AUTOMOTIVES Friday, March 1, 1991 - North Shore News - 29 a7 Poor air quality will mandate use of alternate fuels OVER THE past few years, there’s been a lot of media attention focused on clean-burning fuels and non-polluting fuels, such as electric power, solar power, methanol, ethanol, natural gas, propane, and even hydrogen. Many automobile manufacturers have devel- oped prototypes and even production vehicies that will run on all of these fuels, or a combination of them. However, these fuels are not likely to repiace gasoline in the near future. In most parts of the world. gasoline is stili the niost widely-used fuel, and it is likely to remain that way for some time. Consider the complicated infra- structure that now exists to supply millions of cars with gasoline, as well as the millions of jobs and billions of dollars the oil industry creates. Our dependence on oi! is not likely to change unless something drastic happens: either the price of oil goes up to a point where alter- nate fuels and the necessary infra- structure becomes economically feasible; or air pollution from automobiies becomes so _ in- tolerable that consumer discontent and political pressure will force a switch to cleaner fuels. 1 am inclined to think that the latter is already happening. In large urban centres, such as Los Angeles, Mexico City and Tokyo, air pollution is now reaching alarming proportions. As a result, Mexico City now bans cars from the city centre on certain days of the week and is threatening to ban all cars ten years old or older. Singapore levies expensive tolis on all vehi- cles that enter the city centre. Los Angeles recently introduced tough legislation tightening exhaust emission requirements and requir- ing government fleets to use elec- tric-powered or methanol-powered vehicles. . In the United States, proposed legislation prompted by en- vironmental groups may raise the corporate average fuel economy rating (CAFE) for car manufac- turers from 27 mpg to 40 mpg. If this happens, automakers will be forced to downsize their cars, produce more fuel-efficient engines, and perhaps turn to alternate fuels to improve fuel economy averages. An electric car, for example, consumes no fuel, so its excellent Art for show to be selected THIRTY VISUAL art works by North Shore artists and craft- speople will be selected by jurors and displayed at Klee Wyck in West Vancouver from March 5-8, from 1-5 p.m. A reception will be held to meet the artists on March 8, from 7-9 p.m. Ten of these works will repre- sent the North Shore, Squamish, Whistler and Bowen Island in the province-wide visual arts exhib- ition, Images and Objects IX. Images and Objects is coordi- nated by the Assembly of B.C. Arts Councils and is the visual component of the B.C. Festival of the Arts, to be held in North Vancouver District, May 22-26. Artists who have not vet entered their work for jurying for the provincial show must send them in to Klee Wyck, 200 Keith Road, on or before March 2. For information phone 922- £110. Greg Wilson AUTOMOTION | ‘mileage’ would contribute significantly to an automaker’s overall CAFE rating. Most manufacturers have elec- tric-powered vehicles in the works, but so far none offer the range and performance of gasoline- engined vehicies. General Motors’ mew 2-seater electric vehicle, the Impact, is probably the most ad- vanced and it is expected to be in- troduced in 1993. Hybrid vehicles, that run on Everything you expect ina luxury car except the higher price $489 both electricity and gasoline, have been developed by Volkswagen and Audi. The Audi-Duo hybrid has an internal combustion engine which powers the front wheels and a battery-powered electric motor which runs the rear wheels. The battery is intended for low speed use in the city, while the gasoline engine drives the car at higher speeds for longer distances. The battery is recharged while the vehicle is running on gasoline. Nissan, VW and other automakers have developed dual- fuel cars which run on a combina- tion of gasoline and methanol. Methanol is an alcohol fuel ob- tained fram natural gas or coal. It is more expensive to manufacture than gasoline, but is cleaner and turns at a higher compression ratio than gasoline, meaning more power. In Brazil, almost half of all vehicles are powered by ethanol, an alcohc* fuel derived from sugar cane, a ren: able resource. Clean-burning, fuel-efficient diesel engines are also receiving a lot of attention in Europe. Their excellent fuel economy means a lower overall pollution level by volume. VW even has a combina- tion diesel/electric-powered Golf. PER MONTH PLUS TAX PER MONTH PLUS TAX 48 Months Based on $5,000 Capital Reduction 48 Months Based on $1,000 Capital Reduction General Motors and Chrysler are developing 2-stroke engines for use in passenger cars. Lighter, more compact, and less polluting than the traditional 4-stroke piston engine, the new generation of 2-stroke engines are claimed to be as powerful, yet cleaner and more fuel efficient. Hydrogen-powered cars have been developed by Mercedes and BMW. As a non-carbon burning fuel. hydrogen produces almost no emissions but iis implementation is still seen as a long way off. Alternate fuels are not ready to replace gasoline yet, but the writ- ing is on the wall. Major urban centres will be forced into doing something about it simply because the air is no longer fit to breathe. F-A-§-T COLLISION REPAIRS CALL THE PROFESSIONALS AT ‘JAYCORMOTIVE” 1959 LTD. FREE RENTAL COURTESY CARS B.C.A.A. APPROVED — A.R.A. CERTIFIED 1.C.B.C. 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