Fri, 30 Jun 2006

Ford shifts gears: More biofuel cars

In the long run, Ford is right. In the short run, Toyota is gonna wipe the floor clean with their hybrids...

Bio-fuels are going to be a viable alternative to petrochemical based fuel sources: someday. And remember that not all bio-fuels are created equal: corn based ethanol is not the same as cane based ethanol: the latter is cheaper to produce. Bio-diesel is an entirely different strategy for fuel in and of itself: you can make it based on the conversion of waste products (animal and vegetable fats) rather than "growing" it specifically as fuel.

But Ford has found the key here: and that's engine technology. One of the big problems with ethanol is that modern automobile engines simply aren't designed to run on it: they're actually more efficient with a high-octane gasoline, and many people have pointed this out. Rather than abandoning all ethanol research because of this, we simply need to design alternative engines that do run efficiently on bio-fuels. It can be done, and it's not rocket science, either.

I only hope that companies with a eye on the future (like Ford) can survive in the interim. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

In a sharp shift of strategy, Ford plans to focus less on hybrid technology and more on a wider range of alternatives to traditional gasoline-powered engines, Ford Chief Executive Bill Ford told employees of the automaker.

(link) [CNN.com]

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