CNG Compressor Set up in Indy

I had a trip this week to the Carrier/Bryant furnace factory in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The factory did not allow pictures (so all of our loss as all big factories are cool in general to walk through).

In route we took a short road trip to check out a very successful OEM re-fitter for compressed natural gas vehicles. We stopped by Green Alternative Systems (or G.A.S. as for the shortened logo name on their cards) to check out a conversion factory up lcose.  The other special reason for the visit was their inventory VPG MK-1 CNG vans (or cross overs, or whatever you'd call them).  Juaning Higgins pictured in the test drive below.

VPG has the MK-1 made by AM General at a former Hummer plant in Indiana. VPG is a start up auto manufacturer making a niche vehicle for transporting those in wheel chairs.  We saw these all over Chicago as cabs while we were there to. According to the Cabby driving one we talked to the City of Chicago has an ADA compliant requirement for taxi fleets in the city.  Also the lower cost of CNG as well as an incentive that CNG taxis go to the front of the line at O'Hare Airport make these popular among the drivers who can get them.  In fact the cabby we talked to said that if we were doing something with CNG he wanted to invest (which goes more to the point that there is a boom coming on this subject as speculators are already circling).

The MK-1 is designed specifically with special needs transportation.  Wide on the inside we couldn't help but notice it would make a really sweet service van.  No doubt these vehicles will possibly have a huge cross over potential especially with this factory CNG opportunity.  The sticker price on these high demand limited run vehicles is around $50,000.  From what we can figure that price tag is probably competitive in the ADA transportation business. No doubt retrofits after the factory are probably extremely expensive and a short run vehicle like this cannot be inexpensive.

LUBRICANT NERD ALERTWhen we drove the vehicle I had one thing I noticed.  The RPM on the dash lived above 3000.  So my experience of training as a driver I was instructed to keep the shifting below 3000 preferably at 2000. It just struck me that given the lean natural gas fuel the engine needs to run at a higher rate to get the same power. Something I will be looking at going forward as I get more familiar with CNG will be checking out oil samples out of these CNG engines.  No doubt there is more wear not less though the CNG sales men like to tell us we can extend oil drains due to the reduced emissions going into the oil I am not convinced.  No doubt higher RPMs is more heat, more wear, and therefore probably a special lubrication specification if you want to see them exceed 200,000 miles in their life.

What's cooler than a new car company start up?  The compressor they use to fill them and the Ford vehicles up with.  That was probably the highlight of the trip for me. Luckily they let me take pictures of the unit they rely on. Originally G.A.S. had a BRC Fuelmaker but this unit couldn't keep up with production. Hence they had a new rig assembled and installed.  

( NOTE: I am a layperson. A nerd layperson.  But still a layperson).

Below is what looks like to me to be the compressor and a flywheel no doubt attached to an electric motor below in the cabinet. I was not able to get a good look at the motor driving the compressor.

This is the path that natural gas at 10psi (according to our tour guide) moves its way into the compressor (in Oregon I have always been advised that the service side of a compressor would be under 5psi). Notice the water drain at the bottom left.  Pretty simple parts but no doubt thinking about cleaning up the gas off of the pipeline is an important part of these compressor lives.  No doubt moisture being a constant wear issue.

If the cabinet was not a dead give away about this being a fabricated one-off system the gauges will remove all doubt.  Notice the plastic carve out labels. I haven't seen this on a new installation in years. The whole system seems to be completely analog too. The gauges being the first give away on that.

Here is a picture of the fueling station.  I have seen in Oregon where they run ten or twenty feet of high pressure (3800 psi) stainless steel lines from the compressor to the fueling dispenser.   It never made sense to me. In Indy they obviously like simple and compact better.  There are two wands on the fueling location for two different sizes of refueling port that goes on the vehicle.  This was news to me as I had never heard that before.  A real important tid bit if you build your compressor set up and then find you've got a VHS vs Betamax design problem when you go to fuel.

Inside the compressor compartment there are three filter canisters.  Now of course these also might be pressure canisters for the three stages of refueling.  But I am not an engineer.  The guy on site couldn't answer what they were specifically.

A cool trip and very interesting to see what other markets are doing in the field. This trip to Indiana and Illinois just made me want to find my way to Pennsylvania where I hear the real gold rush for CNG is at.  From what I hear anecdotally they literally have people with expired wells on their property from a century ago and they are tapping these resources with a compressor and pumping natural gas for free out of the ground. I'd be real curious to take a tour of old petroleum country and see it for myself for sure.

Just another story about a homeless man and his Lamborghini.

So you ever have a friend who has a bad year?  Their women walks out leaving them with a house and life they don't want.  Well this guy did the only thing reasonable.  He sold it all, bought a Lamborghini and traveled the United States for years.  If only he solved crimes while doing this he'd have a TV series spun off about it.

