Must-know terms for switching gears from gas and emissions to alternative vehicles.

Don’t get left behind while the future charges forward. We’ve created a definitive list to charge your knowledge of electric as the auto industry gears up for a hybrid vehicle forecast filled with plug-in and battery options. Here’s a list to help you brush up on the lingo and fuel your thirsty intellect.

Battery Electric – a vehicle powered by a device that stores electrical energy. Unlike gas in the fuel tank which only powers the gas engine, an electric motor on a hybrid car can put energy into batteries as well as draw energy from them.

Bio-Diesel – A diesel fuel comprised of vegetable oil or animal fat base.

Biomaterials – Car seats made of soy-based foam or soundproofing using old denim is an alternative interior material used by Ford’s engineers and others to furnish their new fleets with sustainable sources found in nature.

Butterflies – Used to curb range anxiety, the feedback screen in the 2013 Ford Fusion displays butterflies as an indicator of the additional range beyond your selected charge point destination. The more efficiently you drive, the more butterflies you see and the greater your battery range.

Carbon Efficiency – The cost of driving a vehicle in terms of emissions generated.

Charging Station – Why is San Francisco rushing to set these up outside City Hall? To encourage use of plug-ins of course. The stations, like gas station counterparts, are publicly accessible terminals to recharge your EV.

Chevy Volt – The 2011 Motor Trend car of the year, GM released the Volt in U.S. in December of 2010 and is considered by the EPA to be the most fuel-efficient car in its class with an internal combustion engine sold domestically. The Volt can travel up to 50 miles on its lithium ion battery before needing a charge.

Clean Coal – Is there such a thing when it comes to the environmental impact of coal energy generation? This term implies coal can be made a viable fuel source low in carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants. Techniques include chemically cleaning the minerals and impurities, gasification, treating flue gases with steam to remove sulfur dioxide and other methods to aid the efficiency of the conversion into electricity.

CNG – Acronym for Compressed Natural Gas, also known as methane.

Diesel Electric – A transmission system with a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator. It creates electricity that powers electric traction motors. Considered as a class of hybrid electric vehicle when electrical energy is stored in rechargeable batteries for high efficiency applications.

Electric Motor – A hybrid’s electric motor lets it act as a motor and generator sot hat it can draw energy from batteries to accelerate the car. When serving as a generator it can slow down the car and restore battery energy.

Electro Pollution Smog – A new kind of pollution often associated with cell phones and high tension cables, e-smog derived from electricity + smog is a term for all artificially produced electrical and magnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation. According to Ford, the Middle East has among the highest restrictions to reduce any dangers.

EV – Electric Vehicle

Feedback Concepts – As with the Ford butterfly display, feedback provides vehicle data to help drivers with range, navigation, phone, radio or other information.

Fisker Automotive – An American automaker that plans to release its Karma in the summer of 2011. It’s billed as the the world’s first true EV with extended range of 300 miles. The first 50 miles are on tailpipe-emission-free-electric-only charge. After 50 miles, a gas range-extending engine turns the generator to add an additional 250 miles of range. The Karma debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show and established the premium green car segment, one most major companies have since pledged to follow.

Ford Fusion – the 2013 plug-in exemplifies Ford’s new commitment to convert to affordable electric.

GM Impact – New green car concept introduced by GM at the Los Angeles Auto Show in the early 1990’s. The EV was touted for a driving range above 80 miles, a top speed of more than 100 mph and acceleration from 0 to 60 in 8.0 seconds.

HEV – An acronym for Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell – This electrochemical cell consumes hydrogen to generate electricity.

Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) – Hybrids have a dual system that uses a small internal combustion engine and an electric motor to power a vehicle. The ICE refers to an engine with intermittent combustion of a fuel (usually a fossil fuel), as occurring with an oxidizer such as air in a combustion chamber.The expansion of the high temperature and pressure gases from the combustion applies direct force to a component of the engine such as pistons and moves the component over a distance generating mechanical energy. 

