Chapter 70.2: Cars of the Future

The other day, two different press announcements crossed my desk touting the importance (and novelty) of environmentally friendly cars and fuel. Now, I'm quite pleased with the 35 miles per gallon I get from an old Honda that's closing in on 200,000 miles, but I wouldn't mind driving a car that looks like what you see above. The "Wingless Bird" is called the Aptera -- Greek for "wingless flight" -- and it's not yet in full production. But it is a hybrid that is claiming 300 mpg. Of course, that comes with a caveat: the all-electric version only goes 120 miles per charge (think northern New Jersey to central Connecticut), or 600 miles in the plug-in hybrid (the one that gets upwards of 300 mpg). Doing the incredibly simple math, that means it holds two gallons of gas. I can hold more than that in my little red plastic jug for the lawnmower.

If this vehicle becomes a reality, it could do wonders for transportation. Think of it, you have a full tank and a plastic jug in the passenger compartment and you can go 1,200 miles or so. I suspect you won't go any faster than 45-55 miles per hour, but if you've got the tunes cranking, that'll be enough, right? And girls will look at you (as they pass) and say, "Damn, that guy's car looks cool."

The other option is to drive from Paris to Timbuktu using chocolate as fuel. Sounds like a fantasy. Well, yeah, in a way it is. These Brits aren't dropping nuggets of Cadbury into the tank. They're using biofuels that began life as waste chocolate that was converted to cocoa butter.

Their trip is basically a publicity event, and if I were from Timbuktu, I'd be a little offended. They chose the destination because "Timbuktu is renowned as being the back of beyond, the furthest place away that you can possibly imagine and if we can make it there with bio-fuel there's no reason why motorists can't use it on the school run or on their commute to work," said Andy Pag, one of the Euro-tree-huggers behind the wheel.

While a three-week trip through the Sahara sounds like a good way to promote a solar-powered car, Pag and his pal John Grimshaw will drive a chocolate-powered truck ("lorry" for my British and Irish friends) to promote Ecotec, which I've never heard of before this article.

All in all, I'd say there's a bright future for publicity of environmentally friendly cars. I'm all for it. As long as you can keep the prices at a reasonable level and make fuel accessible, I'll drive anything earth friendly.