Oh, the poor ethanol industry figures. Maligned for their reliance on corn, blamed for rising food prices and having to resort to subsidized fuel sales to attract attention, ethanol is an easy target these days.. Ethanol can't even get any love from the chickens. Last week, ethanol promoters gathered in Nashville to lash out at OPEC and Big Oil, and to figure out how ethanol will fare in the coming years. Around 4,000 people attended the 2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo, according to organizers BBI. There is a lengthy video of the opening session now available online here.

In the video, the president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association,Bob Dinneen, breaks into a bit of a tirade about the oil industry. Dinneen's message is that the oil companies are waging war against renewables through paid-for studies and newspaper editorials. The ethanol industry's solution? Mandate that all new vehicles in the U.S. be E85-capable (we assume they mean all current gasoline-powered vehicles). Author Robert Zubrin said this would drive gas prices down to $50 a barrel. I say if cellulosic ethanol companies can make good on their promises to sell ethanol for something like $2 a gallon, you won't need a mandate to get all cars to be E85-ready.

Click above for hi-res gallery of the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel

British sportscar-maker and engineering firm Lotus may be known for its lightweight vehicles, but in the industry it still packs a punch as a heavyweight. It's that weight which Lotus is throwing behind methanol as the most viable alternative fuel.

Towards that end, at this year's Geneva motor show Lotus unveiled the flex-fuel 270E prototype based on the lightweight Exige sportscar. The vehicle is designed to run on gasoline, ethanol or methanol, but it's the latter which the company feels is the most viable for the near future. Like bio-ethanol, methanol can be made from natural materials, or can be made from hydrogen combined with CO₂ pulled out of the thin air, which allows for zero-emissions operation. The most convenient aspect, however, is that most car engines on the road today could be converted to run on methanol.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - subs. req'd]

Although Toyota is the undisputed leader in hybrid sales, it has shied away from offering E85-capable vehicles in the United States. In other markets, though, where ethanol is widely available and popular, such as Brazil, Toyota has seen fit to offer vehicles which are able to run on the alcohol fuel. Just-Auto reports that Thailand might be the next market where Toyota could begin offering E85-capable vehicles, citing The Nation newspaper in Thailand. The decision to offer ethanol-capable vehicles is made easier as any gasoline engine can be made to run on E85 with only minor changes, such as new fuel lines and a computer recalibration.

Toyota also hopes that the price of E85 remains low in relation to the price of gasoline, which could help offset the lower mileage that E85 fuel causes. The source article also points to molasses and tapioca as locally-grown feedstocks for the production of the fuel itself.

[Source: Just-Auto - sub. req'd]

The U.S. Air Force is trying to make its ground vehicles a little less petroleum fuel-hungry. It has advanced li-ion battery contracts out and funded the Silverado EV. The company Xcelplus International Inc. announced this week that it and MAG International Inc. will be providing the Air Force with a "new fleet of off road vehicles designed to reduce exhaust emissions." The reduced emissions for the 450 vehicles come from flexfuel conversions and then running the unnamed vehicles on E85. Aside from the secrecy of the vehicles involved, the amount the company will receive for the conversions was also not stated. One thing that isn't hush-hush, though, is that a lot of taxpayer money will be funneled through the Pentagon to increase fuel efficiency for "warfighters" for a long time to come. More detail after the break.

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Ever justified buying something you know you shouldn't have purchased? Getting the fries instead of the salad for an extra dollar because you're hungry and, hey, it's just a buck? Or maybe you bought a way-too-big house because the ARM was so affordable (emphasis on the "was")? Well, you'll have your work cut out for you if you want to spring for the DiMora Natalia SLS 2. The price? A cool two million dollars.

Obviously only intended for the insane - wait, I meant insanely wealthy - the Natalia SLS 2 should be out next year and the justifications have begun. Described by My Desert as "the first eco-friendly, hand-built, $2 million production automobile" (let's hope there isnt' a second), celebrities like Willie Nelson and Larry Hagman are ready to tell us just how good this car can be for the environment. Willie's usually a pusher for biodiesel, not ethanol, but he was excited about the flex-fuel capability of the Natalia SLS 2. He didn't say anything about the car itself. We can guess that's because it's got a V-16 that displaces 14 liters for 1,200 horsepower, which certainl doesn't sound green. Still, DiMora Motorcar says its flagship vehicle will get "excellent gas mileage." Oh, and it's got some nifty windshield wipers.

