Past scorecards

• Clean cars
• Natural Gas-Powered Cars (Wikipedia)
• Why Buy a Hybrid Car? (Consumer Reports)
• Fuel Cell Vehicles (USDoE)
• Calculate the money you'd save with a fuel-efficient car
• The "Hummerdinger" 
• Never go to a gas station again: Refuel at home! 
• What is a 'clean car'? And what makes it go?
• The road tester's wheels (plus other options)
• How about hybrids? Intro to gas-electric hybrid vehicles
• Which is the cleanest car of them all?
• How does your car measure up? Check the "environmentally-friendliness" of your vehicle
• Filling up - Where & how

All articles below were previously published in different format in The Lookout, the newsletter of the Sierra Club Huron Valley Group.

What is a 'clean car'? And what makes it go?

By Alan Richardson 
Originally published in the May 2002 "Lookout"

You can now choose among several innovative vehicles that combine the best features of gasoline engines and electric motors to improve performance, increase fuel economy, and reduce the environmental impact of driving an automobile. 

The gasoline engine we are accustomed to has been constantly refined and improved over the last century, but it still has some fundamental disadvantages for powering a vehicle compared to an electric motor. Pound for pound, a gasoline engine is less powerful than an electric motor. A gasoline engine produces its peak power and torque at high speed, but an electric traction motor has its peak torque at zero speed where it is most needed to accelerate a vehicle from a stop. For that reason, gasoline engines require a clutch and transmission (either manual or automatic) to match the vehicle speed to the engine's 'power' speed range. Most electric vehicles do not have clutches or transmissions and connect the motors directly to the wheels.

An electric vehicle also has some fundamental disadvantages compared to a gasoline version. Pound for pound, gasoline contains more energy than electric storage batteries. This is why battery-electric vehicles typically have a very short driving range compared to gasoline vehicles. That would not be a major problem if batteries could be recharged as quickly and conveniently as a gasoline tank can be refilled. Physics prevents recharging batteries in minutes and economics prevent putting a charging station at every home and parking space.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to combine the power-delivery advantage of electric drive with the energy-storage advantage of gasoline? Yes, it would, and you can do that with a hybrid gasoline-electric drive! The primary energy source is still gasoline, so every existing gas station can still be used and hybrids never need to be plugged in to charge their batteries. The energy of the gasoline is used more efficiently because the electric motor can assist (or replace) the gasoline engine while accelerating from a stop. Electric motors can also be used as generators to charge the battery while slowing the vehicle to a stop, which gasoline engines can't do at all. The result is higher fuel economy (more miles per dollar of fuel) and reduced emissions (less smog and less global warming).

Three hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles are now available in the U.S.: 

• The Honda Insight (2-seat)
• The Honda Civic (5-seat)
• The Toyota Prius (5-seat)

Ford has announced they will offer a hybrid Escape mini-SUV sometime next year, without stating a date when they will go on sale.

Honda uses an 'Integrated Motor Assist' or IMA system which places an electric motor between the gasoline engine and its transmission. The electric motor draws power from the battery to help the gasoline engine get the vehicle moving from a stop. The gasoline engine then recharges the battery by driving the electric motor like a generator. The IMA allows two features new to most drivers: instant-start and regenerative braking. When a Honda hybrid is stopped for more than a few seconds, the gasoline engine shuts off to save fuel. The electric motor starts the gasoline engine in a fraction of a second when the driver next presses the accelerator pedal. Regenerative braking uses the electric motor as a generator when the driver presses the brake pedal, so the vehicle's energy of motion can be recaptured in the battery for later use. That energy of motion is now wasted to heat up the brakes of a normal gasoline-powered vehicle.

Toyota uses a different arrangement: an electric motor, a gasoline engine, and the driving wheels are connected through a differential gear train. This allows power to flow smoothly back and forth between them depending on the situation. For example, the Prius will typically use only the battery-electric drive at low speed. For higher speeds, the gasoline engine is started to drive the vehicle and recharge the battery. Regenerative braking is also available to charge the battery and the gasoline engine can be shut off when it is not needed to save fuel.

What's the catch? Initial purchase cost will be higher since two power sources are carried on each vehicle and because this is a new technology for the automakers. The customer's purchase cost for a hybrid will be higher than other vehicles until the best design is established and it is produced in large quantities. In later years, the cost increase will be small, just like it is now for power steering, air bags, and anti-lock brakes.

