OUR 'GREEN' FUTURE : HYBRIDS, HYDROGEN-FUELED FUEL CELL ELECTRICS, PLUG-IN HYBRIDS, EVs AND MORE!

DETROIT THREE'S FUTURE VEHICLES; SOON ENOUGH OR TOO LATE??

(GM EV1s in a parking lot at a General Motors facility in Burbank, CA, waiting, as it were, to meet their maker. The cars were produced between 1996 and 1999 and 2,234 of them were leased through Saturn dealers and Southern Company,a public utility power provider. In 2003, GM sent flatbed trucks to find all their EV1s, which were eventually destroyed, save for a few given to universities and probably some for museums, too. The repossessions created a firestorm of negative publicity for GM. Even a successful feature film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" was produced about the EV1 story. Some believe that GM's intention for this first electric vehicle produced by a major auto-maker in the modern era, was for it to fail in the marketplace, proving that the technology was not yet ready for public consumption. Others now say they believe that GM's announced plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt, might be headed down the same path; we hope not).

Now that the government has called for increases in fuel mileage for the car-makers, the Detroit Three and several of the captive imports (overseas companies which have factories in this country) have started their predictable litany of complaints.

When John McCain’s (former) economic advisor Phil Gramm last week called America “a nation of whiners,” the first thing which came to my mind were car company executives.

Here’s what the government wants: that automakers achieve a 25% increase in fuel economy from the 2011 to 2015 model years.

Why and how do we find ourselves in this situation, where American companies seem decades behind their Euro and Asian competitors? This story goes way back. The early 1970s were bad times for American car-makers. First, the Environmental Protection Agency was created, and for the first time, car companies had to meet specific mileage and emissions standards to be able to sell in this country.

Those years also saw the first oil shortages, and Americans were, for the first time, found themselves waiting in line for gas and they didn’t like it. (Ford's Ka has been a hot product and best-seller in Europe for almost a decade; so, where is the US version of this car?).

As if the EPA’s creation and oil shortages weren’t bad enough as far as the Detroit Three were concerned, there was an even bigger problem on the horizon. European and Japanese imports were getting their first serious footholds in the American car market, the world’s largest. Many of these new, interesting cars and trucks had been developed in places where gas and diesel had always been relatively expensive, and they were immediately attractive to US buyers.

All this created problems for car-makers. But that was almost 40 years ago, which seems enough time for all of the Detroit manufacturers to develop cars to not only meet government-mandated goals, but even better them. (The Smart car, sold in Europe for several years, has had several aftermarket performance companies make engine, exterior and interior kits for the popular mini-car. This one is from Brabus, a German parts-maker; we think Americans would love a car decked-out like this).

Those 1970's imports were also making most of the products from Detroit seem old and boring. Snazzy new imported cars not only met the EPA goals, they often came with more standard features than Detroit offered (rear window defoggers and side-mounted mirrors, for two examples, which were then options on most of Detroit’s cars, if available at all).

Click below to read more about the future product we might expect from the Detroit Three and what obstacles there might be to these all-new cars and trucks.

FASTEST, EASIEST SAVINGS AT THE PUMP; "JUST SAY NO!" TO HIGH OCTANE

We've just begun a new column for the Santa Monica Daily Press, and it will run every other Tuesday. We'll reprint the columns here right after they run. We'll have some different material here, though, because we're able to add comments and observations which we didn't have room for in the newspaper. At the bottom of this posting, you'll find information on how to get the column, and the newspaper, online and about another new outlet ... The Huffington Post).

After reading this posting, you’ll be able to save a minimum of 25 cents, and in many cases a lot more, not just per tankful, but per gallon of gasoline. (The oil which sprayed out of James Bond's 1963 Aston Martin DB5 can be put to better use refined and in your gas tank).

And you don’t have to call some 800 number for “magic pills” or order a “secret report the government doesn’t want you to see” about a 100-mile per gallon carburetor; this “trick” is free.

Unfortunately, diesel fuel buyers can’t benefit from this ploy.

Which is: Just say “pass” on the high-test gasoline and stick with the lowest grade of gas your car or truck can guzzle without getting ill.

The truth is that very few unmodified cars will run best only on high octane. Most every car and truck sold in the US will run just fine on “regular,” usually 87 octane, and mid-grade gasoline, usually 89 octane. The highest grade gas sold in California is 91 octane. (George W. Bush leaves from the airport at Daytona International Speedway; either that or Harrison Ford stole his plane! Wonder how many gallons of kerosene that critter uses every year? By the way, be sure to click on this photo to see it greatly enlarged; it's quite an amazing shot!).

My long-time old friend, John Dinkel, author of the “Road & Track Illustrated Automotive Dictionary,” offers an authoritative word on the subject: “If a carmaker recommends gasoline with a minimum RON (a method of measuring a fuel’s anti-knock abilities) of 91, fuel from a pump with a rating of 87 or higher can be used”.

My point exactly. Dinkel may tell the world’s worst puns, but knows his stuff when it comes to automotive issues.

Pontiac’s all-new 2008 G8 sedan, made in Australia by GM’s Holden division (and called Commodore down in Oz), is available in the US with either a V6 or V8 engine.

Pontiac recommends “regular unleaded” for use in both engines, but also says that “premium (octane gas) maximizes performance”. Is it worth paying between an extra 25 cents and a dollar-per-gallon in order to access, say, those last 20-or-so horsepower? That’s up to the car’s owner. (The Owner's Manual of the new Pontiac G8, both V6 and V8 flavors, says using something other than 91 octane gas will have the kitten purring along just fine ...).

Here’s how to determine which grade of gas your car or truck needs: Experiment, just like we all did in junior high science lab, but without trying to blow something up.

