Comments on: RVers, Choose Your Fuel

By: Alternative Energy

Alternative Energy — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:53:45 +0000

Multi-fuel vehicles have been around for a long time… In world war II, wouldn’t most military vehicles run on just about anything?

By: Kc Stangel

Kc Stangel — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:54:50 +0000

I hope this comment is not to late… Several posts back someone talked about an engine that was developed in the ’60s that could run on different fuels. Perhaps, you are thinking of the Chrysler Turbine Engine. It was seemingly a great idea. According to my cousin who then worked for Chrysler, it would burn various fuels to varying effecientcies. The rumor was it was “killed” by threatened suits by oil co’s at a troubled time for Chrysler with no money to fight. A Turbine engine was also run (somewhat,successfully in the Indy 500 (I think by AJ Foyt) but was legislated out by Holman family and others over air-intake issues. Kc

By: Bob Difley

Bob Difley — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:51:08 +0000

Derek – Thank you very much for your comments on converting your RV to LPG. It was very informative. It sounds like an efficient way to take the next step toward fuel efficiency until the next wave of electric or biofuel vehicles comes mainstream. Do any more of you out there in RV land have experience with LPG, or CNG? I’d like to hear from you.

By: Derek Elliott

Derek Elliott — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 09:17:23 +0000

Hi I live in the UK where petrol is considerably more expensive than the US, I have Damon Daybreak RV with the chevy 8.1 Vortec returns on petrol about 10/12 to the gallon at 55 MPH, I have converted the engine to run on LPG Liquid Petroleum Gas, we have two tanks installed holding 300 litres of LPG , LPG in the UK is around 60 pence a litre against 112 pence per litre for petrol, we obtain around 20 MPG when you compare the cost difference between the two fuels, the downside is the installation costs at around £2400 UK pounds, the more you use it offsets the installation cost.

The system has a second bank of injectors and two vaporisers to feed the fuel in to each bank of cylinders, the system is controled by its on computer, the engine starts on petrol and switches seamlessly to LPG when the LPG is warm enough, about 5 minuets, if you run out of LPG it switches back to petrol.

The performance of the engine is the same or slightly better than on petrol, the engine oil keeps very much cleaner, the majority of my friends that have RV’s run on LPG

By: DONNIE KUELLER

DONNIE KUELLER — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:03:34 +0000

PLEASE SEND ME INFO ON FULE SAVINGS FOR MY MOTOR HOME WITH A
CHEVY 454 GAS ENGINE, IF I DRIVE AT 50 M.P.H. I GET 10 M.P.G.

BEST WISHES DONNIE

By: Bob Difley

Bob Difley — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:49:13 +0000

jjtotten says “The problem is getting the “government” out of the way . . .” Nobody like the government, but it is us that put the people in place that collectively make up the government. But if we got the government “out of the way” we would still have acid rain, uncontrolled pollution, and filthy air. To let gasoline companies–or any company for that matter–to have free reign over their operations would be disasterus to our environment, workers, and the economy. Business has one goal–to make money for its shareholders. Controls that keep industry in check, that protect our quality of life, are not on their agenda for making money.
It has been stated over and over again, the amount of oil we have in reserve is a drop in the bucket compared to the world oil supply. The oil we drill would just flow into that international supply, not lower prices at American gas pumps–unless you want to nationalize American oil companies and force them to sell to American interests at below market prices.
And the strangle-hold I mention is not by individual oil companies, but from the collective oil industry. By that I mean that we as drivers of vehicles, have only one choice to fuel our vehicles, an oil product–whether it is gasoline or diesel. There are no other choices. That, to me, is certainly a strangle-hold.
Lastly, even if there was plenty of gas–accepting the wildest claims of American oil reserves–we should be weaning our transportation system off fossil fuels–and especially foreign oil– not producing more. Global warming has proven the disastrous effects of burning fossil fuels, and hostile oil producing nations have proven how under their thumb we are to the whims of their leaders. This can be accomplished with alternative fuels–biodiesel, B85 ethanol blends (made from switchgrass or other cellulosic fuel sources), hybrid and electric vehicles. And we can reverse our use of fossel fuels with these alternative sources in equal or less time that we could get oil from new oil fields to market.
Thanks for your comments, and for keeping the discussion going. Bob

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:12:07 +0000

Just remember to buy miles instead of gallons. By that, I mean to point out that a gallon of ethanol has about 2/3 of the energy as in a gallon of gas and therefore is going to be able to deliver only 2/3 of the mileage. This means that as a motor fuel, it is only worth 2/3 as much per gallon! Butanol is much closer to gasoline on a per gallon basis. And, for the record, I don’t buy gasoline because I like the way it smells!

