fuel for personal autos

[Elden DuRand]

Orrin:

I must be a bit ahead of the curve.  In 1978, I put a 154 Cubic inch Perkins Diesel in a 1950 Chevy sedan and, after adding a turbo and overdrive, I once got 44mpg with it.  Usually, I got between 36 and 40 mpg depending on how I drove it.

Now, we have a VW Jetta TDI and it regularly gets 44 mpg.  Once, it got almost 48 mpg.  I could live with about half the power in that little wagon and get a LOT better mileage.

I think you're right.  Our pols have their heads stuffed right there where the sun don't shine and are pandering to the gas guzzlers.

Take care - Elden 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
> [mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com]On
>  Behalf Of Orrin
> Iseminger
> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 07:23 PM
> To: 'The SEL email discussion list'
> Subject: Re: [SEL] OT, completely: Hydrogen as a 
> fuel for personal autos
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
> [mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com] 
> On Behalf Of Elden DuRand
> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 4:00 PM
> To: The SEL email discussion list
> Subject: Re: [SEL] OT, completely: Hydrogen as a 
> fuel personal autos
> 
> Orrin:
> 
> We must be two peas in a pod!  Ever since the 
> first hydrogen fuelled cars
> were publicized, I've had many reservations about 
> using it as a motor fuel
> aside from the ineffeciencies of production, storage, etc.
> 
> Now, the pols and lobbyists want us to embrace 
> ethanol, another poor choice.
> 
> If you're gonna grow it to run your car, run your 
> DIESEL car from it!
> 
> Take care - Elden
> (a dedicated Diesel Freak)
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Eldon, we most certainly are of the same mind!  
> The following borrows
> heavily from an e-mail I recently sent to 
> National Public Radio's "Science
> Friday" program host, Ira Flatow.  
> 
> Before you read it, however, let me point out 
> that the Honda Diesels
> mentioned were production models without 
> modifications to their engines.
> This is brought out in the linked Web page.  The 
> mileage run was done on a
> track as well as public thoroughfares.   
> 
> Orrin
> ~~~~~~~~~
> I am pro-clean-air, so I understand the reason 
> behind automobile exhaust
> restrictions; but, I cannot understand why the US 
> cannot be like European
> countries that are already achieving somewhere in 
> the vicinity of a 35 mpg
> fleet average, the goal congress is trying to set 
> for the USA some thirteen
> years hence!
> 
> Take a look at this:
> 
> "U.K., May 6, 2004 - Honda's new Accord 2.2 
> i-CTDi Sport has this week set
> no fewer than 19 world speed records and achieved 
> 3.07 litres / 100 km (92
> mpg) fuel economy to boot."
> 
> http://world.honda.com/news/2004/4040506.html
> 
> That was over three years ago!   Of course, the 
> numbers are not quite as
> impressive when one realizes the 92 miles per 
> Imperial gallon translates to
> *only* 76.6 (IIRC) mpg US.   Even so, 76+ mpg is 
> mighty impressive!  
> 
> Granted, that car was "tricked out" and highly 
> tuned by Honda engineers;
> but, the fact remains that kind of economy is 
> achievable with today's
> technology.  
> 
> My question is, "Why are we not seeing Honda 
> Diesels in US showrooms, today?
> Why are we not driving high mileage Diesels in 
> the US?"  Is the Clean Air
> Act providing the US manufacturers with an excuse 
> to not develop high
> mileage vehicles?  I don't know.  I only wish I knew.  
> 
> I'm completely baffled over all the hype over 
> hybrids, electrics, and fuel
> cells when ordinary Diesel-powered VW pick-up 
> trucks available in the US
> twenty years ago could easily obtain 50 mpg fuel 
> economy; in our family we
> drove a circa 1980 Isuzu Diesel-powered sedan 
> that easily topped 50 mpg at
> Interstate speeds.  (BTW, it was a very fun car 
> to drive, quiet, comfortable
> and it handled like a sports car.)  It seems to 
> me that it would be much
> easier to clean up Diesel exhaust than to develop 
> a whole new battery or
> fuel cell technology and a whole new 
> infrastructure to support it/them.  
> 
> I will concede that a Diesel engine will put CO2 
> into the air, but so will
> the 35 mpg fleet average this country is shooting 
> for in thirteen years.   
> 
> The technology is already available, now, that 
> could slash this country's
> petroleum consumption.  Unfortunately, we do not 
> have the political
> leadership nor the courage in congress to get the 
> job done.  The politician
> shrugs and says the marketplace will decide.  
> Sometimes, the marketplace
> needs a nudge, an incentive.  
> 
> The politician is more likely to jump onto the 
> current bandwagon and make
> pretty speeches filled with words like hydrogen 
> or fuel cell or ethanol,
> just to let folks know he's up with the latest 
> darling fad.  
> 
> How do we go about educating the public and the 
> politicians in order to show
> them our current technology will take us where we 
> want to go?  We don't need
> pie-in-the-sky solutions [such as metal-hydride 
> hydrogen storage, etc].  We
> need leadership.  
> 
> Orrin Iseminger
> Colton, Washington, USA
> http://users.moscow.com/oiseming/lc_ant_p/menu.htm
> So many projects.  So little time.