Lithium ion Battery – A rechargeable battery accommodating the flow of electricity by the movement of lithium ions from the negative terminal to the positive terminal.

NiCad – a type of rechargeable nickel cadmium battery using metallic cadmium as a cathod (electrode or terminal by which a current leaves an electrolytic cell).

Nissan Leaf – The 100% electric Leaf has been reserved by 2,000 customers  in limited U.S. markets – nearly 7,000 getting dibs in the first 65 hours Nissan opened the reservations.  “People are ready” says Nissan about the vehicles that spare  some 700 gallons of gas per year.

Overhead lines –Wires used to transmit electric energy to trains, trams, or trolleybuses at a distance from the energy supply point.

Parallel Hybrid – Combining two power sources (fuel tank and batteries) this way means both the engine and electric motor can turn the transmission at the same time and the transmission turns the wheels.

Mercury Switches – Their use has become controversial recently in terms of environmental restrictions on safe recovery and disposal of heavy metals by manufacturers. Such metals are used in automotive batteries and fluorescent lights and are present in factory waste or contaminated waste sites. A mercury switch consists of a sealed glass tube with two unconnected electrodes and a small amount of liquid mercury. When the tube is moved past a certain angle the mercury will pool between two electrodes and a connection is made, allowing electricity to flow through a completed circuit. Mercury is hazardous so many manufacturers are replacing switches with other mechanical methods of disruption electrical current.

Range Anxiety – Some of the new plug-ins need charging every 50 miles and this can produce anxiety in drivers worrying about running out of power.

Series Hybrid – Unlike parallel, the gas engine turns the generator and the generator can charge the batteries or power the electric motor driving the transmission. The gas engine in this type of hybrid does not directly power the vehicle.

Shielding Radiation – Are hybrids dangerous to our health? Scientists continue to study the effects of surplus radiation generated by the electromagnetic field from the AC current flowing from batteries to the engine and back again. Known as ionizing radiation, it is widely used in industry and medicine and presents a health hazard to living tissue. Numbers of acceptable levels vary, according to experts.

Toyota Prius – Now in its third generation, the Toyota hybrid hatchback went on sale in Japan in 1997 as the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle – and is considered the real McCoy by purists. Available worldwide in 2001, sales reached 1 million in September 2010, spurred on by rebates to reduce gas consumption. The U.S continues to be the biggest market.

Wireless Energy Transfer – The process in any system where electrical energy is transmitted from a power source, most commonly devices that convert one form of electrical energy to another. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads and carry electricity to telecommunications systems. Wireless transmission is useful in cases where instantaneous or continuous energy transfer is needed but interconnecting wires are hazardous or impossible.

Images: Justin Pickard; avinc; Chevy; EMF, Futureatlas, TechShowNetwork, Dustin Reynolds

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Ford and Ohio State are developing dandelion roots as a potential source of rubber.

Synthetic car plastics will eventually be blowing in the wind like those yellow heads of dandelions, the herbaceous perennial foliage that grows in lawns and alongside highways. Does thinking about it make you want to sneeze? Forget the pollen. Ford has been itching for a new kind of rubber for its cars, and dandelions could be the answer.

Ford’s engineers are teaming with Ohio State on developing the Russian dandelion (or TKS) as a natural rubber source for cup holders, floor mats and interior trim in its vehicles. So far, everything is coming up (cough) roses in this latest effort by the company to revamp its factory and fleet for a sustainable plug-in future.

By harvesting the weeds in neat rows in a greenhouse, researchers are able to learn how to manage the flowers and the sap that seeps from the roots, a potential source of rubber that could be even stronger than automotive plastics. The Southwestern U.S. shrub Guayule might also be used to replace the toxic alternative.

“What we are trying to do is to create sustainability of vehicles from inside and out by figuring out how we can make materials out of renewable recycled materials rather than depending on petroleum products,” says Ellen Lee, a chemical engineer and member of The Ford Research Biomaterials Group in Detroit.  “We are looking at how we can use things we grow to put into our cars.”