If your owner’s manual says use high-octane, and you’ve been filling-up with the premium stuff, simply stop --- and try a tankful of the mid-grade. Or even the lowest-octane available.

Here’s the important part: If during or after running a tankful of the low-grade, unlabeled, Ripple-version of gasoline your car or truck starts exhibiting some nasty tendencies which it didn’t on the high-grade, including engine knocking, pinging or even “dieseling” (turning off the ignition doesn’t stop the engine from running for a few seconds) and/or a noticeable drop in acceleration (“bogging down” when you try to pass on the 90 Freeway) or there’s a drop in mileage, using a tankful of high-grade the next time you fill-up will usually cure every one of those problems exhibited on the cheap swill.

(This week, George W. Bush lifted a White House Executive Order barring offshore drilling which had been signed by his father, President George HW Bush, in 1981; his frankly mean and petulant actions have no effect, because, thankfully, Congress has passed its own law, now US Federal law, banning offshore platforms from America's coasts. Good thing, too, because if they started planning a rig like this today and placed it and drilled and actually found oil, it would bring us some gasoline in, maybe, about five years. That gasoline will only extend our chronic, national addiction. Today's gas/electric hybrids and even the coming 'clean' diesels, which get much better mileage than their gasoline counterparts, could be seen as the drugs they give addicts to help get them through the withdrawals; but if the addict doesn't want to stop, no amount of drugs or persuasion will help. Addicts have to reach, they say, 'rock bottom' before they'll decide to get help. Seems to be that's where our nation is right now, hitting bottom, and asking for relief and a new way to live. You want to see this when you look out the window, or experience what happens when oil washes up onshore? Trust me, we in California have had the complete experience, and we won't let it happen again. You Go, Arnold the Guvernator!).

There’s nothing wrong, and money to be saved swapping between the high, mid and low grades every tankful.

With the price of gasoline (and diesel, heating oil, jet fuel and anything else made from plastic or other petro-related products) only going up, with perhaps just an occasional and temporary dip, the trick of swapping gas grades might be completely new for you or something you’ve been doing for years.

(Some say that whatever 'national energy policy' we do have was developed, and approved, by Big Oil in secret meetings with VP Dick Cheney. We know they had the meetings, we just don't know what they talked about, apart from wanting to drill, drill, drill and then drill some more. Where's the no-budget, all-hands-on-deck, Manhattan Project, Apollo-style national campaign to create the new energy economy for our country and the world? Did Cheney and his employers come up with that, or did I miss something on the news?).

Our nation’s fearless leader’s only suggestion to lower gas prices has been to recommend rescinding rules which prevented offshore drilling, and to blame the high prices on Democrats.

So, never has the grade of the gas Americans use in their cars and trucks been so important. Not to your car or truck, but to your wallet.

(Steve Parker's newspaper column, Tornante, runs every other Tuesday in the Santa Monica Daily Press, www.SMDP.com; He also writes and moderates the only all-automotive blog on The Huffington Post at www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-parker; His daily national radio show, American Racing Today, focuses on NASCAR and can be easily accessed on this site by clicking on 'Our radio shows ...' in the Sections column found in the right-hand column on each page on this site).

We've just begun a new column for the Santa Monica Daily Press, and it will run every other Tuesday. We'll reprint the columns here right after they run. We'll have some different material here, though, because we're able to add comments and observations which we didn't have room for in the newspaper. At the bottom of this posting, you'll find information on how to get the column, and the newspaper, online and about another new outlet ... The Huffington Post).

After reading this posting, you’ll be able to save a minimum of 25 cents, and in many cases a lot more, not just per tankful, but per gallon of gasoline. (The oil which sprayed out of James Bond's 1963 Aston Martin DB5 can be put to better use refined and in your gas tank).

And you don’t have to call some 800 number for “magic pills” or order a “secret report the government doesn’t want you to see” about a 100-mile per gallon carburetor; this “trick” is free.

Unfortunately, diesel fuel buyers can’t benefit from this ploy.

Which is: Just say “pass” on the high-test gasoline and stick with the lowest grade of gas your car or truck can guzzle without getting ill.

The truth is that very few unmodified cars will run best only on high octane. Most every car and truck sold in the US will run just fine on “regular,” usually 87 octane, and mid-grade gasoline, usually 89 octane. The highest grade gas sold in California is 91 octane. (George W. Bush leaves from the airport at Daytona International Speedway; either that or Harrison Ford stole his plane! Wonder how many gallons of kerosene that critter uses every year? By the way, be sure to click on this photo to see it greatly enlarged; it's quite an amazing shot!).

My long-time old friend, John Dinkel, author of the “Road & Track Illustrated Automotive Dictionary,” offers an authoritative word on the subject: “If a carmaker recommends gasoline with a minimum RON (a method of measuring a fuel’s anti-knock abilities) of 91, fuel from a pump with a rating of 87 or higher can be used”.

My point exactly. Dinkel may tell the world’s worst puns, but knows his stuff when it comes to automotive issues.

Pontiac’s all-new 2008 G8 sedan, made in Australia by GM’s Holden division (and called Commodore down in Oz), is available in the US with either a V6 or V8 engine.

Pontiac recommends “regular unleaded” for use in both engines, but also says that “premium (octane gas) maximizes performance”. Is it worth paying between an extra 25 cents and a dollar-per-gallon in order to access, say, those last 20-or-so horsepower? That’s up to the car’s owner. (The Owner's Manual of the new Pontiac G8, both V6 and V8 flavors, says using something other than 91 octane gas will have the kitten purring along just fine ...).

Here’s how to determine which grade of gas your car or truck needs: Experiment, just like we all did in junior high science lab, but without trying to blow something up.