By: jjtotten

jjtotten — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:37:12 +0000

This is a great article about what is going on in the fuel industry. Thanks for the info. I do not, however, accept the premise that the “oil industry” has us in a “strangle hold” at all. The industry has been hamstrung by our leglislative bodies and environmentalists who are determined to control our society by not allowing the production of enough oil to keep the speculators from controlling the prices. As soon as it was thought that there would be more production, not actually even produced yet, but the possibility the prices began to drop. In addition to that environmentalists have not allowed a new refrinery to be put on line in the last 30 years. That is not a “strangle hold” by the oil industry at all. The “strangle hold” has its origin some other place. Recently a refrinery in the east attempted to increase the size of their existing facility to help with the increased demand. Immediately there were a whole new set of restrictions and requirements put on the facility. That is certainly not a “strangle hold” put on by the oil industry. The goal of the oil industry is to sell more of its products to help meet the demand. Why is it that so many blame the problems on the “big bad oil industry”? To continue to allow our legislative bodies attempt to come up with solutions when the solution, when allowed to operate, is the law of supply and demand. I think I learned that in Econ 101. When we attempt to let bean counters in DC do the planning we will continue to see wasted dollars on “solutions” like gasolol which has consumed millions if not billions of dollars to come up with a solution that takes more than a gallon of gasoline to produce a gallon of alcohol which has 25% less energy than the gasoline. Not that gasohol is a bad idea it was just managed poorly. Put into place by special interests with a special interest in the money they could make.

You article demonstrates what industry can accomplish if they are not placed in a streightjacket and not allowed to do what it does best. Actually getting these ideas to the market place will probably be “leglislated and controlled to death” before they get a chance to be used to benefit us.

There is plenty of energy available for use. The problem is getting the “government” out of the way so they can be made available.

By: Bob Difley

Bob Difley — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:56:39 +0000

Janaia – The addition of an electric motor to gasoline engines is a different animal than creating a hybrid from scratch. For instance, a size of a gasoline engine is determined by its maximum need, such as accelerating when entering a freeway or going up hill. But even when all that power is not needed all eight cylinders still operate using gasoline. In a hybrid, the electric motor takes over when all that power is not needed, such as cruising at freeway speeds on level ground or driving steadily and slowly as in city traffic. For a good basic explanation of the differences between hybrids and gasoline engines and how they work go to: http://www.howstuffworks/hybrid-car.htm

However, the addition of a electric engine to a gasoline will help the mileage but not be as efficient as a downsized gasoline engine coupled with an electric motor the way a hybrid is designed. And, unfortunately, I don’t know any after market sources for adding an electdric motor. Maybe some of the informed readers of this blog can help out.
As for the fuel from water, I belong to the “I’ve got to see it to believe it” skeptics club. And again, if any of you readers have any first hand experience with the doublegasmileage device, I would appreciate your thoughts and results.
One last point. Those of you who haven’t seen Janaia’s film interviews with people who are making a difference, take time to check out her web site at: http://www.peakmoment.tv/conversations.

By: Janaia

Janaia — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:42:35 +0000

Bob, Two things:
You mention add-on electric motor systems for gasoline vehicles, and Gary gave us a link to AZD, which does this for Ford E450s. Can you give us additional links? Our motorhome has a Ford E350, and we have modified it to be a mobile video studio to tape our Peak Moment conversations.

We are planning a 6-9 month cross-country videotaping trip starting early in 2009. As much as possible, we to “be” the change we wish to see in the world, and would like to explore an electric-motor add-on for the RV. (From what you say, I think our Chevy Metro may be too small for an add-on electric motor, darn).

We’d sure appreciate leads from anybody – contact me at janaia@peakmoment.tv.

Two. We’ve heard about small add-on devices for the ICE which convert water to hydrogen and provide more efficient fuel-burning. One such link is http://doublegasmileage.cn/. Has anybody got the real story on these — hype, for-real, reputable manufacturers, etc.?

P.S. About our programs: Peak Moment Conversations are weekly half-hour programs showcasing people with perspectives and initiatives for resilient, self-reliant, fossil fuel-independent local communities. As of August 2008, about 123 can be viewed online at http://www.peakmoment.tv/conversations. Topics like local food production, renewable energy, sustainability, permaculture, green building, green business.

Thanks all,
Janaia Donaldson (janaia@peakmoment.tv)