Category Archives: Energy

Energy, Security

Jaguar XF Diesel in America: Road Test

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Early this year I whined about the lack of an American model of the Jaguar Diesel

It’s so fast, despite being fuel efficient, the police even have a model. Actually, the police model gets the smaller 40mpg engine but it still runs under 6 seconds to 60

Later in the year I complained about the strange case of the Los Angeles County Police Department who boasted about squeezing a tiny amount of efficiency out of a new fleet of expensive Ford gasoline engines.

[The Jaguar diesel] has the same horsepower rating as the new Police Interceptor sedan in Los Angeles, yet double the mpg. Why are police in America getting shafted (pun not intended) by Ford on this technology? The County could be saving a whole lot more.

Here are some guestimates, based on the Ford press release. It says the current police car gets between 14 mpg and 21 mpg. A new engine will improve by 20 percent, which puts it at 17 mpg to 25 mpg.

Those are modest numbers, at best. Moving to a 40 mpg Jaguar XF Diesel S would achieve a 90 percent improvement ( (40-21) / 21 = .9 ).

Fast forward to today…

I am happy to say that just a few minutes ago the official Jaguar Twitter stream announced their Jaguar XF “2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel with an eight-speed automatic gear box with stop-start” will soon arrive to California to complete their cross-country road test.

Day Seven. Flagstaff, Arizona to Victorville, California.

The #XFCoast2Coast road test has already tweeted results above 60mpg but they are keeping the final results quiet until they reach Los Angeles County.

I hope they can draw the attention of the LAPD, who should immediately confiscate the vehicle and then convert it to a police cruiser as the first step in reducing massive amounts of American taxpayer money wasted on antiquated/inefficient technology and foreign fuel.

LA County estimated $20 million in savings from a 20% improvement in efficiency. Imagine the savings from 90% improvement! $90 million?

Diesel. It is what the future will look like:

Jaguar XF Diesel

Energy, Security

Diesel-Hybrids Start Selling

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Volvo has announced the V60 is now for sale and is pushing new promotional videos like this one that emphasize safety and low long-term costs — visit fuel stations just once a month. Only 40 views so far:

Peugeot also has announced a diesel-hybrid 508 RXH sports wagon (in brown, of course).

508 RXH

Marketed in France in 2011, and then the rest of Europe by the end of the year, it appears to be based on the diesel-hybrid technology developed for racing.

Peugeot’s diesel-hybrid version of its 908 sportscar underwent its first track test at Estoril, completing more than 300km in the hands of Nicolas Minassian, Stephane Sarrazin and Alexander Wurz.

908 race car
The barriers to adoption of this far superior technology are price and availability. But if consumers factor in the huge time saving from visiting a gas station half as often or less…the cost concern evaporates. If they are sold in America the only question that remains will be whether they can build cars fast enough (pun not intended) to meet demand.

Energy, History, Security

Steam Car for Sale

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An auction tomorrow will be for a four-seater steam “quadricycle” with a range of 20 miles on 40 gallons of water — the 1884 De Dion Bouton Et Trepardoux Dos-A-Dos Steam Runabout.

De Dion’s little quadricycle can claim to be the first family car, despite its arcane power source. What makes it different from road-going locomotives dating back to Cugnot’s 1770 tractor is its sophisticated boiler, which can be steamed in 45 minutes. It is also compact at only nine feet long and relatively light at 2,100 pounds. But, it has four wheels, seats four, and can be driven by one person — like a modern car.

Steam Car

One of the oldest still functioning vehicles, and a promising early design, but it is said to have been expensive even back in 1884.

By 1889 you could buy a tricycle for 2,800 francs ($540) and a quadricycle for 4,400 francs ($850).

Those prices were certainly out of the reach for the average enthusiast, when a French laborer might make five francs a day, and sales were confined to the very rich.

Hmmm, 5 francs a day x 365 days = 1825 francs. So a tricycle would be double an annual salary. An American laborer might make $120 a day x 365 days = $43,800. So a car today, in relative terms, is about half the price of one “confined to the very rich” in the 1890s? That’s like saying a $60,000 car today is confined to the very rich. Am I missing something?

Price was surely a factor but it seems the real reason for demise was the allure of gasoline.

By 1893 gasoline was the up-and-coming power source, and steam devotee Trepardoux left the firm and presumably went back to toys. A celebrated duelist and ladies’ man, De Dion was keen on animal welfare and made a few large steam trucks in an effort to free horses from hauling heavy carts, and then he and Bouton focused on gasoline automobiles. They patented their transmission in 1895 and dominated the early years of the 20th century, with De Dion engines powering some of the first great marques, like Renault, Pierce-Arrow and Delage.

Energy, Security

Water-bottles as light source

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There seems to be some kind of buzz around a story on water-bottles as a light source. The past couple days it’s been mentioned numerous times. The story I heard first was from Brazil. This video was posted May, 2008:

Then in 2009 or 2010 I heard about it in Africa. Apparently the new story is from Indonesia, in an advertisement.

It’s a great story of finding efficiencies on several levels. It reminds me of the large tubes of water in some high-end solar homes that connect to the roof and not only light a room but heat it as well. They are more than just sun tunnels but actual vertical columns of water that run floor to ceiling in a room and radiate energy. Of course I can’t find any images of one right now…need some buzz to get them to appear again. Maybe the water-bottles will help.