Hey There Chief!

The Gawker Media empire has taken something of a shine to my mad skilz as an automotive writer (after a certain amount of begging on my part) and may actually hire me on as a counterpoint to the Autoblog (a part of the rival Weblogs.Inc empire). I like the Autoblog well enough, I suppose, but there seems to be something missing…

…like snippiness!

I can supply that in abundance as those of you who have followed this mess can attest. For instance, I can tell you why I hate the Toyota Prius: because it’s not a straight Diesel-electric. Apparently, although the Union-Pacific railroad figured this out a long time ago, the granola set has fallen in love with Toyota’s marketing to such an extent that they can’t see a grand proposition even though it’s right in front of them. Imagine if you will a small Diesel powerplant, running at a constant rate (and hopefully in a perfect state of tune) simply charging a battery pack instead of revving up and down—challenging the best computer to keep up with its emissions.

Wouldn’t this be the 100 MPG solution that the eco-nutbags are sobbing softly into their soymilk for? The internal combustion engine isn’t powering anything but a generator. Ask the maintenance guy at the hospital what they use for backup power and they’ll tell you; it’s Diesel.

A one-liter powerplant should do the trick, while the batteries it charges give the electric motor(s) instantaneous torque and not inconsequential horsepower. Oh! but for the oxides of nitrogen! you wail. What about the soot! you shriek. The smoke! The clatter!

I feel for you.

All of that doesn’t have to happen if the engine is running at a constant rate at its performance peak (which for a normal Diesel engine is somewhere around 1,500 RPM). Just make the computer decide when to fire up the engine and the remainder of your drive can be on batteries alone. I even think that you won’t pay as dearly for this solution as you would for the precious Prius (or Insight, or Civic Hybrid, et al) because the technology already exists to make it happen.

Each of the Big Two +One have a small Diesel on their shelves, plus the computing know-how, plus Hitachi’s phone number, so what’s the hold up?

California, I guess.

We don’t care for oil-burners since the smoky, sooty 70s so we’ve essentially found a way to legislate them out of our state. You remember, the state that buys more cars than the rest of the country combined? Yeah, that state.

If you can’t sell it in California, why bother (I guess)?

Because it’s a good idea that can get our country out of a certain geopolitical mess, that’s why. Where’s Arnold when you need him?

Your pal,

bob