Yeah, Greg, it hit a nerve. hehe
There won't be any significant changes in the automobile until there is a need for it. Not a want, but a neeeeeed. Necessity, after all, is the mother of invention. Congress can mandate that necessity, but they won't.
In 1908 the average fuel economy for all cars on the road was 18.3 MPG. The 1908 Ford Model T got 25 MPG. Today, as of the most current figures of 2004, the average fuel economy for all cars on the road is, yep, 18.3 MPG (the EPA says its 20.8, but the EPA also admits that most people only get 75% of the EPA rating, and when all cars on the road are taken into account, the actual figure is probably closer to 15 or 16 MPG). That's some kind of progress there. <snort>
The basic, clunker of a rotary dial telephone of 50 years ago has become cell phones packed with GPS, cameras, MP3 players, and more, and to answering machines, faxes, Blackberry instant messaging.
A measly 50 years ago computers were the size of multi-family dwellings, cost a bazillion dollars, and could only muster up basic 8th grade math skills. Today, well, there's my laptop. 'nuff said.
Yet, the energy and transportation industries have progressed at a snail's pace in comparison. Greed and the desire for economic and political control have kept the (profit-rich) energy and transportation sectors from developing as rapidly as they might have in a more open climate. Any new technologies will be suppressed by big money, unless that same big money is the one who develops it or can profit from it.
Nobel Prize winner Nikola Tesla, back in 1900, proved that the Earth itself is a responsive as a tuning fork at certain frequencies by using the Earth as an electromagnetic dynamo and lighting 200 lamps at a distance of 25 miles, all without wires. Tesla's primary financial backer, J.P. Morgan, witnessed all this and in a panic of financial fortitude immediately pulled his money from the project, making the famous comment, "If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?"
A friend of mine converted his Prius into a PHEV (plug-in hybrid electrival vehicle) whereby he can plug in his car at night to let the batteries fully recharge, rather than replying on the engine and dynamic motion to charge them, cause they will never be fully charged otherwise. He lives in a small town and rarely makes trips that aren't local. He gets somewhere between 97 and 110 MPG out of his 45 MPG car. The reason is, his Prius almost always is running on batteries and the engine rarely ever kicks in. I wonder why this isn't being either advertised by Toyota, or even made that way at the factory? The conversion is, like, uber simple. It's basically an extension cord.
He's a former Marine, and he got the idea after seeing and driving an experimental military Hummer-like vehicle (US Marines RST-V Hybrid Tactical Vehicle, made by General Dynamics) that is a diesel/electric hybrid that was modified for plugging in for full recharges. It's a Prius on steroids, and is stone cold silent on the battlefield. hehe
Incidentally, the RST-V shattered the the speed record for the Army's Rock Ledge Course at Yuma, AZ with a time of 13 minutes and 50 seconds. The previous record was over 32 minutes. And it did it without the internal combustion engine coming online even once. Normal fuel usage for an average Hummer on an extended recon mission might be 1400 pounds or so of fuel. The RST-V's usage is less than 400 pounds. And when plugged into a generator to fully recharge batteries between trips, it uses about 150 pounds.
Instead of gasoline blended with a little ethanol, or diesel blended with a little soy, give me a lot of biowhatever blended with a little petrol and I'm there. And even that's just a Band-Aid.
Give me a vehicle that can run off the tuning fork of the Earth, supplemented by hydrogen power, and now yer talkin'. But that would mean a major shift in power from the automakers and oil guys, unless they can retool to do it themselves (which I think is exactly what will happen in the long, long, long run). But, with Detroit fallin apart at the seams, and jobs moving overseas and to Mexico at a record pace, to me, now would be the perfect time for the Big Two automakers to totally retool and get into hydrogen power, fuel cells, solar and other alternatives.
The problem is, they can see short and long term profits until the horizon by moving the jobs elsewhere. (If you have to retool a plant, might as well take the opportunity to move the plant itself, build new tools at the same time, and get a dirt cheap labor force in the process.)
And until
that dog won't hunt anymore, they won't do a thing of any significance to shift from astoundingly inefficient internal combustion engines to something better, especially if that something-better isn't something they have total control over.
By the way, Mercedes now has several prototype PHEV Sprinters running around Europe. The most popular initial application is for buses and ambulances. The MPG's (KPL's) they're getting are unreal. I have an uncle who is a retired US Army colonel, spent almost all of his career in Germany, is gonna stay there, and he keeps me informed.