If your owner’s manual says use high-octane, and you’ve been filling-up with the premium stuff, simply stop --- and try a tankful of the mid-grade. Or even the lowest-octane available.

Here’s the important part: If during or after running a tankful of the low-grade, unlabeled, Ripple-version of gasoline your car or truck starts exhibiting some nasty tendencies which it didn’t on the high-grade, including engine knocking, pinging or even “dieseling” (turning off the ignition doesn’t stop the engine from running for a few seconds) and/or a noticeable drop in acceleration (“bogging down” when you try to pass on the 90 Freeway) or there’s a drop in mileage, using a tankful of high-grade the next time you fill-up will usually cure every one of those problems exhibited on the cheap swill.

(This week, George W. Bush lifted a White House Executive Order barring offshore drilling which had been signed by his father, President George HW Bush, in 1981; his frankly mean and petulant actions have no effect, because, thankfully, Congress has passed its own law, now US Federal law, banning offshore platforms from America's coasts. Good thing, too, because if they started planning a rig like this today and placed it and drilled and actually found oil, it would bring us some gasoline in, maybe, about five years. That gasoline will only extend our chronic, national addiction. Today's gas/electric hybrids and even the coming 'clean' diesels, which get much better mileage than their gasoline counterparts, could be seen as the drugs they give addicts to help get them through the withdrawals; but if the addict doesn't want to stop, no amount of drugs or persuasion will help. Addicts have to reach, they say, 'rock bottom' before they'll decide to get help. Seems to be that's where our nation is right now, hitting bottom, and asking for relief and a new way to live. You want to see this when you look out the window, or experience what happens when oil washes up onshore? Trust me, we in California have had the complete experience, and we won't let it happen again. You Go, Arnold the Guvernator!).

There’s nothing wrong, and money to be saved swapping between the high, mid and low grades every tankful.

With the price of gasoline (and diesel, heating oil, jet fuel and anything else made from plastic or other petro-related products) only going up, with perhaps just an occasional and temporary dip, the trick of swapping gas grades might be completely new for you or something you’ve been doing for years.

(Some say that whatever 'national energy policy' we do have was developed, and approved, by Big Oil in secret meetings with VP Dick Cheney. We know they had the meetings, we just don't know what they talked about, apart from wanting to drill, drill, drill and then drill some more. Where's the no-budget, all-hands-on-deck, Manhattan Project, Apollo-style national campaign to create the new energy economy for our country and the world? Did Cheney and his employers come up with that, or did I miss something on the news?).

Our nation’s fearless leader’s only suggestion to lower gas prices has been to recommend rescinding rules which prevented offshore drilling, and to blame the high prices on Democrats.

So, never has the grade of the gas Americans use in their cars and trucks been so important. Not to your car or truck, but to your wallet.

(Steve Parker's newspaper column, Tornante, runs every other Tuesday in the Santa Monica Daily Press, www.SMDP.com; He also writes and moderates the only all-automotive blog on The Huffington Post at www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-parker; His daily national radio show, American Racing Today, focuses on NASCAR and can be easily accessed on this site by clicking on 'Our radio shows ...' in the Sections column found in the right-hand column on each page on this site).

SOLAR CELLS, MILLER CYCLES AND TURBO-DIESELS; MAY WE PRESENT THE FUTURE

Many news reports the past two days have been about Toyota’s intention to build the next-generation gas/electric hybrid Prius at a factory now under construction in Mississippi, scheduled to open in late 2010, which was originally planned for making the company’s Highlander SUV.

A lot of this reportage included the news that Toyota will use photovoltaic solar cells on the car’s roof to power the new Prius’ air conditioning system, making Toyota the world’s first car-maker to announce an intention to use solar cells to power an auto’s onboard system. In fact, my own first draft of the Toyota/karoshi posting below this one included that information, but when I fell into bed after posting, I asked my wife if she remembered something about Mazda using solar cells on one of their cars. (Mazda won the 1991 24 Hours of LeMans with this 787b race car ... No, really, they did! They just didn't tell anyone afterwards; plenty of racing fans still don't know about this victory. Mazda remains the first and still only Japanese car-maker to win LeMans and the one and only to win with a rotary-powered engine).

My memory is not as bad as I thought, at least my long-term memory, because when I got up today and logged onto the Web, I immediately did a search for “Mazda solar cells power” and sure enough, the company’s excellent but short-lived Millenia sedan was the first production car to utilize sun-power to run any on-board system. (Prius has been a blockbuster for Toyota; future models will use solar panels on the roof to power the car's HVAC and other systems; Prius' next-generation will be built at a factory still under construction in Mississippi, slated originally to build Highlanders).

I’ve always liked Mazdas and have owned several through the years, from an early RX2 coupe to a RX4 station wagon and a sporty Cosmo coupe (anyone remember that one?), all rotary-powered and tons of fun to drive, except when you pulled into a gas station.

I also drove one of the first, original RX7 coupes in the US, picking it up at an Oxnard, CA, shipping dock, fresh off the boat, and drove it south on Pacific Coast Highway towards Los Angeles for a photo session using the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop.

Those little, round and oh-so-very-smooth engines perform like a race car’s, just modified slightly for the street, but they used fuel much like a race car, too. Meaning a lot of it. And the news wasn’t so good on the other end of the cars, either, because rotary engine emissions have always been on the higher end of the allowable scale.

President Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, just as Mazda had begun selling cars in the US. The company and the EPA didn’t get along from the start. (Mazda's RX rotary sports cars have been favorites for amateur and pro racers since they first became available).

