GM's new multi-fuel engines for 2007

[pastmaster]

This is what the General is doing for 2007, as far as engines. They aren't dead yet.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060518/UPDATE/605180470

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I really hate to say this. THe heartbeat is in the right place.

e85 is not going to be independently commercially markletable on the scale of regular gasoline. A
Get this an american car company depending on an american crop to run.. the concept is nice but the numbers for energy consumed to produce to energy gained do not look good. I would rather crops be grown for something that could be of benefit "food" .
E85 is a politically expedient solution for the lazy in Wash.D.C. and is not connected to reality.
Hopefullly Gm does not invest to deeply. It makes good "PR" but very poor investing strategy.

 

[michaelc80]

quote:

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I would rather crops be grown for something that could be of benefit "food"

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They already are-in surplus. Each fall there are football field size piles of corn on the ground. The excess from a bountiful harvest. Even on a mediocre year there is corn piled on the ground. There is plenty of corn available for food.

There are somewhere in the area of 32 million CRP acres-ground that has been taken out of crop production in order to reduce supplies. I'd prefer to pay the farmers to put the land back into production rather than have the government pay them to keep it out. While some of the land should be kept in CRP for things like buffer strips and erosion control, many of those acres that have been idled can safely be brought back into production.

 

[Matt_S]

If they want to take some of the corn used for that high fructose corn syrup that's in everything these days and ferment it for ethanol instead, I'd be all for that. Running an engine on E85 is not difficult and I can't believe the investment to make that option available is all that significant. It's mostly a matter of ignition timing and making sure the ethanol won't corrode the fuel system.

I'll be really interested to see how the new six speed trans works out, too. The Saturn Aura is tentatively on my short list of vehicles to consider when I'm ready to buy again in a couple years.

 

[Winston]

Their cheaper hybrid system sounds like a good idea. Hybrids are really good at improving city mpg, so it should help with the "grocery getter" Tahoe's. However, I worry because GM tends to focus on cheaper not better which often equals less reliable.

 

[jmacmaster]

I think that its far to early to rule out ethanol as fuel for internal combustion engines. From what I've read, the main problem with it is the high cost of producing it. However, we all know that with many products production costs have come down as the demand, or the need, for the product has increased and as new technologies have arisen and lowered production costs. I think that this is beginning to happen with ethanol. Corn is not the only source for ethanol. Ethanol can be made from just about anything that either contains sugar or has components that can be changed into sugar. Some non-corn sources out of which ethanol has been made are wild grasses, field grasses, wheat, sugarcane, sugar beets, and the wood pulp by-products of lumber production. Uses are now being found for what's left over of the source of the ethanol after the ethanol has been produced.