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| Green machines roll into town By Stacy Trevenon [ stacy@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 1:46 PM PDT Anywhere he goes, says Dave Eck, El Granada resident and owner of Half Moon Bay Auto Repair and Body, they ask about that truck he’s driving. “It’s one-of-a-kind,” said the proud auto aficionado. “It’s a head-turner.” That truck is Eck’s 2004 GMC “Top Kick,” a 6.6-liter Duramax diesel, which can be seen around town towing vehicles. Eck will also exhibit at Dream Machines. Running on 100 percent used vegetable oil, it will tie in neatly with some other exhibits at Dream Machines that, aside from being dream machines, are green machines. Ten alternative fuel vehicles will make up the “Green Machines” display, featured by AAA of Northern California, which is spotlighting its commitment to the future of the automobile. “Many people are taking the future of alternative fuel into their own hands and converting their vehicles without the help of auto manufacturers,” said AAA spokeswoman Jenny Mack. “The vehicles on display will highlight some of these ‘homemade’ conversions as well as cutting-edge technology from auto makers.” The Green Machines will include: • A 100-mph-plus Toyota Prius plug-in; • A 2004 Volkswagen Jetta TDI that runs on vegetable oil and biodiesel; • Prototype Kia Sportage and Ford Focus hydrogen fuel cell vehicles; • AC Propulsion’s eBox, a battery plug-in electric conversion of a Toyota Scion xB; • A San Francisco Police Department patrol car that runs on compressed natural gas; • A 2007 Honda Civic GX CNG, dubbed the “cleanest internal-combustion vehicle on earth” by the EPA; • A Toyota Prius hybrid. The display touches on the fact that interest in alternative fuels is revving up, with dependence on oil a major social concern. Event-goers can peek under hoods at plug-ins’ extra batteries, study a two-fuel tank system and learn where to find alternative fueling stations in the area. Those interested in transportation alternatives might also want to take a gander at the Equinox, a solar-powered vehicle. The Equinox is the eighth generation of the Stanford Solar Car Project, a student-run Stanford University group that has been building, testing and racing solar-powered vehicles for nearly 20 years. Every two years the team builds a new vehicle to compete in the World Solar Challenge race in Australia. Its earlier generation car, the Solstice, made with commercially available, off-the-shelf parts, won the race’s stock car class in 2005. The Equinox can cruise at 55 mph on solar energy alone, and with a boost from a battery can reach a top speed of 83 mph. “It has better solar cells than the majority of solar cars,” said Stanford team member Sasha Zbrozek. The car has been retired from racing, but still offers lessons to the team harnessing solar power in cars. Eck got his vehicle only a few months ago, paying in the neighborhood of $50,000 for it (new, he says, such cars run around $80,000.) It’s a ton-and-a-half, heavy-duty vehicle, that he says gets the same mileage and has the same power as a conventional diesel vehicle of the same size. It has a semi-style chassis on which is perched a “sleek-looking” cab. Inside, it’s “luxurious,” Eck said: It’s got an air-ride chassis, heated seats and a full stereo and DVD. “It’s fully loaded,” he said. And it’s powerful. It will tow anything Eck hitches up to it, from cars to trucks to a flatbed. Eck powers it up with used vegetable oil he collects regularly from local restaurants and filters. Why did he shell out the tens of thousands for it? “The idea is not to beat fuel prices, it’s to beat the system,” he said. With his vehicle depending on vegetable oil, he pointed out, “you don’t wait in a (gas station) line, you don’t shop for fuel, you know what you’ve got.” Everyone else would like to know what he’s got, too. Besides being a looker, he said, it appeals to other senses as well. “It smells like French fries,” he said. “It makes you hungry when you’re following it. You don’t see a lot of black smoke.” |