For the first time in automotive history, companies selling cars were being told how many miles per gallons their cars and trucks had to achieve and the amount and what kind of emissions a car produced were also now limited by law. To say this was a big change for car-makers doesn’t do the word “change” justice; this was absolutely the worst news possible for them, because they were going to have to invest billions in research and development and put all their engineers to work meeting the new rules if they wanted to sell cars in the US. This is the major reason US cars were so uniformly bad in so many ways from the end of the 1970s through almost the late-‘90s.

Click below to read more about solar cells being used on cars to power onboard systems, and the coming revolution in diesel-powered cars and trucks.

MCCAIN'S $300 MILLION PRIZE --- TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

The Saudis have given their friend Bush another bitch-slap, just as they did a few months ago when the American President had to go begging to the leaders of the country we've been protecting from Osama bin Laden, something which Bush couldn't do for his own country. At this week's OPEC meeting, Saudi leaders say they see nothing wrong with the amount of oil they're putting on the market every day, and rather than turn Bush down completely, they embarrassed him even more by raising their daily number of barrels drilled so little that it makes W look even more ineffectual than usual. (One of the 747-SP 68 planes in the Saudi Royal Family's car pool. Yes, they certainly need OUR money, right? Below, John McCain wants you to make your own caption, Below that, Barack Obama in a cornfield, possibly talking-up ethanol, Below that, McCain and wife Cyndi).

I never thought I'd say this, but: John McCain has a good idea with his proposal of a government-funded, $300 million prize for battery development. OK, it's not enough of a good idea, it's not yet plain who is going to pay for it or who is going to benefit from it. But creating a $300 million prize (paid for, I guess, by all of us) for new battery technology which "should deliver power at 30 percent of current costs and have the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars" is not the worst thing we'd heard all day.

Right off the bat: Better batteries are just one problem in the development of electric vehicles, and the  Japanese are already doing more in that area than the US; in fact, Toyota announced just last week that they are building three all-new factories in Japan just to build batteries for their current and future gas/electric hybrids and EVs. Any new battery development is just one aspect, an important one, but just one part of developing the best answers for our transportation future.

Keep in mind, also, that EVs using hydrogen, methane or other, newer liquid or gas as fuel and using on-board fuel cells to turn that fuel into electricity, batteries are not even needed. See: FLYWHEELS ON 2009 FORMULA 1 RACE CARS ... AND SOON YOUR CAR, TOO on this website.

Meantime, Barack Obama, closely tied to ethanol interests, has not yet flatly rejected McCain's idea, which is something to say in itself. Obama believes a tax on oil company windfall profits should be placed into a fund to pay for the many new technologies needed is the best way to go, arguing that very little of what the oil companies are making actually goes back into the development of anything in the way of true "alternative fuels" and modes of transport. Hmmm ... McCain says "public money for private investment and development," and Obama says, "Tax oil company windfall profits to help develop the necessary new technologies". Now, again, which one is the conservative and which one is the liberal?

Obama is no angel when it comes to this topic. His reliance on advisors who favor ethanol's use is running into a big problem which he should have seen coming: Ethanol is no easy, simple replacement for petroleum in running internal combustion engines; in fact, its use and development for the future has already resulted in higher food prices around the world and the ongoing diminution of ancient rain forest in the Amazon and other places around the world, particularly in Southeast Asia, as corn and sugar beets and sugar cane are taking the place of the natural growth and environment. Want to grow millions of acres of that stuff? Use the now- or soon-to-be-fallow pineapple fields throughout the state of Hawaii, because most all of that pineapple production has moved to the Philippines. Home-grown --- what a concept!

When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was told about the possibility of an "atomic bomb" which might end WWII earlier than planned and save, perhaps, millions of American and Japanese lives, he threw the full weight and power of the US government behind what came to be called the Manhattan Project. Entire cities were created in the US with the average citizen knowing absolutely nothing about them or the project. When President John F. Kennedy proposed, to paraphrase him, "sending a man to the moon and bringing him back, safely, before this decade (the 1960s) is out," Kennedy didn't offer a prize, stage a contest or trot out some other sexy-sounding gimmick to develop the necessary technology. Like Roosevelt (who was, like Kennedy, a Democratic president), Kennedy understood the gravity of the problem and the best way to attack it, and put his then-Vice President, Lyndon Baines Johnson in charge of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, founded in 1958) and the project. LBJ took the assignment seriously, both initially and after he became US President. Whatever NASA needed, Johnson and the federal government delivered and the program, of course, was a near-total success.

Creating transportation systems of the near-, mid- and far-future is a job which only the tremendous power and weight of the US government, and perhaps other governments, too, can take-on.

(California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a look at an electric vehicle, the Tesla, at a Santa Monica, CA, airplane hanger two years ago).

Click below for more on the REALITY of the McCain $300 million battery contest ...

BIG GREEN NEWS: FIRST HONDA FCX CLARITY HYDROGEN FUEL CELL EV CUSTOMERS ANNOUNCED

Honda today, June 16, 2008, took the first steps, in Japan, in leasing their FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell EV sedan to five Americans and creating the world's first "network" of dealers with the ability to service and repair the first true 21st century vehicles. (Photo - Clarity's world intro was at the Los Angeles Auto Show; Honda's Asimo robot is seen on-screen above car).

Whether or not the ubiquitous Honda robot, Asimo, had a part in the ceremony at the Honda HQ isn't known.

