Matthew Engel

Even with the price of gas at an all time low in recent memory, it is still prudent to contemplate investing in an electric or hybrid vehicle when purchasing your new car.

Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit

The federal government continues to encourage the purchase of alternatively fueled vehicles in a limited way. Qualified electric and hybrid cars owners receive federal tax credit depending on the year, model, and date of purchase. The credit amounts can be found here, provided by the IRS. These credits are for a limited time and only apply to new cars bought after January 2006.

This is both logical and inevitable, since the price of gasoline is highly variable. There is no guarantee of a steady supply of oil into the US, and fluctuations in demand cause prices to oscillate. Fierce competition for resources world wide lead to wars and enviromental wastes. Whatever the reasons, the econimic data speaks for itself. Below is the average costs for one gallon of regular gasoline in the Northeast United States (New England). An increasing trend is clearly evident.

Regular gas prices in the Northeast United States show a strong increase over the last 15 years. The trend is expected to remain positive over the coming century.

This data is publicall available and can be downloaded from the Energy Information Administration whose goal is to provide official statistics regarding petroleum, natural gas, electricity, coal, and renewable energy usage. Data on crude oil prices and refinement can readily be found. The information regarding historical gasoline prices can be accessed here and was compiled by me into the previous diagram.

Interestingly, the above data was downloaded in October 2008, and is already reflecting a strong decline in gas prices. The current meteoric drop in price is not shown here, and there is no downfall on the graph quite like the drop we are currently experiencing.

Considering this data, one should intuitively think of how to strategically plan for long term stability regarding their vehicle costs. This includes a source of energy for your vehicle, like gasoline. However, many other forms of energy are available - most notable electricity.  Tax credits for electric cars range from $2,500 to $7,500. However, this is only available for a limited time: only for the first 250,000 vehicles sold domestically. In general, the most popular cars, such as the Toyota Prius have little tax credits. However, it is expected that the newer domestic hybrid vehicles, such as the Chevy Volt will see a significant tax advantage.

General Motors, where art thou? The once premier American motors company is now lying in ruins, begging for money. What happened? What is going on??

What happened was the SUV. The sale, retail, and resale value of all sport utility vehicles has plummeted south. For SUV owners, I am very sorry. For some SUV owners, it is even necessary to have these car for work related transportation. But for the vast majority of drivers, large off-road vehicles are completely unnecessary. The vast majority of owners never (or perhaps once) take their SUV off-road for its intended use, instead using it to scare people on the highway while tailgating. This is not a practical use of our Earth’s natural resources. These trucks require roughly 50% more fuel than the average mid-size sedan to travel the same distance, and roughly 100% more fuel (or double the amount) than their compact, light weight, economy, or hybrid counterparts.

In addition, the cost of fuel in the United States is somehow subsidized. I do not pretend to understand how this happened or why, but gallon-for-gallon gasoline is roughly half the price in the United States than in Europe or even the Middle East. The worldwide market for these commodities is so extremely volatile, relying on gasoline alone for our nation’s transportation needs is a very risky proposition.

Finally, American automakers have seen the light. And as they lie in their deathbed, I ask why? Why has Chevy, GM, and Ford waited until just now to introduce these technologies into the mainstream markets? Why are you just beginning to engineer and mass produce electric vehicle technologies? Is it because hybrid or electric cars are stigmatized? The 2004 Honda Insight. The 2006 Toyota Prius. Not the most beautiful pieces of automotive engineering I have ever witnessed. I find it unusual that when the 2008 the Honda Insight was finally redesigned, it looks identical to the Prius. These cars are acceptable, but certainly not works of refined beauty.

And in 2009, we have the Chevy Volt. From its long awaited announcement at this year’s LA Auto Show, the Volt is the first ‘cool’ looking mainstream hybrid car. I could sit here and criticize the technology under the hood, but I will not. Instead, I will compliment Chevy on taking its vision, our vision, one step further and creating the first beautiful electric vehicle. Thank you!!

There has been a lot of talk recently about how changes in the economy are affecting the energy sector. This is an extremely important topic to anyone who has money invested in mutual funds, stocks, their 401(k), mortgages, housing or any retirement portfolio. Why? Because the face of the stock market, as we know it, is about to change. The past decade has seen large oil companies reigning supreme posting double digit growth, with natural gas vying for a close second. It is indisputable fact, that these products are natural resources. And it is also indisputable fact that these resources are finite, and their steadily increasing consumption will lead to a jump in price as the Earth’s reserves dwindle. Therefore, at some point in the future, any company which relies solely on oil or gas supplies will be bound for failure. This can be validated by the divestment of the world’s largest energy companies into renewable sources such as wind and solar.