Things like soy, which Ford has led the way in tapping to produce polyurethane foam seat cushions, backs and headrests. The parts are now on more than 1.5 million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles on the road, a reduction in petroleum oil usage of some four million pounds each year. Ford also broke ground with the industry’s first use of a soy-foam headliner on the 2010 Escape and Mercury Mariner for a 25 percent weight savings versus a traditional glass-mat headliner.

“We are committed to using local resources and raw materials that come from the U.S. and Canada,” says Angela Harris, another Ford researcher. “We are in the labs day to day working on products and vising schools, local news stations, public radio stations and start up technology companies to share our mission and the fact the U.S. and Ford are leading the way.”

Along the way, their campaign also reaches out to young women who are a minority in the automotive and engineering fields. The team hopes to set an example of what female scientists can do to expedite the development of responsible parts for vehicles.

“Five of us are moms and are working on biotechnology with Ford,” says Lee. “We are getting out there to say women should pursue careers in engineering since biotechnology is fast becoming a number-one field. ”

In the meantime, they hope to get all of us thinking about how to incorporate available plants as possible materials in our every day lives. It all makes sense when you consider dandelion root is used medicinally to ease everything from a loss of appetite to insufferable intestinal gas, excruciating gallstones, nagging joint pain, muscle aches, eczema and bruises. It helps increase urine production, prompt bowel movements and is a stimulating skin toner, blood and digestive tonic. Some use it to treat infections or to spice up salad greens, soups, wine and teas.

Now that’s some killer weed.

Images: joka2000, Ford, American Recycler

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Ford hopes to electrify consumers as they look to plug-ins over the pump.

It’s hard to compete with Chevrolet and those sexy new ads for the $32,780 Volt voiced by George Clooney. But Ford argues the game plan isn’t really about competition, but rather cooperation when it comes to its soon-to-be released Focus and other electric vehicles. At least this is the message being delivered by John Viera, Director of Sustainable Business Strategies for Ford as he hits events throughout the country to sell the plug-in revolution to drivers facing nearly $4 per gallon at the pumps.

“Collaboration is key and we are partnering with Microsoft, interfacing with utility companies and working together to educate consumers about developing batteries and other technology to bring down the costs,” Viera shared at the recent San Francisco Green Festival. “No one has one piece of magic above anyone else.”

While there is no piece of magic in terms of making the technology, there are edges in making the technology available to motorists to wean them off of fuel. Infrastructure is the operative term in cultivating a plug-in culture.  And it’s evident that Israel has taken the helm with its start-up Better Place, a maker of electric cars that will launch a highway charging enterprise later this year, allowing its drivers to travel anywhere in Israel with a battery range of 100 miles. As with refueling for gas, if they set off from Tel Aviv to the Red Sea they can pull into a Better Place station and swap a low battery for a fully charged one in five minutes. How will motorists know where to find  parking lots with blue-topped charging posts? Try the GPS screen on their dashboards.

While looking to U.S. municipalities to expedite the same kind of access to motorists, Ford is revamping a variety of vehicles in its fleet, preparing to roll out the plug-in Focus in 2012 in the U.S  and Europe, debuting in regions it refers to as “smile states” like Seattle and California where conscious consumers have been quick to adopt the hybrid concept. The current pricing is from about $17,000 to $24,000, considerably less than the Volt plug-in hybrid, a popular choice that reportedly goes 30 days and 1,000 miles between fill ups.

Abroad, Ford’s vehicles now cater to current trends such as ethanol a top choice in Brazil, and diesel, a popular option in Europe. In the meantime, Ford has redesigned its Michigan plant to ideally become a state of the art lab for producing battery operated vehicles of all kinds.

“We want to offer a choice and show there are different ways to have electric,” says Viera, pointing out that Ford’s strategy for keeping costs down is to stick new bodies or “top hats” on an existing platform allowing any one of their vehicles to become electric, from commercial trucks to the Taurus with a quick assembly changeover. “We’re all about high end affordable transportation and the next generation of transit comes off the same platform as the Focus.”

