The Greening of Automobiledom

There was a time when motive variety was the rule, not the exception, in the fledgling auto industry. Besides internal combustion gasoline engines – that which became ubiquitous within the first few decades of the 20th century – there have been, from the start, many other powerplants used with many forms of fuel for motive transportation. Electric-powered battery jobs, steam-powered speedsters, waste oil, coal oil, methane, waste gas, biofuels, and others came and went as needs arose. Stanley Steamers http://www.stanleysteamers.com/ once ruled the road and held land speed records; eelectric cars enjoyed popularity between the mid-19th century and early 20th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for automobile propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time. Detroit Electric made electric cars for more than thirty years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Electric_Car_Company.

Biofuels, likewise, are nothing new - Rudolf Diesel's prime model, a single 10 ft (3 m) iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, ran on its own power for the first time in Augsburg, Germany, on August 10, 1893 running on nothing but peanut oil. In remembrance of this event, August 10 has been declared "International Biodiesel Day". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel.

Now, as we enter the second decade of the 21st century, we’re witnessing a real rebirth of many of those left along the roadside technologies. For instance, the Nissan Leaf http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index?dcp=ppn.39666654.&dcc=0.216878497#/leaf-electric-car/index is a fully electric roadgoing commuter automobile – a real car with real-car attributes, and the ability to range about 100 miles per charge. Chevrolet’s Volt http://www.chevroletvoltage.com/ is likewise a full-time electric/car, with an electric-only range of some 40 miles, but with the additional attribute of an onboard gasoline engine that will charge the system after depletion, adding hundreds of miles to its range, rendering it more than a simple commuter. Determined backyard mechanics are getting into the act, converting their own cars on their own terms, utilizing net resources like http://www.evworld.com/. Both go into production – and on sale to the public – this year.

Diesel-powered cars are also making new inroads – from the east and the west – with traditional Diesel powerhouses like Daimler http://www.daimler.com/ and Volkswagen http://www.vw.com/ bringing out more efficient, more powerful, more quiet, less polluting technologies, while the Japanese manufacturers, including Toyota http://www.toyota.com/, Nissan http://www.nissanusa.com/, and, most directly, Honda http://www.honda.com/, have all made marked investments in future Diesel product lines. Diesel-electric hybrids are under development by all major manufacturers.

So – what’s old is new, and what’s new is old….can a new steam-powered car be on the horizon? Now that would be zooty!