Look, if you're thinking of blowing $2m on a car, go get help. Better yet, buy a spaceship and head for the stars. We don't need your kind here. If you want to impress your neighbors, buy a Tesla or a Fisker or convince Honda to sell you an FCX Clarity or something. Green cars are smart, but two million bucks for a sedan is just dumb.


UPDATE: main image changed. Thanks to Peter.

[Source: My Desert via Ecorazzi]

There are already millions of flex-fuel vehicles on the road today, and manufacturers like General Motors have committed to building many, many more. In fact, GM has plans for half of their entire fleet of automotive offerings to be flex-fuel capable by the year 2012. According to Jim Wagoner, GM's CEO, if all of the flex-fuel vehicles that are currently on the roads were actually powered by E85, the U.S. could displace 22 billion gallons of gasoline annually. This raises a serious problem, though, considering that there are only about 1,400 E85 pumps in the entire country. Many of those are all clustered in a few Midwestern states. In view of this, Wagoner suggests that the U.S. needs about ten times as many E85 pumps than are currently operational.

No matter what your view of E85 may be, you likely agree that using food crops such as corn is not the best choice. In lieu of corn, Wagoner suggests investing more heavily in cellulosic ethanol (which is exactly what GM is doing with Coskata in the deal announced today). There is plenty more to read here, where you can read the text of the Wagoner's entire speech. You'll also encounter a couple of very, very bad jokes. Enjoy!

[Source: General Motors, CNET Green Tech blog]

The Wall Street Journal reports Honda is considering ethanol and more natural gas-powered cars. In the past Honda has not been positive on ethanol. Here is Honda's U.S. sales chief John Mendel, speaking in August 2006, when asked about making flex fuel cars:

We're not against it. ... In the list of priorities right now, we haven't moved it up the list. It is less efficient from a fuel-economy standpoint.

Why is ethanol suddenly a priority a little over a year later? The ethanol glut currently in the market and the energy bill's inclusion of an even greater push for biofuels, makes adding a $100 worth of technology to your car a no-brainer.

The Wall Street Journal article also mentions a new affordable Honda hybrid in 2009, which seems to be the CR-Z. The only thing new seems to be that by "affordable," Honda means a hybrid premium under $2,000 which sounds a little higher than the $1,750 premium Honda has said before.

The Wall Street Journal also says Honda is considering diesel for larger cars to comply with new fuel efficiency requirement in the pending energy bill. They would not elaborate on which diesel technology is under consideration.

Related:

• Honda's new dedicated hybrid to be a high-volume model
• Honda says no to ethanol, says it's not efficient
• Honda's environmental strategy includes diesels, affordable hybrid
  
• 2009 Honda Accord diesel to hit 52 mpg!

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Ferrari probably won't make a hybrid or a full electric car but they just might make a flex-flex car that can run on E85. That possibility comes directly from Maurizio Parlato, President and CEO of Ferrari North America, at the end of an interview at the LA Auto Show with the Wall Street Journal, which you can watch above. At first, the WSJ notices the Ferrari's beautiful, candy red looks but notes this show is all about green and then asks what have they got that's green, to which Maurizio replies; thank you for asking me that, we are very sensitive to this point and we have to be and then this;

We are thinking and moving in the direction of ethanol to make ethanol a part of our, basically possibility, we are considering seriously about that.

...ah, his English is not great but I think the message is clear. Ethanol makes a lot of sense for a sports car because you can get more power from ethanol and things like lower mileage or higher fuel cost are probably not of great concern to a sports car driver. It's really too bad Ferrari cannot look at hybrids as a being a source of power but this is great news none the less.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

We told you February that Toyota's racing series would use ethanol in 2007 and now we have a video of the first race from TV3, where they describe it as a world's first in motor sport. Toyota currently does not sell a flex fuel vehicle in the US market but they may sell flex fuel vehicles in the next several years. It may cost car makers as little as $100 to make a car flex fuel, and most cars are already built to tolerate ten percent ethanol blends in gasoline and Toyota does sell flex fuel vehicles in Brazil, so it's probably not a technology or cost issue. Why the wait, Toyota?