Beyond the bodies, Viera admits that sustainable parts and the instrumentation are also key in easing consumer anxieties over range and resources, including recycled, eco-friendly upholstery and corn-based head rests, along with software instruments on the dashboard for customer feedback, such as Butterflies or various phone apps alerting drivers to how much power remains on their batteries. He says mass marketing must answer the needs of the mainstream with partnering services such as the Best Buy Geek Squad, coming out to install charging equipment in the garages of electric car customers.

“Eventually, all auto companies will have charging stations and Mapquest and other sites will tell you where to go to find them,” says Viera, pointing out the biggest challenges ahead are reducing charge times (now three to four hours for 340 volts), cutting down costs of cars and lithium batteries, and how to properly dismantle and dispose of batteries. There’s even the matter of controlling electro pollution smog by shielding the radiation of vehicles, something Ford tests regularly to meet high standards in regions like the Middle East.

After all, the Middle East is the place to beat in terms of advances. As Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place told Time, the electric car will be the top selling car in the world in less than a decade offering “the biggest financial opportunity the world has ever seen presenting a $10 trillion shift in the industry. “It’s the Internet, and add another zero,” Agassi calculates.

He predicts ordinary Israelis will be driving the Turkish-made Renault Fluence Z.E. sedan as early as November depending on the price of the cars and the costs of charging, the same factors Ford must consider in making electric palpable to consumers tired of paying $70 to fill up. After the car purchase, innovators are now looking to the cell phone rate plan as a model for battery subscriptions, as in Denmark, where the fee is equivalent to $300 a month for mileage of 6,200 miles. A one-time fee of $2,000 also is charged.

Of course this kind of fee is minimal when you consider that in Israel and Denmark, gas is an astronomical $9 a gallon. When the U.S. sees those kinds of prices at the pumps (as Donald Trump promises we will), that financial opportunity Aggasi described will really hit home, and companies like Ford will be glad they began revamping now to meet the anticipated demand.

Images: Ford; Better Place;

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“Real Americans Buy American.” Growing up in the Motor City in the 1970s, that ubiquitous message, proudly displayed on the rear bumpers of so many Mustangs, Caddies and Pontiacs led this young man to wonder what the problem was. If the red, white and blue declarative were true, why would the Detroit Free Press be running what seemed to be a serialized front-page obituary for our town and our industry? Why would that big black number in The News’ headline have so many zeros after it? (How many people were laid off yesterday?) As near as I could tell, there were plenty of Americans around, and if they did what those bumper stickers told me they do, why was Detroit blight central rather than the boomtown my parents grew up in?

Eventually I learned the truth: Real Americans don’t buy American. Real Americans buy what they want.

This bitter truth periodically hits Detroit hard, and each time one has to wonder if the American auto industry’s hubris has led to its final death knell. I watched firsthand the slow motion response of the Big Three to real world energy and design challenges and the resulting economic devastation of the mid- and late-70s, and again in the late-80s and early-90s (when my parents lost their home and the family’s electrical supply business). Today, watching from my safe haven of California, I read stories of urban dystopia and (literally) scorched earth, the only hope being an unusually creative, industrious and determined population.

But once again, and like always it seems, there’s a blip in the flatline. Could there be life?

As Detroit’s North American International Auto Show enters its 23rd year as an international event, the city’s hometown industry isn’t looking so bad. Last year, reports Business Insider , saw Ford get back its number-two U.S. automaker slot after having lost that position to decelerating Toyota, while the top three fastest-growing brands were from General Motors. “Even Chrysler — a company once left for dead — gained U.S. market share and closed the gap with Honda, despite having a dearth of new models versus its well-stocked Japanese competitors.” (Tangentially, Business Insider, probably a good idea to can the “Pearl Harbor in reverse” rhetoric. It’s a bad week for kill-the-enemy hyperbole.)

