Re: [AMC-list] hydrogen-powered Gremlin for sale...

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Gourmet food trucks are a big thing right now in Los Angeles, and one of
them runs one it's own used fry oil!

There was even a vegetable oil conversion car shop here in the Silver Lake
neighborhood that was very busy for a a few years, then it closed up shop...
vegetable oil is a fine fuel in theory, but in practice, it's pretty
physically crappy. They were good techs, and knew about filtration etc.

The real problem is (1) there simply isn't ever going to be enough of the
stuff for more than a few thousand cars even in Los Angeles. I think the
rule of thumb is, if every single acre of arable land in the United States
was 100% converted over to vegetable oil plant production, it would meet 15%
of U.S. passenger car fuel consumption!

(That is a sobering number for any number of reasons... let's not go
there...)

But wow -- I thought driving a propane-fueled Rambler was a PITA (it was!),
always looking for those white tanks like a constantly hungry dog --
slogging jugs of stinky french fry oil out the back of a restaurant every
week would get VERY TEDIOUS. We have a friend with a converted Mercedes
diesel. She doesn't drive it much. She buys new oil sometimes because she
simply can't stand the hassle of begging from restaurants that think she's
some crazy bag lady. (She's a lawyer for Hollywood types.) I'd rather pedal
that do that every day.


Rambler content: nil. At least we're not arguing! :-)
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