To learn more about these vehicles, visit the websites www.honda.com or www.toyota.com/prius, call 1-800-33-HONDA or 1-800-GO-TOYOTA, or visit your local dealer. 

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The road-tester's wheels: The Honda 1998 Civic GX (plus other options) 

By Alan Richardson 
Excerpted from the January, September, and November 2001 editions of "The Lookout"

This continuing series of articles will report on my experience owning and operating a 1998 Honda Civic GX. My purpose is to lessen doubt and confusion in the mind of a potential purchaser of an alternative fuel vehicle. I purchased an alternative fuel vehicle because I want to lessen my impact on the environment. As seen in the scorecards, that goal is achieved by the vehicle I recently purchased.

The Honda Civic GX is basically an LX 4-door model with a modified engine and an added compressed natural gas fuel system. It was designed and built by Honda in the same Ohio assembly plant that makes gasoline Civics. 

The initial purchase price of any alternative fuel vehicle (powered by natural gas, propane, ethanol, methanol, or electricity) is higher than a similar vehicle powered by gasoline or diesel fuel. This is a consequence of their method of production and the low sales volume of these vehicles compared to the conventional versions. 

In most cases, alternative fuel vehicles are first built as conventional vehicles and then heavily modified to use the alternative fuels. All the modification costs and the development and testing costs of the modified vehicle can only be spread over a small sales volume, so the selling price of each alternative fuel vehicle is higher.

In the case of the 1998 Honda Civic GX, the manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) is $20,130 while the equivalent gasoline version MSRP is $15,630. To reduce the purchase price difference, some incentive programs have been provided. When I bought my Civic GX in October 2000, the federal government allowed a $2000 income deduction for the year of purchase of a clean fuel vehicle. For a taxpayer in the 28% tax bracket, that equals a $560 savings. The Clean Cities program for Washtenaw County (administered by the Ann Arbor Energy Office) also offered a $2000 cash rebate. Applying both of these incentives reduces the $4500 difference to just $1940.

Since the fuel cost of natural gas is less than gasoline, that remaining difference will be paid back in a few years of my normal commuter driving. And I'll be polluting less every mile I drive.

A 'dedicated' vehicle uses only natural gas fuel, but a 'bi-fuel' vehicle can operate on either gasoline or natural gas.

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How about hybrids? Introduction to gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles 

By Alan Richardson 
Originally published in the November 2002 "Lookout"

What is a hybrid vehicle? A hybrid vehicle has a gasoline engine, but also uses an electric motor and a battery to store and release energy during normal driving to increase overall efficiency.

A common misconception about gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles is that they are like battery-electric vehicles and need to be plugged into a wall socket to recharge after driving a short distance. Let me clear that up right now: YOU NEVER HAVE TO PLUG IN A HYBRID, they keep their batteries charged up by normal driving. 

The increased energy efficiency of a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle combined with a normal gasoline tank capacity means that you can drive a gasoline-electric hybrid about 1 1/4 times as far as a normal gasoline vehicle and 5 or 6 times as far as a battery-electric vehicle.

I recently drove a Honda Civic Hybrid for a few days and was very impressed with it. That comparison is relative to my 1998 Civic GX natural gas vehicle. All Civic models were updated for the 2001 model year, with many improvements in all features. The model I drove was a 2003 Civic Hybrid with the optional continuously variable transmission (CVT).

Several improvements were immediately obvious as soon as I sat in the driver's seat. The Hybrid has automatic climate control and a CD player in the radio in contrast to the manual system and basic radio in my 1998 model. All the good features of the earlier Civic were retained, such as power windows, power locks, power outside mirrors, cruise control, and adjustable steering wheel.

As far as I could tell during my daily I-94 commute to Detroit, the hybrid vehicle performed the same as my natural gas vehicle. I had no problems accelerating, merging, or passing at posted speed limits and beyond. The operation of the hybrid system and the CVT was so smooth that it was almost unnoticeable. The CVT does not shift like a regular transmission and the car just kept speeding up smoothly as long as I pushed on the gas pedal. (If you buy a new natural gas Civic, the CVT is standard.) The electric motor either boosted or braked as needed, but that also happens completely automatically. The only way to tell what was happening was to watch the special display on the instrument panel to see the power flowing between the gasoline engine, the electric motor, and the battery. The display is very easy to read, but can be distracting if you let it. 