Here’s more good news from the Wall Street Journal: Ford announced that it’s going to hire 7,000 workers and is expected to report that 2010 was one of the most profitable years in its 100-plus-year history. Meanwhile, GM says it had a strong end to the year, finishing with more than $20 billion in liquidity and that it expects to hire more U.S. workers if annual sales meet their expected forecasts. As for offerings, reports the Journal, the “40 new vehicles that will be unveiled represent an increase from 27 new models that debuted at the 2010 edition of the show… Chrysler will show off 13 models in addition to the 300 that have been completely redesigned or significantly overhauled. GM will show the Sonic and a compact Buick. Ford will feature a compact minivan based on the European C-Max model, as well as a battery-powered version of its Focus.”

Could the Big Three be getting it? Are they finally giving Americans what they want? Consider that this better-than-okay news is emerging from a horrifying industry free fall that began in 2008 and featured the bankruptcy reorganizations of GM and Chrysler in 2009. “Last year’s show had a funereal feel—spartan displays, sparse attendance, few of the lights, loud music and theatrical unveilings that had become the show’s trademark,” reports the WSJ. So keep in mind from where this upbeat news is coming from. When there’s nowhere to go but up, you won’t be penalized for thinking that any movement is good movement.

It also remains to be seen if this upswing is the result of a slow but sure economic surge that has buyers beginning to make those big purchases they put off for so long. Whether or not new offerings and reconfigured corporate structures will have the impact everyone hopes for won’t be determined in the immediate future. But one thing’s for certain; the old adage is true: “when the nation catches a cold, Detroit gets pneumonia.” The thing is, for the infirm, pneumonia can be fatal. And for Detroit, that adage isn’t funny anymore.

Image: country_boy_shane

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If the already perfect storm of baffling high-tech driving distractions weren’t enough, GM’s OnStar adds Facebook to your mix of thought options to consider while changing lanes.

Though still in an experimental stage, the “hands-free” (safety first, right?) social media access system could be available to some subscribers as early as the end of the month. (OnStar subscriptions start at $199 a year.) Using it, a driver could update his or her Facebook status simply by speaking out loud (i.e., Scott Adelson is driving). Users will also be able to listen to Facebook newsfeeds and messages read to them in a friendly, let’s say sultry, OnStar voice: Hello Scott”¦ Bambi wants to be your friend. (Ahem. I digress”¦)

But wait, there’s more! The Bluetooth-based system will also read text messages and let a driver reply using one of four pre-set replies with a simple touch of a steering-wheel button. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to create your own reply. Maybe something like “Crashing my car, not LMAO!”

GM (OnStar) has been engaged in a losing battle with Big Three rival Ford Motor Co. (Sync), for the hearts and mind of the younger tech-savvy set. According to the The Detroit News, GM has recently announced a partnership with Google to link smart phones to OnStar so subscribers can search for directions by voice and download maps. The company has also introduced a new “OnStar mobile app” that allows drivers to remotely unlock doors, start the ignition, check tire pressure and fuel economy, and more.

Meanwhile, Ford’s Sync system is moving ahead with its own plans, says the Detroit Free Press. The next generation of Sync, will also allow users to read and reply to text messages. And while Sync won’t hook up with Facebook, later this year it’ll start to plug into Twitter, Pandora and Stitcher.

Ironically, to me at least, OnStar was originally developed for safety. And though it doesn’t take a Ph.D. in Psychology to figure out that this stuff will cause problems behind the wheel, I’m going to quote one anyway. Driver distraction expert David Strayer, Ph.D., writing for Car Talk: “…these systems neglect the cognitive sources of distraction. Over a decade of research has documented that interacting with systems like this can divert attention from driving and result in substantial impairments. Simply put, you cannot pay attention to two different things at the same time.  If you are updating the status of your Facebook account, you are not paying attention to the road.” He adds, “The driver next to you may be updating their Facebook account and their reactions will be about as bad as if they were drunk.”