But it's a history-making event; for all the news Toyota and General Motors have made the past few years about developing gas/electric hybrids and fuel cell EVs, Honda has beat them to the PR punch. They were also first in creating a second-sales channel (Acura) in the US for luxury-oriented cars, again proving the adage that Honda is the most progressive of Japanese car-makers. Here's the press release, directly from Honda:

American Honda has announced five of the first customers for its advanced new FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle and also provided details of the world's first fuel cell vehicle dealership network in the United States. The announcements were made during a ceremony for the start of FCX Clarity production at the world's first dedicated fuel cell vehicle manufacturing facility in Japan. (Photos - Honda execs and two of the five "early adaptors" chosen by Honda to receive some of the first FCX Clarity sedans; Below, Clarity's interior).

Film producer Ron Yerxa will take delivery of the first FCX Clarity in July. The remaining four early adopters  for Honda's next-generation fuel cell vehicle are author and actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest; business owner and car enthusiast Jim Salomon; actress Laura Harris; and Jon Spallino, already the world's first retail fuel cell vehicle customer, who has been leasing the current generation FCX since 2005. Yerxa, Harris and Spallino attended the event in Japan.

To provide its customers with outstanding sales and service support and as a critical step in advancing fuel cell vehicles in the real world, American Honda announced the establishment of the first network of dealers to facilitate the sales and service of fuel cell vehicles. The three Southern California Honda dealers are Power Honda Costa Mesa (Costa Mesa), Honda of Santa Monica (Santa Monica) and Scott Robinson Honda (Torrance).

American Honda is working with its dealer partners to implement processes for fuel cell vehicle lease, delivery and service support for the duration of their leases. Establishing a dedicated sales network and service infrastructure provides customers with the best balance of convenience and the highest quality of service. When the FCX Clarity requires periodic maintenance, customers will simply schedule a visit with their local FCX Clarity dealer. (Photo - FCX Clarity being built in Japan).

American Honda will perform all required work at its specialized fuel cell service facility, in the greater Los Angeles area. Upon completion of the work, the dealer will return the vehicle to the customer.American Honda is working with its dealer partners to implement processes for fuel cell vehicle lease, delivery and service support for the duration of their leases. Establishing a dedicated sales network and service infrastructure provides customers with the best balance of convenience and the highest quality of service. When the FCX Clarity requires periodic maintenance, customers will simply schedule a visit with their local FCX Clarity dealer. (End of Honda release).

OK, apart from the very positive feelings engendered by this announcement, a couple of other thoughts: First, involving show business-types as three of the first five "early adopters" may not go over as well in the US as it might in Japan; secondly, Honda should have staged this event in their US headquarters in Gardena, CA, and third, while the emphasis on Southern California people, places and dealerships is understood to be necessary, Honda would have done well to involve FCX Clarity-intenders from other parts of the US. (Photo - Rear running shot of FCX Clarity).

If we remember right, during the first few years Saturns were sold in the US and the GM division was  heavily promoting the company's desire to take the best care possible of their customers, Saturn mechanics would on occasion fly to the ends of the earth to service customer cars. We remember one case of a Saturn wrench flying to Alaska to service a customer's car, and Saturn made a TV commercial about that event and it garnered them a lot of positive feedback and brought new customers into their stores all over the country.

Certainly FCX Clarity cars are nowhere near as numerous as Saturns were in their early days; in fact, four of the five FCX fuel cell sedans for its first group of five customers probably haven't even been built yet. But spreading the cars around the country a bit might have been a great way to begin the leasing of FCX Clarity EVs in the US and is no doubt something which Honda will attempt as soon as they think it makes sense for them.

In any event, big-time props to Honda for beating some much bigger competitors to the finish line in this, the very first "race" of putting hydrogen-powered fuel cell EVs into the hands of the American public.

(Photo - Fuel cell stacks being manufactured at Honda facility; we wonder if the robot is a cousin or friend of Asimo).

For first official factory specifications on Honda's FCX Clarity, click below.

DIESELS PLACE 1-2-3-4-5-6 AT LEMANS

Another crucial step in the coming renewed sales and marketing of diesel-powered cars and light trucks in the US for the first time in many years took another huge step forward in France this weekend, as turbo-diesel V12 race cars filled the top six finishing positions at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The winning car was entered by Audi Sport North America, and not Audi's German factory affiliate, Audi Sport Team Joest (Photo - Above, red/silver car pictured; Below, Peugeot's turbo-diesel 908HDi at Sebring in 2007) .

Whether or not Audi and Peugeot decide to make a serious effort to educate American car-buyers about their diesel race-winners remains to be seen, but we think it should be a given that they spend millions promoting their victory. In Peugeot's case, they had a second-place last year, their first try at the LeMans 24 Hour with their 908 turbodiesel, this year called the 908 Hdi-FAP. This year, their repeat second-place finish and being 3 of the top 6 finishers is worth letting the world know about, too. The two Audi and Peugeot winners, which finished on the same lap, completed just over 3,231 miles when the checkered flag waved.

Let someone in the US argue with the endurance and power of diesel engines; if Audi and Peugeot do their marketing job right, Americans will be singing the praises of diesel engines when Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and of course Audi and possibly Peugeot bring their oil-burners to this country beginning in late summer, 2008.

But we always think back to 1991, when Mazda won the LeMans 24 Hour with a rotary-powered car in the LeMans Prototype class, the same in which Audi and Peugeot were entered this week, and Mazda completely neglected promoting their vctory afterwards. It was the first time a rotary-powered car had won LeMans and the first time a Japanese company had won the race. Mazda, though, did nil when it came to marketing and advertising their victory, which means all the money spent on the race car was essentially wasted. We hope Audi and Peugeot have both learned from Mazda's mistakes.