The hybrid system automatically shuts down the gasoline engine to save fuel when you come to a complete stop, and then starts immediately when you take your foot off the brake. I never noticed a delay in pulling away from a stop, and the engine idled so smoothly anyway that I only knew it was off because of the 'Auto-stop' light on the instrument panel. 

The trip odometer can be set to show instantaneous and average fuel economy, and that could be distracting to watch while driving, too. My best mileage over a single commute was 46 MPG, but my typical mileage was about 40 MPG. Honda's advertising shows the Hybrid CVT highway mileage to be 47 MPG, and the equivalent gasoline version mileage to be 38 MPG.

The Honda Civic Hybrid still burns gasoline (although not as much) and so is not as clean for tailpipe emissions as my natural gas Civic. The Hybrid is, however, much more attractive to the average driver. It seats 5, has a full-size trunk, will drive from Ann Arbor to Chicago and back without refueling, and can fill up at any gasoline station. The Hybrid does cost a few thousand dollars more than a gasoline Civic because of the added equipment, but some financial help is available. A recent IRS ruling has extended to purchasers of hybrid vehicles the same $2000 income deduction that was previously available only to dedicated alternative fuel vehicle. Pending federal legislation may increase the amount and convert it to a tax credit, stay tuned.

So, if you want to limit your fuel consumption (and contribution to air pollution) without limiting your vehicle's performance and convenience, you should give serious consideration to a gasoline-electric hybrid like the Honda Civic.

The author gratefully acknowledges the loan of a Honda Civic Hybrid by Howard Cooper Honda of Ann Arbor while my natural gas Civic was on display at an alternative fuel vehicles show. 

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Which is the cleanest car of them all? 

By Alan Richardson 
Originally published in the February 2003 "Lookout"

While displaying my natural gas Honda Civic at various local car shows for the last two years, I am often asked about the comparative environmental benefits of driving different types of clean cars. My common answer was that my car was the 'cleanest on earth' for exhaust emissions, as claimed by Honda's advertising since its natural gas Civic was first introduced in 1998. 

Three gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles have been introduced since then, and I decided to compare the exhaust emissions of the latest version (2001 model year) of the natural gas Civic to all three hybrids (Honda Insight, Toyota Prius, and Honda Civic Hybrid).

My source for the emissions data is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Annual Certification Test Results site listing every exhaust emission test result for every vehicle sold in the United States. 

From that website I downloaded several databases to find comparative data for several 'clean cars.' That was a tedious task, because California and federal tests are different, because each vehicle may have several different engines or transmissions, and because each vehicle is tested several times for different sales areas, service lives, and fuel types. So, any particular vehicle may have literally dozens of test results listed in the EPA databases. 

For a valid comparison of all the vehicles, I arbitrarily limited the test results to the 'all states' sales area and 100,000 mile service life. Test result values are grams per mile of certain pollutants collected from the tailpipe of a vehicle that runs a specified driving cycle. To more obviously show the environmental effect over each vehicle's lifetime, I multiplied the basic results by 100,000 miles and converted them to pounds. I also included emissions for the gasoline Honda Civic and the average car on the road in the year 2000 for comparison. Here's the results:

Pounds of pollutants emitted over 100,000 miles:

Abbreviations:
    CO: Carbon Monoxide
    HC/NMOG: Hydrocarbons or non-methane organic gases
    NOX: Nitrogen oxides
    CVT: Continuously variable automatic transmission

So, by these data, the Honda Insight with CVT is the cleanest car on the road today. My natural gas Civic is the second-cleanest, and I can safely claim that mine is the cleanest full size car, since the Insight has only 2 seats. 

The Civic is unique in the industry for having a wide variety of powertrains (hybrid, natural gas, gasoline CVT, gasoline manual) and allows a direct comparison of the environmental impact of each powertrain. We can see that the natural gas engine with CVT is the cleanest of all the Civics. The gasoline engines with either CVT or manual transmission about 3 or 4 times as polluting as the natural gas Civic, and the gasoline-electric hybrid with CVT is about 5 times as polluting. The gasoline-electric hybrid technology is not necessarily the choice to reduce pollution, since emissions from the three models listed (Insight, Prius, Civic) span a wide range. For example, the Insight hybrid is the cleanest tested, but the Civic hybrid is the least clean of the 'clean cars.' 