Nice, huh? Well, so much for technology making our world a safer place. Can’t wait to see this update: “Facebook Username; Just hit a tree.”

Image: Open Box

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My first car was a ’68 Mustang, navy blue with a black vinyl top and a classic 289 engine. Everyone who saw it nodded knowingly, bestowing on me instant cool-car status (a critical antidote to teenage angst). It was in pretty good condition, too, previously owned by a little old lady (my grandma, who gave me the car when she stopped driving) and, as far as I was concerned, a whole lot hipper than the richer kids’ shiny new Trans Ams with those gaudy, behemoth eagles on the hood.

Yet despite my Detroit roots, that’s about all I could tell you about the thing. (When I open the hood of a vehicle I see what amounts to a small Jackson Pollack.) I did know how to change the oil, though. It was a simple, cheap and necessary operation, setting me back a few bucks for a couple cans of Penzoil.

But oil changes, like most car care, changed for me at some point after entering adulthood. Mainly this was because I stopped wanting to do anything resembling maintenance myself. Unfortunately, this leaves me at the mercy of The Man, who, for today’s purposes is my auto dealer/mechanic and, and a little further off in the background, the Oil Industry. (For the record, The Man can take many forms, such as my bank or my cell phone provider.)

With each new car I own, The Man (He/She/It) consistently tells me I should – nay, must – change my oil every 3,000-5,000 miles. (That’s more often than the old ‘Stang!) And that’s not all. At those intervals, which show up on my odometer every time I look at it, I also need all kinds of related fluid changes, new filters and other critical what not that sets me back a hundred-plus every time I even think about “regular” service. Jiffy Lubes et al aren’t much better, and in all cases I drive away with that gummy pseudo-sticker inside my windshield that makes sure that (literally in my face) I have a logo, a phone number and an admonition that evil things will happen to me if I don’t show up again at, say, 11,142 miles. (And not a mile later!) What it really says is “We’re really looking forward to seeing your checkbook again soon!”

Well, I get weird when I think I’m getting ripped off – especially by The Man – and I always suspected this oil game was a rip off. And Lo! And behold!: “Debunked: The 3000 Mile Oil Change Is a Myth.” This from CalRecycle, and noticed last week by the NYT, which cites Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor at car care site Edmunds.com, as saying that a good average for oil changes these days would be somewhere between 7,500 and 10,000 miles – or more.

Turns out that it’s been years since any car has come off the line with an engine that requires an oil change every 3,000-5,000 miles. And it’s not that automakers are telling you go out and grease your skids so often. In fact, most manufacturers tell it like it is in your vehicle’s how-to book. However, your dealer and lube specialist are likely doing nothing to dispel you from coming in to their garages as often as possible. In fact, you know what? Let’s dispense with the diplo-talk and just say it: They tell you to come in more often than you need to so they can steal your money.

Take California for example, where, according to the CalRecycle site (www.3000milemyth.org), “research conducted by the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) shows that nearly three-quarters of Californian drivers change their motor oil more often than automaker recommendations,” adding that “following the 3,000 mile myth generates millions of gallons of waste oil every year.”

Ah, The Man and his myths. Sad thing is, after a while we believe what we’re told. Says Reed (again from the NYT article): “3,000 miles strikes a deep chord with the consumer. It feels good to get an oil change. If you fill up the car with gas, wash it and change the oil, it runs better. Of course, it doesn’t. But it’s the perception.”

In traffic this morning, I gave this whole thing some thought. After revisiting my old Ford and its powerful but dirty old 1968 engine (man, for a moment there I was cool as could be), I looked around at all the shiny new post millennium cars screaming too fast down highway 101 heading into S.F. for the work day. Thousands of ’em. Thousands and thousands – and most all of them being bathed in, at best, twice the amount oil they need. Think about it in times-a-million-times-a-billion terms. Then follow the stream of used oil going into our waste systems. And then follow the money – right to The Man.

Image: therichbrooks

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