Audi claimed their third diesel-powered victory and their eighth win in a row in the event, joined on the podium again this year by Peugeot, whose own diesel racers drew away from the field early, but then succumbed to numerous problems only typical of this unique 4pm to 4pm race, which was, as is nearly invariable, visited by rain showers. One of Peugeot's multi-million dollar race cars was sidelined for a time after hitting a bird. (Photo - Mazda's 787B which won LeMans in 1991 was both the first Japanese car and the first car with a rotary engine to win at the 24 Hours of LeMans. Never knew that? Neither does anyone else ... Mazda never advertised or promoted their victory).

The race track, which combines dedicated racing surfaces as well as roads used on a daily basis by the  public, and of course closed for race week, is 8.481 miles in length. The track's longest straight portion, the Mulsanne Straight, was broken into two sections by a chicane years ago to slow the cars.

Because of the serious battle expected between the Audi and Peugeot turbodiesel teams, most if not all of the world's top sports car endurance pilots spent their weekend jumping in and out of the 200+ mph race cars which, in 24 hours, saw the first and second place finishers both complete 381 laps. The second-place Peugeot finished the race just short of 5 minutes behind the winning Audi; the third-place Peugeot was 2 laps behind the winners and the fourth-placing Audi was 7 laps behind the two top finishers. The next Peugeot and Audi were 13 and 14 laps, respectively, behind the event-winning Audi. (Photo - Corvette C6-R leads a Ferrari F430).

In this second LeMans 24 Hour in which the two top contending teams, Audi and Peugeot, were both  powered by 12-cylinder 5.5-liter turbo-charged diesel engines, Audi came out on top for their third-year-in-a-row diesel win and Peugeot placed second overall again in what is considered to be the toughest and most demanding sports car race in the world.

Here are the top ten finishers overall and in class. Rather than just glossing-over the list, take a minute and really look at the names ... Jacques Villeneuve ... Rinaldo Capello ... Pedro Lamy ... Ron Fellows ... This is big-time stuff! This list includes the LMP1 cars, the fastest; the first LMP2 finished in tenth place, the Van Merkstein Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder:

1. Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello, Allan McNish; Audi No. 2, 381 laps.

2. Jacques Villeneuve, Marc Gene, Nicolas Minassian; Peugeot No. 7, 381.

3. Franck Montagny, Christian Klien, Ricardo Zonta; Peugeot No. 9, 379.

4. Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller, Alexandre Premat; Audi No. 3, 374.

5. Pedro Lamy, Stephane Sarrazin, Alexander Wurz; Peugeot No. 8, 368.

6. Frank Biela, Marco Werner, Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi No. 1, 367.

7. Harold Primat, Christophe Pinseau; Benoit Treluyer, France; Pescarolo Judd No. 17, 362.

8. Soheil Ayari, Loic Duval, Laurent Groppi; Courage-Oreca Judd No. 5, 357.

9. Tomas Enge, Jan Charouz, Stefan Mucke; Lola Aston Martin No. 10, 354.

10. Peter Van Merksteijn, Jos Verstappen, Jeroen Bleekemolen; Porsche RS Spyder No. 34, 354.

The second finisher in the LMP2 class was another Porsche RS spyder, entered by Team Essex and driven by Elgaard, Nielsen and Maassen. (Photo - Above, Audi LeMans Concept at 2003 Tokyo Motor Show, which eventually became the Audi R8; Below, Ferrari F43).

An Aston Martin DBR9 took first in LMGT1 and 13th overall, much to the consternation of two Corvette C6-R racers driven by Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen, their Corvette finished second in class and 14th overall and the other Corvette C6-R was right behind them in 15th overall. "Mad" Max Papis, Olivier Beretta and Olivier Gavin drove that one.

A Ferrari 430 GT entered by Risi Competizione, driven by Melo, Salo and Bruni was first in LMGT2 and 19th overall. Another F430 GT was second-in-class and 22nd overall.

HOW BIG OIL CONTROLS GAS/DIESEL/HEATING OIL PRICES

In a recent posting, we explained several major reasons gas, diesel, heating oil and other petro prices have been so low in the US relative to many other economies, major and minor. Another one which we should have mentioned: price controls. These controls have become so forgettable because they've been so lax. Big Oil has had their own proven methods of dancing around whatever price controls existed on their lifeblood between the end of WWII and the 1970s; these controls were just another obstacle to be overcome (with cover stories concocted to explain them away) until the price for petro guaranteed that even with lower prices than Europe and Asia, the US remained Big Oil's most dependable and most prolific money-maker. And when it comes to fuel taxes, Big Oil lobbyists have been a major reason both federal and state petro taxes have remained relatively stable for decades.

One of Big Oil's favorite excuses for rising prices? Not enough refinery capability. We often hear that "the oil industry has not built a new refinery in the US in over 30 years," and not only is that true, but this "non-building program" has allowed Big Oil to control the price of gas, diesel, heating oil and other petro products in the US. Big Oil becomes a little like your passive-aggressive mother-in-law; "We can't refine oil fast enough to sate demand for gas and diesel, so we can't be responsible for what happens to prices at the corner gas station!" And arguing with Big Oil brings about the same results as fighting with your mom-in-law.

When Big Oil is troubled by: Refinery capacity catching-up with the nation's oil supply and all those pipelines and supertankers bringing ever more of it? Too much gasoline in your stations' underground tanks? Prices falling at the corner gas station, and Price Wars breaking out between station owners? A drop in heating oil in the futures market? Americans driving less, staying away from hi-test if they can, they're buying more and more hybrids and high-mileage cars, and only businesses buying full-sized trucks, like the olds day?

The answer is easy for Big Oil, even in the face of those (pretty casual) price controls: Cut production!

Many people might be surprised to find out that in the US, under Democratic and Republican administrations, one side called "socialist" and the other in love with "market forces," there have been price controls on oil in the US since the end of WWII.