Wired Magazine covers it on their website.  You've got to read it.

A Man, His Business Model, and a Paradigm Shifting Approach to the Electric Car.

From Wired Magazine. An interesting and thought provoking idea coming our way from Israel (a nation no doubt distinctly aware of where their economy's petro purchase dollars flow).

Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road

Here is the story in a nutshell. The issue with electric cars in the short term is a full large-scale deployment of support. Not just complete with recharging stations but also battery swap out facilities if you need a fully charged battery on short notice for a longer range trip. Also critical is support of fully delveloped and existing auto manufacturers to support electric vehicles. (See diagram below)

So in essence its the story of the Hydrogen Car but with technology immediately available today, full OEM support to roll out electric cars, and a product horizon of the near future.

Its doable and no less audacious than any other major idea drawing investment, support, and political advertising photo-ops right now. Its a little more complex than T. Boone Pickens' concept of converting vehicles to natural gas (an easy process) and much simpler than a Hydrogen Economy concept talked by the do-nothing till next decade crowd in opposition to most other proposals.

As viable as the smart-grid ideas pitched as the future, hydrogen refueling concepts pushing for funding, and of course the next-Gen biofuels emerging right now. I like what I'm hearing and I think that its something that would likely draw funding and support. In particular if Government and Utility groups stepped up to support this concept like they've done other experimental technologies in the past.

Also worth note, an Agassi quote from the article:

"I thought that the greatest problem of our time was oil. Oil on one hand is polluting the land, and on the other hand it's financing terror."

I trust those who are motivated by a perspective that moves them outside the normal box of concept. I don't trust those who are thinking big concepts to make a billion dollars. Though its a nice goal it breaks the focus away from true success of the technology and the recipricol partnerships necessary for a billion dollar business to thrive.

I am a capitalist personally so I don't trust those motivated that government is the sole solution either. But I do find an amazing pool of ideas and concpets trickling up from the End of Suburbia entrapanuer set. I don't believe in peak oil but I do find common ground with the perspective that imagines a world without oil and attempts to develop solutions that in their own right could compete with petroleum.

Shai Agassi is a leader of a logical framework I hope to see more from. An architect for the future that right or wrong will probably wring real additional wealth and value from technologies already with us and never applied in new directions. This is the definition of progress. Ideas pushing envelopes.

NOTE: I use this blog primarily to organize my reading, thoughts, and reactions over time. Complete with the tags and other background links. This is a little less than timely but I wanted to ensure I had it up for sake of finding it again.

The sign read: "This is Not a Concept Car"

The return of the VW Turbo Diesel.

Hybrid mpg efficiency with Century Old technology. Thank you Rudolf Diesel and thank you VW for the long awaited return.

I was driving past a VW dealership in Salem, Oregon and what did I see? A vinyl covered new VW Jetta TDI which said along its panels "45 mpg This is Not a Concept Car."

I've been waiting and now it looks like its finally about to arrive. Now lets just hope that Honda, Toyota, Subaru, GM and Ford all follow through with their own suggestions of small sedan clean diesels. I could only imagine what a Subaru AWD wagon would do for Biodiesel if it rolled out with a high efficiency clean diesel engine.

Now the only question is..... Will it be for under $25,000?

Fuel Milleage Throw Down

VW Jetta TDI vs. Smart Car vs. Toyota Prius vs. Ford Focus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46nMnCt75qI

This was a cool piece to watch. Being a big VW TDI snob I was excited to watch the Jetta beat the Prius in all real driving conditions (grandma getting milk once a week is not real driving in my opinion). I also was dissatisfied with the maintenance concern of the vehicle cost. The Ford Focus would likely beat all vehicles concerned in the first 100,000 miles. The Jetta if you extend the period beyond 200,000 miles.

Regardless. It was worth watching.

McCain Proposes Federal "X-Prize" for Electric Battery Powertrain Vehicles

John McCain goes all Portland, Oregon on the campaign trail. (See BizJournal for more info or JohnMcCain.com for the actual press release).

This seriously sounds like a left-coast proposal right along with the X-Prize for cars. The real question is why $300 million, why not other prizes, and what business does the Federal government have in offering a prize?

John McCain Will Propose A $300 Million Prize To Improve Battery Technology For Full Commercial Development Of Plug-In Hybrid And Full Electric Automobiles.
A $300 million prize should be awarded for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. That battery should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs. At $300 million, the prize is one dollar for every man, woman and child in this country -- and a small price to pay for breaking our dependence on oil.

I guess as long as it doesn't benefit a sitting special interest group John McCain can throw out pork with a straight face like the rest of them.

Having participated in a few government Request for Proposal (RFP) processes in the past I really don't see this making real sense in practice. Though on the stump it obviously has some real positive ring to it.