Related:

• LA 2007: Toyota Sequioa to get Flex-fuel option in fall 2008
  
• Toyota looking at a plug-in hybrid, flex-fuel vehicles?
• Toyota To Unveil Flex-Fuel Tundra In North America In 2008
• Toyota to intro flex-fuel Tundra, hopes it will help sales in the Mid-West
• World Touring Car Championship to run ethanol exclusively from 2009
• American Le Mans Series moving further into biofuels
• First-ever all-ethanol Indy 500 has a winner...

[Source: YouTube]

In GM's LA Auto Show press conference, which you can watch above in full, GM Vice Chairman of Global Product Development, Bob Lutz says the same thing we reported GM CEO's Rick Wagoner said: GM will release sixteen hybrids in the next four years. Here is the exact quote:

If you want to talk hybrids; we are introducing four more hybrids in the US this year. In fact, counting the new Saturn Green Line, we are introducing sixteen hybrids in the next four years. That's one about every three months.

Bob continues saying that the 16 will include vehicles with GM's full, two-mode hybrids. Before that, Bob said GM has a goal of making and selling the most fuel efficient car in every available category, and mentioned the company already has the most fuel-efficient pick ups and has sold 2.5 M flex fuel cars. GM announced its "strong intent" to be the "world wide fuel solutions leader and undisputed environmental and technological leader in the industry." Bob says they are going to do it across their entire line of cars and not just with a single iconic green car, which Bob says they will have anyway. Bob even hinted at a lot more flex fuel cars coming from GM, whic makes me wonder if some big announcement is coming.

Basically, GM is talking to Toyota Muhammad Ali-style: we are the best and we are going to kick your butt!

[Source: Podtech]

During a recent international renewable energy forum in Beijing, Liu Zhijia, Assistant General Manager of Chery, said by 2010 half of Chery's vehicles will be hybrids and half of those hybrids will run on clean fuels. Here is exactly what he said:

New energy is a driving force for the sustainable development of auto industry, by 2010 more than fifty percent vehicles produced by Chery will be equipped with hybrid systems, and half of those vehicles will be powered by new energy.

Yin Tongyao, Chery's chief executive has said Chery "will reach annual sales of 1 million autos by 2010." That would translate to annual sales of 500,000 hybrids a year from Chery. For comparison, the total U.S sales for hybrids for 2006 was 254,545. Will Chinese hybrids flood the U.S market? Not right away. Chery does not intend to enter the US market for four years.

At the forum, Liu also said the hybrid development plan will have three phases. The first step has mild hybrid sedans starting production in 2008 which means that overall emissions from Chery vehicles will be reduced between 10 and 30 percent. The second phase is the development and mass production of full hybrids and electric/alcohol vehicles by 2010. That's when Chery expects half of its sales to come from hybrids. The final phase is the development of fuel cells cars by 2015.

The Chinese vice-minister for science and technology, Cao Jianlin, was also at the forum and he said the government will provide funding and tax breaks as part of a government plan to encourage green technology. Chinese auto makers Shanghai Automotive and FAW has also shown interest in hybrid technology. The future of Chinese hybrids looks bright.

[Source: Heliq]

New Zealand has bold plans for greening its automobile transportation. In the "Energy Strategy to 2050" report, presented by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, there are calls for major changes such as:

• 5 percent of cars to be plug-ins by 2020, rising to 60 percent by 2040.
• 25 percent of cars to be fuel cells by 2050.
• 25 percent of vehicle fuels to come from renewable sources by 2020, rising to 80 percent by 2050.
• 80 percent of New Zealand's government vehicle fleet able to run on 10 percent biofuels or electric power by 2015.
• Fuel economy increased 25 percent by 2025.

These measures will halve transport green house gases emissions by 2040, and mean that New Zealand could be the first country to widely use biofuels, clean diesel and electric powered cars. They still can't beat the Vatican's claim, though.

