Beer-based Ethanol is the Best/Worst Idea for Car Fuel

A New Zealand chemist has found a good use for spent yeast normally discarded after brewing beer, Popular Mechanics is reporting (via AutoFocus).

It’s not the first time beer-based ethanol has been used to power cars, but New Zealanders can fill up on 98-octane (!) booze-fuel for a limited time. The mix is 90 percent gas to 10 percent beer ethanol.

(Note: I covered parts of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver and remember the Coors-powered cars in Denver and think it’s the best imaginable use of Coors Light)

Read more
QOTD: What Should I Drive To My Buddy's Bachelor Party?

The first of my childhood friends is about to tie the knot this summer, and my friends and I are busy with preparations for the bachelor party. Normally this would call for some awful white stretched Hummer, but some stipulations have been handed down by the groom.

Read more
Fake In China: Jeep Beer. We Kid You Not

I assume the Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton law firm that handles Chrysler’s trademark litigation is already on its way to China. If not, they will be calling the travel agent after reading this.

What do you think would happen if Chrysler would license its Jeep brand to a beer? It appears as if Chrysler did just that in China.

Read more
Chrysler Workers Smoke Pot, Drink Beer At Lunch And Don't Give A Freckle About Quality

Some say, TTAC has an anti-Detroit, pro-import slant. We won’t comment on that, you mommy-fraternizing liars. All we can say is: If you harbor these notions, don’t move to Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s largest newspaper, the Oklahoman, dishes out more anti-Detroit snark in a single serving than even a Farago could have cooked-up in his TTAC lifetime. How about calling the former owners of Chrysler unqualified “idiots?” And not the former owners you think of now. Wait, there is worse.

Read more
Micro Brewed E85

You know, this sounds crazy, but this MicroFueler thing might just work. I’m no fuel expert (I just play one in the autoblogosphere), but flex fuel vehicles are ready to rock and roll on any mix this bad boy can brew. And now E-Fuel, the maker of the home pump, is expanding beyond the home brew market to… the micro brewery market. CNET’s Green Tech reports, “The inventor of the EFuel100 MicroFueler home ethanol maker has signed on Sierra Nevada Brewing to make ethanol from beer dregs.” I would have thought that waiting around for drinkers to leave the dregs would be a time-consuming business, but then that’s just a bad joke isn’t it? Here’s the real deal…

Read more
  • Plaincraig A way to tell drivers to move over for emergency vehicles. Extra points if it tells were it is coming from and which way you should move to get out of the way.
  • EBFlex Ridiculous. “Insatiable demand for these golf carts yet the government needs to waste tax money to support them. What a boondoggle
  • EBFlex Very effective headlights. Some tech is fine. Seatbelts, laminated glass, etc. But all this crap like traction control, back up cameras, etc are ridiculous. Tech that masks someone’s poor driving skills is tech that should NOT be mandated.
  • Daniel There are several issues with autonomous cars. First, with the race the get there first, the coding isn't very complete. When the NTSB showed the coding and how that one car hit the lady crossing the road in the storm, the level of computation was very simple and too low. Basically, I do not trust the companies to develop a good set of programs. Secondly, the human mind is so very much more powerful and observant than what the computers are actually looking at, Lastly, the lawsuits will put the companies out of business. Once an autonomous car hits and kills someone, it will be the company's fault--they programmed it.
  • FreedMike Can we mandate tech that makes Subarus move the f**k out of the fast lane?