What I do like about it is the trust that if given incentive the free market will provide the solutions. Of course, when the Feds offer the prize instead of the free market it sorta destroys the logic of this effect though.

Major Automaker Listens to its Customers Wants. Toyota Rolls Out the Plug-In Hybrid

Hippies with six-figure incomes rejoice..... Your Christmas list has been written for you.

Shocking as it may be. Toyota is rolling out a plug-in hybrid. The retro-fits have long been popping around the Internet (Google having paid for retro-fits to show its viability). Well now its officially on its way.

Whats even better. Toyota is talking about the future with this vehicle. That future being a need to radically reduce the cost and ability of current lithium-ion batteries (see quote below).

"Reaching those goals will require bringing down the cost of lithium-ion batteries, which currently cost $1,000 per kilowatt hour, according to Tom Turrentine of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC-Davis."

Battery technology now entering the big-leagues when it comes to power-train Research and Development. This meaning that its official - the automobile's internal combustion engine is going through a totally new evolution.

See the full article at Wired.com

Automobile X-Prize Update

Wired online has a great update of the Auto X-Prize.

It went from 12 to 66 entrants.

Entrants origins number 9 countries.

There are two classes of vehicles :

Mainstream Class - with 4 wheel/4 passenger/and standard options expected in a modern vehicle.

Alternative Class - with an open allowance which includes the sexy Tesla roadster (shown right).

The vehicles will prove their mettle in a series of long distance races (nothing makes product development fun like a competition).

Its long but worth the read. Take a look at the future of design. You just know the large auto manufacturers are looking over their shoulders. Not so much because of the threat but just to see what outsiders can do.

Major Automakers Back Away from Fuel Cell's

Check it out.... GM and Toyota dismiss Fuel Cell's as viable.

Yep, that's what I thought. Go hybrid powertrains, electric technology, and of course my favorite - Clean Diesel. The far off mystical new fuel is exactly what it is billed as. Far off and mystical.

NOTE: Yes I am totally biased against fuel cells as a viable on-road power train. I personally see fuel cells as a bad idea for on-road vehicles. They just don't make logical sense to me when the real technology required for fuel cells to work is a superior electric power train. I do think fuel cells hold a great deal of promise for commercial and industrial facility use.

Hey Buddy, Can you spare a rare diesel engine?

I cam across an interesting site from a diesel shop in Seattle. Last year I was researching the potential of swapping out a gasoline engine with a diesel. I instead moved on to the much easier path - buying a VW TDI instead.

Regardless, I saw this site and thought it might be worth sharing.

http://www.dieselhead.net/

A whole supermarket of rare diesel vehicles, engines and parts. Build yourself a freakish diesel cross over vehicle.

The Diesel Hybrid Cometh - Go VW!

I was blown away to see it. Now I just prey it sees the US market. Check it out at Wired Magazine's blog.

VW is bringing on a TDI electric hybrid power train to challenge Toyota's dominance. This vehicle will be seen at the Geneva Auto Show later this week so I would expect the chatter to cross over into the mainstream after the show.

Claiming a 69.9 mpg, if this vehicle delivers as promise it will be big for us B99 lovers. Its clean enough to meet both EU and California tailpipe standards so a new era might be approaching. The Toyota Prius emits 104/kg of CO2 compared to this diesel which kicks out 89/kg. This is the future of diesel we all have been expecting.

If this touches down and out performs the mileage of gasoline/electric hybrids its only a matter of time before clean diesel becomes a standard option in smaller sedans. Now lets just make sure it doesn't take a nose dive due to uneducated technology biases.

Ford Festiva 1.4L Diesel

Ford is bringing back the Festiva. More pictures and an better description over at Wired's Autotopia.

But will it make the US? If you read Ford's own press release I get the impression that it won't.

More Talk of a Zero Emmision Car

This time at Plentymag.com. More on Tata motors, the air car, and more importantly a better picture. No way that car will be allowed on North American roads rated above 35 mph.

You have got to Google

Type in the phrase "Jeep Renegade Concept"

And check out the sweetest diesel electric hybrid I have ever seen. Actually its the only diesel electric I have ever seen.

"Lessons from the Electric Roadster"

I came across this at I-Tunes this weekend.

Martin Eberhard's "Lessons from the Electric Roadster" hosted at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program podcast feed. Being a recent lecture it's currently the first one on the list. Eberhad being a successful tech entrepreneur and co founder of Tesla Motors. Tesla Motors being the manufacturer of a super-sexy electric sportscar shown below.

Listening to his story of why and how he went about building an electric car is worth your time. Its an interesting and fun story. The best part of the pitch is how he muscled his way into the Lotus booth at a trade show and wouldn't leave till he found someone with a name he recognized. I could imagine how hard and odd it would be to pitch an auto manufacturer to build a car with a group of Silicon Valley tech engineers.

