Over the years there have been notable attempts to create a mass market for alternative-fuel vehicles. Perhaps the most high-profile effort was that of the California Energy Commission (CEC), which worked hard to promote the use of methanol flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) among fleets. The CEC got automakers to commit to producing limited numbers of FFVs, obliged gasoline retailers to include M85 methanol pumps at over 50 service stations, and offered purchase incentives to aid sales of these vehicles.
These efforts did result in a 14,000-vehicle methanol demonstration fleet on California highways. But it ultimately failed to commercialize the technology. Without a significant enough number of FFVs on the road, oil companies were unwilling to continue adding M85 (85 percent methanol, 15 percent gasoline) fuel storage tanks and pumps at their stations, replacing revenue-generating gas pumps with M85 pumps that may see little use. And without readily accessible M85 fuel, buyers were unwilling to purchase a methanol vehicle, even if it could still run on gasoline when an M85 pump wasn't nearby. Cost wasn't an issue; automakers eliminated the cost differential between FFVs and conventional gasoline sedans and still couldn't spur sales.
With this as a backdrop, it's curious that Ford and Chrysler have both announced intentions to market enormous-at least by alternative-fuel vehicle standards-numbers of ethanol FFVs nationwide. Chrysler is set to provide standard flexible-fuel capability in all of its 3.3-liter V-6-equipped '98 minivans, a number that falls around the 200,000 mark. Ford's plan is to market up to 250,000 ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles, including its Taurus sedan, Ranger pickup, and Windstar minivan, beginning in phases next year.
Here's the curiosity: Only 28 public ethanol fueling stations currently exist, located primarily in and around ethanol-producing corn-belt states. While the automakers, state governments, and the ethanol industry will certainly work to establish a widespread ethanol fueling infrastructure, this is a tremendous, costly, and time-consuming challenge. In the absence of readily available ethanol pumps, drivers will simply fuel up with gasoline. This means no emissions gains, no dent in petroleum consumption, no increase in the use of renewable energy-the very driving forces behind ethanol vehicle commercialization.
Regardless, with automakers finding it increasingly difficult to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy targets, massive sales of FFVs will provide substantial CAFE credits, even if these vehicles never run on anything but gasoline. This thought has certainly not escaped the corporate boardroom.
Book Review:
Motor City Muscle: The High-Powered History of the American Muscle Car, by Mike Mueller. 1997, Motorbooks International Publishers and Wholesalers, Osceola, Wis., 800/826-6600. Hardcover; 10x10 inches; 192 pages; 225 color and black-and-white photos and illustrations; ISBN: 0-7603-0196-4.
In this well-documented tome, longtime hot-car fanatic Mike Mueller has compiled a definitive chronicle of life in the Detroit fast lane during the wild and crazy '60s and '70s, when horsepower ruled and CAFE was still just a place you dropped into for a quick cup of coffee.
Divided into nine chapters, "Motor City Muscle" opens with a brief historical overview of the genre before stepping off into a detailed presentation on the rise of the first modern muscle machine, the Pontiac GTO. In the ensuing text and photos, Mueller resurrects the entire spectrum of high-power legends offering a behind-the-scenes look at not only the machines but the men who helped turn them from dreams to reality.
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