The New York Times reported in late October that investors are nervous about prices for fossil fuels falling, which could cause alternative energy start-ups to incur heavy losses or declare bankruptcy as their market dries up. It is already difficult enough to obtain venture capital or equity financing in these times. Fluctuations in energy prices add considerable uncertainty to alternative energy (AE) technology based companies. It is well known that this industry is currently extremely vulnerable and will probably require strong government backing by means of subsidies and research financing. Personally, I think this would be a tremendous investment in our nations future - much better than investing in other securities that may continue to decline in value, such as American automakers.

Let it be known, that I have full respect for American car manufacturers - I just believe that are much to slow reacting to market forces and have been at the mercy of American oil companies for too long. Why else would they continue to market and manufacture the gas-guzzling SUV’s when all other nations across Earth are making smaller, lighter, faster cars which run on less fuel. I find that absurd, and unless Detroit mounts a drastic change and realizes that the future is electric and hybrid vehicles, they will be out of business by Q4 09.

This is my challenge to the next president of the United States: many of us see a new way forward, and hope that you can realzie this vision. Our hope is that you can solve both the economic and energy crises simultaneously with one blow: bringing alternative energy sources and electric vehicles to market will no doubt require large amounts of man power and resources while slashing our most damaging expenditure - oil. Creating thousands of new jobs for AE contractors, mecahical and electrical engineers, and scientists to design and install solar panels, geothermal systems, wind turbines nationwide. This would destroy our addiction to oil and usher in the green century we all so desperately need.

I seriously hope this company takes off !! (No pun intended) But seriously, a car that runs on compressed gas? How genius is that! Big thanks to my brother Seth for pointing this out to me. I am seriously excited about this technology, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre . Think about how a car which produces zero emissions, travels long range with low horsepower could transform commuting in America today, reinvigorate our automotive culture and promote environmental awareness? Would these vehicles be socially acceptable? What if, the vehicle cost $17,800 and could travel up to 1,000 miles with one fill up and a top speed of 96mph? Granted, a 75-horsepower engine may not sound impressive, but when you consider that Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) is selling a car capable of running on compressed air, the feat becomes remarkable.

Popular Mechanics reports that ZPM, a New Paltz, N.Y. start up, has acquired licensing rights from MDI- the original Luxembourg-based inventor of the compressed air engine and plans to begin manufacturing in the Northeast U.S. by 2009. MDI is an exciting young french company, which self reports financial investment from AirFrance. In my brief international expereince, I have found that most other countries are embracing new clean technologies, leaving the U.S. in the dust. Europe and India are already deploying many small, fuel-efficient vehicles which are profitable. Where is the American part of that equation? When you ask Ford or GMC, they show a complete lack of global integration into the American market, which may eventually be their downfall if they continue to produce vehicles reliant on petroleum.

In 2007, it was reported that the original Air Car, called CityCAT would only be marketed in India’s most congested cities for a retail price of $12,700 with a range of 125 miles hitting 68 mph. It would be forced to refuel at gas stations equipped with custom air-compressors, requiring $2 for to fill the car’s carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi in just a few minutes. However, the car also sports a built in air compressor which can self-refuel the vehicle in four hours when plugged into the electrical grid. For all the skeptics, I would highly recommend reading MDI’s engine technology pages off their homepage, which go into much more detail than I have at this time. Enjoy and good luck!

This is a big step.  I have been following the development of Tesla Motors for two years, and they are finally hitting mainstream! Tesla has been achieving public recognition for their contribution to the development and public acceptance of the electric vehicle. Here, we have the world’s first electric powered sports car which can compete in terms of performance with a Chevy Corvette, Porsche, or Ferrari. Not only that, but it was engineered and manufactured in the United States. This is something I can be truly proud of.

The Tesla was designed to break the stereotype that electric cars are slow and unsightly. Unfortunately, this has traditionally been the case when one considers the Honda Insight or even hybrid-gasoline powered cars such as the Toyota Prius. The styling of these cars leave much to be desired. The Tesla beats all hybrid vehicles hands-down by eliminating the need for all petroleum for fueling. This is superior even to the much touted Chevy Volt, which still requires gasoline for daily driving and with a 50 mile projected range for battery only power. This is in stark contrast to the Tesla which offers roughly 240 miles on a single charge.

The car can be charged at home or on the road in roughly 3.5 hours. The instrument panel contains an indicator to display the current battery capacity, analogous to the typical fuel gauge. Above is an image of a Tesla Roadster being charged, with a close up of the plug. The image was supplied by a Tesla Roadster blog which contains some cool images. Below, I found what is now a very rare site - an actual image of an owner charging his electric vehicle. You can notice he actually owns two cars and the plugs are extended from a charging base to the vehicle parked in his driveway.