If you don't have I-Tunes I also found it via google here.

Who Will Make the First 100 MPG Mass Produced Car

Or as Wired says: 1 Gallon of Gas, 100 miles = $10 million: The Race to Build the Supergreen Car. A great article on the potential of contests to push forward outside the box innovation.

My rant about Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

USA Today covered hydrogen fuel cell cars and speculates why are they not available. Then they settle on price as the reason. This in turn spurs the rant you see below.

To put it bluntly. Fuel cell technology bores me. It bores me on so many levels. Primarily though its because at my fundamental core I feel like I'm being manipulated every time someone rattles a new fuel cell development in front of me. Like a shiny set of keys dangled in front of a drooling new born the expect me to ooooh. I've yet to be shown a reason to fall in love with hydrogen. Let alone a hydrogen car.

In short; I don't believe in the fuel cell car. I don't believe in the Loch Ness Monster. I don't believe in the existence of Sasquatch. And again - I don't believe the hydrogen automobile making it into Ford or GM showrooms. I'm not in argument that any of the above could exist. I just don't believe they do.

Here is why. Hydrogen has a business model in existence today. It would work exactly the same with the an identical distribution system, the same real estate (only larger tanks) and probably the same regulatory/safety concerns. This business model is propane.

Propane is readily available, reasonably priced, and readily usable by cars on the road. Why hasn't it taken off? It's clean right.

All the problems with propane supplanting gasoline as a motor fuel exist for hydrogen. In fact, any gasoline vehicle can easily be converted back and forth from gasoline, to propane, to gasoline so there are fewer barriers to entry. Though not a true flexible fuel, propane and natural gas will run in any gasoline engine with slight modification. So for hydrogen to be a true fuel paradigm shift it takes something other than emissions to be the motivator. It takes superior technology.

I ask all readers to think critically about what a fuel cell is and does. Think about what it would lend itself best to. It surely isn't a 500 mile round trip on one fill up. Its power generation.

The true value of fuel cell technology isn't in four wheel vehicles. Its in buildings.

For a sedan or pick-up truck to work the big breakthrough for hydrogen isn't actually getting the fuel cell to work well. Hydrogen fuel cells aren't the break through technology that we are waiting for. Its mass produced battery technology, improvements in information technology married to a vehicle, and improvements in what boils down to is essentially a hybrid power train.

I'll say it again. When you look at the hydrogen car the break through technologies have nothing to do with hydrogen. They have to do with a hybrid electric power train.

Contrast vehicle technology with commercial real estate (which doesn't need even close to as much to field this technology). Over 50% of the energy used in the US is in buildings and facilities. Large commercial structures are immense energy users with complex systems, budgets to invest for longterm payback, onsite trained facility personnel, and a complex group of systems all benefiting from combined heat, power, steam, and water.

Fuel cells, as an emerging technology, make sense for buildings and not for mobile vehicles. If for anything the cost of compressing hydrogen into a vehicles tank for a short trip doesn't make sense. The concept of putting gasoline, ethanol, diesel, or biodiesel into a vehicles tank as a source for hydrogen also doesn't make any technical sense . Especially when thousands of commercial facilities already have systems and talented people familiar with reclaiming waste streams for energy and handling emission reduction technology.

To me the only reason hydrogen car research exists is that the US DOE and EPA fund research for hydrogen cars. You also have some extensive large R and D divisions in the auto manufacturers who can throw off a whole host of valuable technologies under the same research framework though without actually delivering a sub $30K hydrogen car. If anything what hydrogen really offers is a black-ops cover for next generation hybrid vehicle technologies.

To me the hydrogen car is a monument to misdirected policy choices. Every time I read about a hydrogen car I get the same feeling I do when seeing Britney Spears motherhood status discussed. I feel like its inconsequential information put forward just for the hope it draws the right number of eye-balls to a television screen or newspaper. Its advertising disguised as news.

Saab's Bioethanol Bet

In the news.

For those of us who follow such things we have heard talk of the Bioethanol Saab for a few years now. Well its debuting in Australia. The first modern E85 designed car rolled out for mass purchasing and marketed as an E85 vehicle.

Very timely given the fact that ethanol is selling for $0.50 a gallon less than petro in many places (no subsidy required).

Modified 1977 Covette with a 6.5L Diesel

I found another diesel Corvette over the weekend. Check it out at http://www.thedieselpage.com/readers/vet.htm.

From what I understand, quite a few GM muscle cars with a 300R transmissions can accept either the 6.2 L or 6.5 L engines with little modification. These diesel engines being extremely common and mating directly up on the factory motor mounts of most GM products that came with this standard transmission. From what I'm told the only two real mods required are the addition of a vacuum pump and an alteration to the fuel pump.