Nonetheless, the low emissions of the modern 'clean cars' listed above is very significant in contrast to the 'average' car on the road in 2000. Pollution control technology has continuously improved over the last 25 years, but there are a lot of older cars still on the road. If you are interested in reducing the pollution contribution of your own vehicle, the easiest way to do that may be to simply buy a new car using any fuel. Hybrid technology is not necessarily a guarantee of the lowest possible exhaust emissions, but the fuel economy benefit is significant. 

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Buy a clean car - Get a $2000 rebate 

By Alan Richardson 
Originally published in the January 2001 "Lookout"; City of Ann Arbor rebates have been discontinued

Ann Arbor recently received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to offer rebates of $2000 to purchasers of new cars that use alternative fuels, such as electric batteries, natural gas, or propane. Hybrid or bi-fuel vehicles are not eligible, nor are after-market conversions. For more information about Ann Arbor‘s rebate program, contact Dave Konkle in the city's energy office at (734) 996-3150.

In addition to Ann Arbor’s rebate, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service also offers a $2000 income deduction for the purchase of an alternative fuel vehicle. If your marginal tax rate is 28%, your income tax due will be reduced by $560.

These rebates are intended to offset the higher purchase cost of alternative fuel vehicles to increase their use by the general public. The public benefit from alternative fuel vehicles is their reduced emissions of air pollutants. For example, a Honda Civic fueled by natural gas emits only 10% of the pollutants and 75% of the greenhouse gasses as the same vehicle fueled by gasoline. In a typical year, driving a natural gas Civic for 12,000 miles instead of a gasoline Civic will prevent the emission of 40 pounds of pollutants and 2000 pounds of greenhouse gasses.

The owner of an alternative fuel vehicle can also benefit from lower operating costs. The average cost in the Midwest for propane vehicle fuel is about $1.20 per Gasoline Gallon Equivalent (GGE) and natural gas is 80 cents per GGE. Studies of taxi fleets also show that maintenance costs for alternative fuel vehicles are lower compared to gasoline vehicles.

Alternative fuel vehicles are not for everyone. Filling stations for alternative fuels are still few and far between, and since alternative fuels have less chemical energy per weight than gasoline, an alternative vehicle may need to refuel more often. However, if the public demand for alternative fuel vehicles increases, then filling station operators will install more alternative fuel dispensers and automobile manufacturers will work harder to increase vehicle driving range. The government rebates described above can jump-start customer demand and give the private sector an incentive to make alternative fuel vehicles an attractive and convenient choice with significant environmental benefits.

For more information on alternative fuel vehicles, visit the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center or call 1-800-423-1363 to ask questions or request an information package by mail.


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How does your car measure up?

By Alan Richardson 
Originally published in the March 2001 "Lookout"

Every year the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) rates automobiles for their 'environmental friendliness' mainly on their atmospheric emissions during manufacture and use. The ratings are available at the ACEEE website, www.greenercars.com. 

In the 2001 ratings, I was particularly interested to note that the Honda Civic GX is tied for first place with the Honda Insight gasoline-electric hybrid with a rating of 53 out of 100. Other vehicles in the top five are the Toyota Prius gasoline-electric hybrid, the Toyota Camry natural gas version, and the Toyota RAV-4 battery electric vehicle. 

So, if you want to buy a clean car, you may be interested to know that a natural gas car is rated as clean as a hybrid, at least by one organization. 

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Filling up: Where & how 

By Alan Richardson 
Originally published in the May 2001 "Lookout"

One of the common questions I am asked when people learn I drive a natural gas car is: Where do you fill it up? And I answer: At Meijer's! 

Ann Arbor is fortunate to have two public natural gas filling stations at the Meijer stores on Carpenter Road and Ann Arbor-Saline Road. There will be a third public station for the city at the municipal garage on North Main Street later this year. I drive past the Carpenter Road station on my way to work in Detroit, so I usually fill up there. I sometimes use another station in Dearborn on Schaefer Road.

