 merrie says: system that shuts the car off automatically at a stop light, and then restarts it and gives it a mild boost to accelerate. Gasoline and diesel are the world's dominant motor-vehicle fuels for good reasons. They deliver more power per gallon than ethanol or other biofuels. Even now, gasoline in the U.S. is cheaper by the gallon than many brands of bottled water. Natural gas has enjoyed a resurgence of interest in the wake of big new gas finds in the U.S. But there are only about 1,100 natural-gas fueling stations around the country, of which just half are open to the public. There's the cost of redesigning cars to be lighter and more aerodynamic so batteries to power them don't have to be huge. There's the cost of scrapping old factories and the workers that go with them -- a particular challenge for Detroit's Big Three auto makers, which have union agreements that make dismissing workers difficult and costly. This idea lives today in General Motors Corp.'s crash program to bring out the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid by 2010 -- even though the company acknowledges the battery technology required to power the car isn't ready. Even if GM succeeds in meeting its deadline for launching the Volt, the Volt won't be a big seller for years, especially if estimates that the car will be priced at $40,000 or more prove true. Moon-shot efforts like the Volt get attention, but the most effective ways to use less energy may have less to do with changing technology than with changing habits. A 20-mile commute in an electric car may not burn gasoline, [u]but it could well burn coal -- the fuel used to fire ele... |
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