Ethanol is coming soon....what will Porsche do?

svonkampen · 05-08-2006, 06:34 PM

Ethanol is coming soon....what will Porsche do?

Hi,

Thought you guys would like to chat about this.......I would love too see Porsche being the first of the "Sports-car" companies to persue an Ethanol powered-sports coupe.........surely they must be planning for this right?.........It would seem "fitting" for a German sports-car company to lead the way to tommorow's alternative-fuel powered sports-car. I would feel so proud of them.

thoughts?

SvK

legion · 05-08-2006, 06:48 PM

Ethanol is a pipe dream.

It is more expensive to produce than gasoline (but very hefty government subsidies keep it less expensive than gasoline).

It produces less energy when it is burned than gasoline (lower fuel mileage).

At best, it can meet a small fraction of our energy needs.

David · David's Garage

I've been very skeptical of ethanol but when I look at what they've done in Brazil it makes me skeptical of my skepticism. Anyone been to Brazil and have the real scoop?

BTW, I'm very worried about the 10% ethanol they're planning to put in regular gasoline. What's this going to do to the old fuel lines in old cars. Or new fuel lines in old cars for that matter.

legion · 05-09-2006, 04:54 AM

Get used to replacing your fuel lines every 10 years or so. (From a person who lives in a state that has had a 10% ethanol mix for years and who has had one engine fire.)

id10t · 05-09-2006, 05:02 AM

Recreate the 356, using the alcohol powered VW engines from S. America.

legion · 05-09-2006, 05:12 AM

The 356 couldn't be built today. It doesn't have air bags, crumple zones, the dash board isn't up to spec...it doesn't have the 1000 lbs. of required safety equipment.

onewhippedpuppy · 05-09-2006, 06:11 AM

About the only thing good about Ethanol is that it is sustainable, as well as being produced domestically. I think it's only a temporary solution, for lack of another feasible one. Also great for farmers, and being really pushed by representitives of midwestern states. On the plus side, it can be made to perform. I remember a while back Ford made a concept car that ran on ethanol or gas, made 500 HP or so on ethanol if I remember right. I don't see it replacing gas anytime soon, more of just another option, because just the infrastructure cost of making it available is huge.

legion · 05-09-2006, 06:19 AM

It's a dream being pitched by the farm lobby in a thinly-veiled attempt to get more subsidies.

deathpunk dan · 05-09-2006, 06:28 AM

New extraction methods have been developed that create ethanol from plant fiber, wood chips, etc. as opposed to just from corn...not sure how costly to implement on a wide scale basis?

This is interesting:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/04/60minutes/main1588659.shtml

legion · 05-09-2006, 06:31 AM

I guarantee that the same farm lobby that is pushing for government subsidies for corn ethanol will stand in the way of ethanol from other sources. It's the American way.

gaijindabe · 05-09-2006, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 125shifter
I've been very skeptical of ethanol but when I look at what they've done in Brazil it makes me skeptical of my skepticism. Anyone been to Brazil and have the real scoop?

Equatorial sun, no winter and plenty of water. All good for growing biomass of any sort.

Will the agribusiness lobby allow duty free importation into the U.S.? Dont buy a E85 powered SUV just yet...

legion · 05-09-2006, 07:01 AM

Doesn't Brazil also have a much smaller population compared to land mass?

legion · 05-09-2006, 07:13 AM

What will fuel additional power plants needed to power electric cars?

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

I think you guys may have missed the Energy bill that passed last year, giving something like $9 billion in breaks to the oil companies and mandating doubling of Ethanol production.

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/electionissues/p/energy_bill.htm

legion · 05-09-2006, 07:29 AM

From the link techweenie posted:

Quote:

The bill also doubles required ethanol additive use; Archer Daniels Midland Co. is the nation's largest producer of ethanol and contributed $102,175 to candidates in the 2004 elections.

Guess who's raking in the cash this year?

Guess how much the price of corn has gone up this year?

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by legion
From the link techweenie posted:

Guess who's raking in the cash this year?

Guess how much the price of corn has gone up this year?

ADM's investment in Republicans paid off bigtime.

legion · 05-09-2006, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by techweenie
ADM's investment in Republicans paid off bigtime.

More like every senator and representative from Illinois, but mostly Republicans. ADM is the single most corrupt corporation I've ever come into contact with.

Hugh R · 05-09-2006, 08:01 AM

I ran ARCO gas which is up to (I think) 10% ethanol for years in my Mazda. I got consistently 21-22 mpg. I switched to Exxon/Mobil and now I consistently get 24.5-25.5 mpg same car, same exact route to work and back. Tested this over probably 20 tankfulls of each. ARCO used to consistently be about 5% cheaper than Exxon/Mobil, now the difference is like 1 cent/gallon. Exxon/Mobil is cheaper per mile driven.

Mulhollanddose · 05-09-2006, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by legion
Get used to replacing your fuel lines every 10 years or so. (From a person who lives in a state that has had a 10% ethanol mix for years and who has had one engine fire.)

Go figure -- liberals fascistically demanding a solution (in this case to an exaggerated problem), shoving it down the public's throat, and come to find out the demanded solutions do not solve the problem but in fact create more problems...all this because they will not allow us to drill domestically and they require nazi like controls on fuel.

I hate Democrats.

deathpunk dan · 05-09-2006, 08:31 AM

Way to posion the thread, mul.
The Republitard strikes again!