[Source: MSNBC]

Last night's NBC Republican presidential debate took an unexpected turn to the green. For almost half an hour, the candidates talked about alternatives to oil and ethanol. Senator Sam Brownback even talked about a flex-fuel, plug-in hybrid car. Sam went into specifics saying he would like to see an electric-only range of 20 to 30 miles on plug-in hybrids. You can watch the video of Sam talking about plug-in, flex fuels below the fold. Here is the quote:

"We've got to get more electricity involved in our car fleet. There's a Chevy Malibu parked out front here that's a hybrid flex fuel. They've got hybrid cars; they've got flex fuel cars. I think that's a big part of the answer. I'd like to see us move forward with getting those first 20 to 30 miles off of electricity that you plug into at night. That's technology. We're putting forward tax credits and incentives to try to move that forward. That's something Detroit here needs to grab on, and is. And that can move us forward as an industry and as a country."

As for ethanol, Ron Paul does not support subsidies and neither does John McCain even though he drinks a glass of ethanol daily. In one of the funnier moments of the night, Mike Huckabee said we have to increase the pace of our support for ethanol. All the ethanol plans, Mike says, are for 15, 20 years in the future. Mike thinks we can do it in less than a decade if we worked at it like a mission to the moon or (because Huckabee knows his audience) a Nascar pit stop. You can also watch that video below the fold. Here is the quote.

"We can't wait until another generation. Instead of running it like Nascar, we've been running it like taking the family station wagon in for letting Goober and Gomer take a look at it when they get time, under the shade tree."

So, is Bush Goober or Gomer?

[Source: Mother Jones, Wall Street Journal]

I saw a TV commercial for a Chevy flex fuel car last night. The format for the ad was a lot like the Chevy Volt commercial: kids learning about a car outdoors with a teacher. The interesting part of the ad was the teacher's description of the flex fuel car as "vegetarian." I find the description of a GM car as vegetarian odd considering the Hummer, which, like Chevy is a unit of GM, uses ads that say tofu munchers must buy the Hummer to "restore your manhood." I can't wait to see how they advertise the Tahoe hybrid.

Related:

• Chevrolet moving ahead with more green vehicle promotions 2007, "Gas-friendly to Gas-free"

[Source: Chevy TV commercial]

A California Senate committee is demanding Governor Schwarzenegger's officials show up to a hearing Tuesday to answer questions about his role in getting GM a flex-fuel contract. So far, the governor's office is resisting the request. What's the problem? California law says you have to seek competitive bids for big contracts. When the state wanted to use flex-fuels, they had a private meeting with GM, did a pilot program with GM, invited no other car maker to do pilot programs, and then let other car makers bid for the contract. GM won because the other carmakers did not meet the state's qualifications. Does that smell a little funny to you?

So what was Arnold's role in all this? Turns out there was a policy on the books that said the state couldn't buy flex-fuel cars at all because there were not enough ethanol pumps in the state. Arnold may have tried to get that policy squashed so the deal with GM could get the go ahead. In 2005, the state contracting manager sent an e-mail saying the flex-fuel cars were added "per the Governors request." A spokesperson for the governor says the manager must have gotten that from his public statements about going green because Arnold did not talk to anyone. Besides, GM was the only car company certified to sell flex-fuel vehicles by CARB, the California Air Resources Board.

The funny thing about that is CARB's lawyer had concerns about the GM deal. In 2005, CARB's lawyer even wrote that two of Schwarzenegger's own officials were concerned it had the "appearance of this being a noncompetitive bid project." Also, in 2005 a spokesperson for California's General Services had concerns that GM's press release about the flex fuel pilot program "appears to create the impression that the outcome of a solicitation currently in process has been preordained."

Schwarzenegger has strong financial ties with GM, and he helped GM bring the Hummer to market. The flex-fuel contract with California was for 1,300 cars and worth $17m. There's some background information in the posts below, and we will keep you informed as this story develops.

Related:

• Ahem. California bought over 1,000 flex-fuel vehicles two years ago, but where's the E85?
• More details on the California state flex-fuel vehicles not using any E85

[Source: San Jose Mercury News]