The US petroleum industry's price has been mostly regulated through production (for instance, those mysterious "refinery repairs" which seem to always happen just before "summer driving season") or price controls throughout much of the twentieth century.

In the post World War II era, US oil prices averaged $24.98 per barrel adjusted for inflation to 2007 dollars. In the absence of price controls the US price would have tracked the world price averaging $27; however, without the heavy taxes imposed on gas and diesel in most of Europe and much of Asia, America's petro prices would still have been much below those in most of the northern hemisphere's heavily-industrialized nations.

Click below for more on Big Oil controlling petro product prices.

CHEVRON TURNED DOWN FOR OVER-$100 MILLION TAX REFUND

Record profits and huge federal tax breaks aren't enough for Chevron; no, they went whining to their local federal appeals court claiming they thought they were due another $101-million in federal income tax dollars. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals overruled another court's decision approving the refund. Yes, a US District Court actually approved Chevron's request for the refund; we just wonder if the judge was able to do so with a straight face. For all we know, and for all any American knows, the court might simply have been acting in accordance with America's apparently top-secret Energy Policy, the one created by top oil industry executives along with and in the office of US Vice-President Dick Cheney (Hey! No one's told me anything about it! How about you?). Here's the news story about this one:

As reported on February 1, 2008, Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, posted an enormous profit in the quarter as crude prices, which reached more than $99 a barrel during the period, outweighed its relatively weak refining profits.

Chevron's net income rose to $4.88 billion, or $2.32 a share, from $3.77 billion, or $1.74 a share, last year, 2007. Analysts had expected the company to earn $2.30 a share. Sales in the quarter rose to $59.9 billion from $46.24 billion last year.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco rejected, on June 13, 2008,  a bid by San Ramon-based Chevron  Corp. for a $101 million income tax refund.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling in which U.S. District Judge Saundra Armstrong of Oakland had allowed the refund. The dispute had to do with refund claims originally filed by Texaco Inc., which was acquired by Chevron in 2001.

Texaco claimed it overpaid taxes for the years 1988 and 1990 through 1992 because it should have gotten a deduction related to a $1.25 billion settlement it reached with the U.S. Energy Department in 1988.

The settlement payment was for Texaco's alleged overcharging of customers for crude oil and refined oil products between 1973 and 1981. The oil company said it should have gotten a deduction discounting the sales revenue that it later had to hand over to the Energy Department in the settlement.

But a three-judge panel of the appeals court said the language of the U.S. revenue code was "clear and unambiguous" in saying that Texaco wasn't entitled to deductions for payments related to past years' inventory sales. A spokesperson for Chevron was not immediately available for comment. (End of newswire story).

We think Chevron spokespeople will stay away from publicly commenting on this one not just now, but forever. But Chevron is probably not through with this one; they still have, as far as we understand, at least one more court in which to fight this battle, the United States Supreme Court. They probably will take advantage of their rights as a gigantic international corporation whose headquarters happens to be in America and make a visit to The Supremes before this over. Maybe then this case will get some attention outside of newspaper business pages and, possibly, CNBC.

WHY GAS/DIESEL "BOYCOTTS" NEVER WORK

While truck and car drivers around the world are protesting the rapidly skyrocketing prices of gasoline and diesel fuel by blocking major highways and off-ramps with their vehicles and indeed rioting in some places, one of the worst ideas in "gas protests" is seeing its useless head resurrected all over the US. Here's what was running on the website of a Los Angeles TV station today:

"Drivers fed up with the high cost of gasoline are telling big oil companies to "Kiss My Gass!"

A handful of protesters delivered their message this morning at a Hollywood gas station to kick off a national "gas out" campaign. The five protesters representing a newly formed grassroots group chanted and held signs reading, "Will work for gas money." at the Exxon station at Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine Street.

The group is calling on motorists to stop buying gasoline at Exxon Mobil stations throughout Southern California. Members of the protest group are gathering at specific gas stations, urging motorists to turn around and get their gas somewhere else.

Similar protests are planned for every major city across the nation. While the first target of the boycott is Exxon Mobil, the group also plans to target other major oil companies like Chevron and Shell.

Jasmyne Cannick, 30, said she founded the "Kiss My Gass!" campaign to channel "road rage" about rising gas prices. She says the only way to get the attention of the big oil companies is to institute "national rolling gas outs" each month targeting a specific brand of gasoline. The group hopes to send the message that we "aren't going to keep bending over without a struggle." Organizers are urging everyone to get involved and help spread the word through the use of protests, marches, bumper stickers, and banners. (End of TV station story).

Well, Ms. Cannick, 30, because you weren't yet with us on this earth, and certainly not driving anywhere, during the first couple of "oil shortages" in the early and mid-1970s, you missed finding out why this idea doesn't work the first time(s) it was proposed. In fact, you unknowingly mention the reason in your own press release quoted in part above, when the LA TV station posts: "Members of the protest group are gathering at specific gas stations, urging motorists to turn around and get their gas somewhere else."

"Get their gas somewhere else" means that the oil industry as a whole loses nothing, not one red cent, if consumers follow your suggestion. It's EXACTLY what the oil companies want you to do! Not buying any fuel at all for a day, a week or a month might have some effect, BUT ONLY IF THE BOYCOTTERS DON'T BUY GAS ... AT ALL ... ANYWHERE ELSE!

Because Ms. Cannick is located in Los Angeles, odds are that she has driven past the huge oil refinery operations in the area around the 405 Freeway as it cuts through the cities of Carson, Torrance, Gardena and others. If she looked a little closer at their operation, she'd note that the usually-unmarked, clean, shiny, silver 10,00-gallon oil tankers filling-up from the same overhanging pipes and hoses.

