Machines with Motors

Vaporcar

Be not holding your breath. Hindustan Times reports that Tata Motors is planning to introduce a Rs one lakh (100,000 rupees) car in 2008. That converts to about US$ 2,200.

"The styling and designing of the car have been completed and prototypes are being tested in the plant. It will be a rear engine, 4-5 seat, four-door car with about a 30 horsepower engine," Tata said.

In the US a Honda Fit's starting price is $13,850. Think about what you could leave out of the already basic Fit to cut the selling price by 85%. Yamaha golf carts start at $4,000.

Epidemic

Another bit of data from the Private Sector Development Blog entitled The 'global epidemic' of roads:

"Of the 1.2 million people killed and 50 million injured around the world in road traffic crashes, more than 85% of casualties are in low and middle income countries. Road deaths in these countries are forecast to almost double by 2020… "

Those are very large numbers and would raise a great hue and cry if automobiles weren't so useful and deeply ingrained in our lives.

Turnpike transaction

Now that Indiana has agreed to lease the turnpike to a private firm (foreign owned, no less), opinions are emerging like dandelions in the spring lawn. The Private Sector Development Blog has a sampling of comment.

Why must freeways be publicly owned and operated while railroads profitably run (and pay taxes on) similarly long thin swaths of productive right of way -- often just yards away from and parallel to interstate highways?

Pork barrel pigs

From today's New York Times comes an article headed "For Good or Ill, Boom in Ethanol Reshapes Economy of Heartland."

"The modern-day gold rush is driven by a number of factors: generous government subsidies, surging demand for ethanol as a gasoline supplement, a potent blend of farm-state politics and the prospect of generating more than a 100 percent profit in less than two years."

Feeding corn to the pork barrel pigs.

A real motorcycle diary

Salvador Carlucci will be motorcycling the Pan-American Highway from California to Argentina "to study the state of health care in Latin America." Hopefully he'll be a student and observer rather than a crash induced healthcare participant.

Throttle Jockey @ LAT

The LA Times just started a bi-weekly motorcycle column by Susan Carpenter.

" ... a motorcycle-riding blonde with a bunch of leather in her closet."

Petroleum or bioleum

The New York Times has a Q&A about growing our way out of petroleum dependence.

"ETHANOL is on a roll, increasingly promoted as a homegrown alternative to oil from the Middle East. But is ethanol really the fuel of the future, or is it destined to remain a niche product in the Midwest, subsidized by Congress for the benefit of farm-state politicians? Here are some basic questions and answers:"

Talk to the bikers

AdAge reports that BMW Motorcycles has " ... selected Concept Farm, New York, as its new agency of record for its estimated $2 million motorcycle account." On-line marketing of expensive low volume motorcycles makes a lot of sense.

"The brand plans to boost its online presence, because word-of-mouth among riders is more effective and more efficient than advertising, he [Laurence Kuykendall, the marketing communications manager at BMW Motorrad USA] said. 'Not that we are anti-advertising,'"

BMW has long had a strong on-line presence and its good that they recognize its success and plan to expand.

The AdAge story includes a picture of the soon to be discontinued BMW F650 motorcycle.

Renewable energy

Like most complex subjects, opinion about energy supplies and renewable energy has been formed from supposition, anecdotes, politics and hope rather than engineering or scientific fact. The World Bank has put together a Renewable Energy Toolkit.

"REToolKit provides a broad set of tools to assist Bank staff and country counterparts to improve the design and implementation of renewable energy (RE) projects, incorporates best practices and lessons learned from RE projects supported by the WBG and others, and is operationally oriented to address practical implementation needs at each stage in the project cycle."

The promise is that it will "evolve over time."

Running on empty?

Moving energy from the source to the consumer has never been simple and most of us know that politics can either grease the skids or plug the pipes. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas just published Running in Empty? How Economic Freedom Affects Oil Supplies.

"When it comes to increasing oil production, economic systems matter quite a bit. More oil would flow onto world markets and prices would be lower if major oil resources were in countries where producers responded freely to market incentives. The extent of economic freedom in the countries with the world's oil supplies will greatly affect how well that oil is delivered to consumers."

It includes some interesting numbers on the size and growth of proven reserves, where they're located and why there is hope for the future.