All of these stations are served by the MichCon gas company which has a very active natural gas fuel program. For example, most of their service vehicles are powered by natural gas. 

According to MichCon, a new station will be installed near the Detroit Metro airport in a few months, which means I can then fill up near my home, near my office, and halfway in between. This availability of natural gas filling stations is not unique to southeast Michigan. Three years ago, a Honda Civic GX was driven from Sacramento to Washington, DC by filling up at natural gas stations across the country. 

The process of filling up my natural gas car is not much different than filling up with gasoline. There is a special connection on the filling hose that attaches to my car, but it is easy to use and I have never had a problem using it. The other difference is the fuel price. In February, MichCon raised its fuel price to 89 cents a gallon (gasoline equivalent) so I now occasionally pay more than $5 to fill up. I could pay with a credit card at the pump, but I typically use a Meijer gift certificate I bought from the Huron Valley Group's Shopping for the Earth fundraising program. So I figure I am helping the environment twice every time I fill up: once by using a clean fuel and again by contributing to the Sierra Club - Huron Valley Group. 

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Never go to a gas station again!
Home refueling for natural gas vehicles

By Alan Richardson 
Originally published in the November 2003 "Lookout"

What would it be worth to you to never have to stop at a gas station again? Never again drive out of your way just to fuel your vehicle, never again stand outside in a Michigan winter to operate the fuel pump, and save money on your fuel, too! 

All this is possible with home refueling of natural gas vehicles. If your home is 'on the grid' with electricity and natural gas service, then you can fill your natural gas vehicle's fuel tank anytime your car is in the driveway or garage. All you need is a small natural gas fill station that you can install at your home.

Mel Barclay of Ann Arbor did just that. He found a used natural gas compressor designed for commercial fleet use and had it installed at his home to refuel his two natural gas vehicles. The compressor is outside his garage and he fuels his vehicles while they are in his driveway. He paid about $1000 to buy the compressor and about $2500 for electrical and gas piping work to install it. By his calculations, based on the retail cost of natural gas and electricity, his vehicle fuel cost is about 65 cents a gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE). This is much less than the 90 cents per GGE that I pay at public natural gas filling stations in southeast Michigan.

A subtle advantage of home refueling is that when you fill your natural gas tank slowly, you can get more fuel in than when you fill the same tank quickly. This is because the gas in the fuel tank heats up when its pressure is raised quickly, preventing a complete fill up. A home refueling compressor fills up a vehicle tank slowly, so the temperature does not rise and more fuel can be stored. My Honda Civic GX has an 8 gallon tank, but when I fill it quickly at a public fill station, I never put in more than 6.5 gallons, even after driving 45 miles with the low fuel light on! If I filled up slowly at home, I am convinced my present driving range of about 175 miles per fill up would increase to about 225 miles. 

The high purchase and installation costs for a home natural gas compressor will be reduced significantly when FuelMaker Corporation launches its Phill home refueling appliance next year. This is a smaller and simpler device than the heavy-duty industrial units now used by commercial and government fleets (and enterprising individuals like Mel Barclay). As a 'home refueling appliance', Phill is designed to meet building code requirements for private homes and can be installed inside your garage. 

Picture this: you drive your natural gas car into your garage after a day's work, connect the Phill to your vehicle and press the start button. While you are enjoying dinner and a good night's sleep, Phill is hard at work until your fuel tank is full and then it shuts off automatically. In the morning, you disconnect Phill from your vehicle, and drive away with a full tank of natural gas. For a natural gas Honda Civic, a full tank translates to well over 200 miles driving range.

To learn more about natural gas vehicles in general, visit NGVC.org. 
To learn more about FuelMaker's 'Phill', visit cmgnow.com. 

Disclaimer: I own a natural gas Honda Civic and fill it at public refueling stations. For the past two years, I have received promotional material for public distribution about natural gas vehicles from DTE Energy (MichCon Gas) and Howard Cooper Honda of Ann Arbor. I have displayed my private vehicle at public events with other Honda vehicles and sales staff from Howard Cooper Honda. I have no commercial relationship with American Honda, Howard Cooper Honda, or FuelMaker Corporation. To my knowledge, FuelMaker is the only supplier of small natural gas compressors suitable for home use. 

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