So, a "boycott" staged against a single brand of gasoline just doesn't work, because the same people doing the boycotting are simply switching from one brand of gas to another, and ultimately contributing to Big Oil while paying the same high prices.

GAS-SAVING GADGETS - FEGEDABOUTEM!

Run your car on water. Run your car on air. Put this pill in your gas tank and improve mileage more than 50%. Secret 100-mpg carburetor Detroit doesn’t want you to know about! Save over $100 a month guaranteed in fuel costs with this special fuel additive. Our $49.95 fuel-saver creates a mileage-increasing swirling vortex in your engine; turns the air-fuel mixture into a hurricane or a tornado! This proven product uses the same concept behind the jet engine to save you at the pump. Attend our free hotel meeting and learn how to market this gas-saver to your friends and neighbors.

Bullshit.

It used to be that advertisements for these kinds of products were found only in the classified section of Popular Mechanics or sold on the midway at county fairs (though I must admit that infomercial guy who sells the ShamWow chamois is pretty entertaining; heck, we almost bought one ... or two).

Cars and trucks come from their factories designed to get the best possible mileage from a gallon of gas. Some people might find that hard to believe, but vehicles are designed, inside and out, for the lowest-common denominator of driver and the care they might show their car. That's because, when drivers start "adding lightness" and perform other tricks on the family sedan to make it lighter, faster and go, stop and handle better, then you're talking about building ... a race car.

Let me make another point: None of the gas-saving scams listed above work. Not one of them. I will tell a story to support my case ...

Most everyone is familiar with STP, and we don't mean Stone Temple Pilots (though they are cool, too).

In October 1954, three St. Joseph, MO businessmen ponied-up $3,000 in start-up capital and introduced Scientifically Treated Petroleum. Better known as STP, their first product was STP Oil Treatment, that they claimed helped automobile motor oil resist thinning at high temperatures and pressures. Not really a "treatment," it was more like a 100-or-more weight oil that was so thick it could plug leaks in head gaskets and fool about any driver into thinking their engine was running better than before ... and it might, for awhile, at least. It's kind of the liquid equivalent of the infamous "sawdust in the transmission." In 1961, STP was purchased by the Studebaker Packard Corporation. The now-infamous Andy Granatelli was appointed CEO in 1963 and began marketing the products through auto and boat racing. Those who aren't familiar with this great promoter, Granatelli (whose brother Vince was also involved and successful in IndyCar racing for decades), is the man seen kissing Mario Andretti in Victory Circle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, after Andretti won the 1969 Indy 500; THAT is Andy Granatelli. And he was damn happy STP had spent a lot of money getting Andretti into the race in the first place. It was Andretti's first and to be his only win at The Speedway.

I also have it on good authority that Granatelli is able to consume up to $400 worth of sushi during lunch. And I'm still on my way to the point of this story.

Big racing news this week said that Petty Enterprises, the family-owned NASCAR team which was first-called Petty Engineering when Lee Petty founded it in 1949, sold a majority interest in their team and company to Boston Ventures, which describes itself as "a leading middle market private equity firm which invests in the entertainment, media, and communications sectors," whatever all that means. All of it did remind me of an STP story which applies to this posting's look at "fool additives, uh, I meant FUEL additives, gas secrets and 100-mpg carburetors".

A couple of decades ago I was at Southern California's wonderful old Riverside Raceway, attending what had to be one of the last NASCAR Winston Cup events at that track. That raceway is now a shopping mall, and not even a nice one at that. Race tracks look better in the desert than shopping malls.

Anyway, I was walking along the pit wall as the various teams brought their cars out, getting ready for the start of the race, which was about an hour off. I spotted the Petty car, the #43 STP Dodge, and even though I was new both to the sport and journalism, I knew that the red, white and blue car usually was worth some sort of story, and as just a few people surrounded it, I saw that this might be a chance to get some sort of story or at least some worthwhile background. Maybe even to meet the driver ... Richard Petty.

So I walked up to the car and a crew member had just opened the hood and was leaning over the engine. Getting closer, I saw he was pouring a liquid into that huge engine's oil fill pipe, and it was coming out of a can labeled "STP".

"How much do you put in there?" I asked.

"Not enough to hurt it," he barked back. I got the idea.

Whatever he was pouring into the engine was probably not any kind of STP product, but perhaps an ultra- lightweight oil, sometimes called a "home brew," which is often used by NASCAR race teams only for the few laps run during qualifying sessions. Only NASCAR and IndyCar run these kind of multi-lap qualifying sessions, with just one car on the track at a time, among the world's major racing series. This thin, super-slick oil allows the engine's parts to operate more freely, with less friction, producing more rpm, horsepower and, ultimately, speed. But the oil provides engine protection for only a few laps. So we don't recommend using this kind of oil in any car or truck to achieve better mileage, especially if you plan to run that car, truck or motorcycle for more than 10 miles before its next oil and filter change. The lightweight goo probably does provide improved mileage, but no one has admitted, as far as we know, to running enough laps with the stuff to comment for sure ... Though I am certain it's happened, with an engine that got great mileage ... for 1/2-mile-or-so ... and then "jus' blowed-up," as they say in NASCAR. (Photo - Honda's robot, Asimo, is seen in lights above the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell sedan at the Los Angeles Auto Show).

Think about this: If Detroit (or Tokyo or Stuttgart or Seoul) had ways to improve mileage, wouldn't the manufacturers would promote them like crazy as the world beat a path to their showrooms? Of course! How do we know? Because it’s already happened. For proof, just take a look at Honda, GM and Toyota.

Click below for more on what to expect soon from GM, Honda and Toyota in fuel-saving cars and trucks ...