High Efficiency Road Trip
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01.19.06
John and Helen Taylor (shown above) recently began a road trip around the world in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for fuel efficiency. The duo plan to cover approximately 18,000 miles, across 25 countries, in 70 days -- all on less than 50 tanks of Shell gasoline specially-formulated using a next- generation fuel technology. Follow the journey online where you can sign up for email progress updates or find out when they're in your neck of the woods (an insider TreeHugger thing). The driving tips the Taylors will be using are given away at Shell stations across the U.S. through the Shell FuelStretch initiative. John and Helen will be driving a Volkswagen Golf FSI 1.6., a version of which is also shown here.
Wouldn't it be even more fuel efficient if they stayed home?!
Cynicism abounds when reading this "good news".
Fuel efficiency is relative - fuel efficient compared to what? What is the "world's record" for fuel efficiency anyway - does it only have to do with distance traveled, or within a certain timeframe?
If the record is for MPG over a certain distance, there are a few dozen thousand Toyota Priuses with more than 18,000 miles on them ready to claim a world record. Or some guy on a motorcycle. This Golf seems like it's only going to be getting about 28-30 MPG depending on the tank size. Yawn.
I also wonder - how will this super-special gas get to this car which will presumably driving all over in places that don't have Shell stations which pump the precious new gas formula? How much fuel will be used to transport the precious few tanks of gas this car will be using? How is that fuel efficient? Shouldn't the world record consider that?
Shell is getting some free advertising out of it, though, so kudos to them for this PR coup.
==== author's response follows ====
With the number of cars on the road and miles driven per-capita both still on the increase, car and fuel makers could be feeling the need for some stretch redemption relative to perceived Climate Change sins. On the other hand, featuring smaller cars and teaching better driving habits can do some good. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that a middle aged couple was chosen as the drive team.
I'm a little confused about the road trip being "green" news. I mean, they're undertaking an 18,000 mile road trip just to set a world record, and they're burning up 50 tanks of gas doing it. I appreciate the value of teaching people to drive more efficiently, but the people who see how far they can go on one tank of gas probably make a greater psychological impact, and it would have been a lot greener to go on a 70-day bicycle trip or to spend their time doing local tourism on foot.
Curiosity: How does their trip stack up against the average vacation by train or plane? Does it use up more than 50 tanks of gas per passenger to fly somewhere?
let's exercise some cynicism in what we post when we know that this "efficiency" effort is bankrolled by Shell. Hu-llo?!
=== author's response follows ====
Agreed that there are several fairly transparent business motives that underly the stated intention of "teaching" conservation, posing as corporate change agents, and so on. The Guiniess award incentive is only a secondary motivator. There are probably more reasons to be cynical than we have time to look for. However, I personally find it more interesting to think on how the sponsors measure the success of the contest, as it is already underway.
Example: we might assume that corporate PR types see most blog comments about the contest. I'm assuming that all of it gets "pumped" back by ad agency hosted bots on a regular basis. Cool thought. One more example: most assuredly the sponsors will be counting on local TV news cameras covering the car as it moves through various station markets, helping to spur customer interest in products of the sponsoring companies, which are VW and Shell of course (decals are on the car). Both of these firms have global reach and both came to grips with the realities of Climate Change far before some of their competitors did (or will).
The outcome could break several ways. In scenario #1 the contest is ignored and has no positive effect on product sales. No one ever tries it again. In scenario #2, world gas prices are going up up up , headed for a new record, just as the car is halfway through the trip. Local TV news editors think this would be an absolutely timely visual to add to the evening news, and some cap it off with interview footage. VW showrooms and Shell stations get new customers aas a result, and the competition starts to plan their own cross country "reality races" for next season. THe copy cats decide they need to draw even more attention by squeezing more miles per gallon out of a vehicle. And so on.
The question is: which scenario do we like best?
Why is VW not supplying a VW Lupo 3.0 L?
The VW Lupo 3.0 L gets 100 Kilometers per 3.0 liters of Diesel fuel or in U.S. Gallons
78.5 Miles per Gallon!
And of course the Lupo 3.0 L is sold just about everywhere in the world except the U.S.A.!
=== author's response follows =====
You may have answered your own question. THe US looks to be the tarket market for VW's interest.
Actually, VW has been contemplating bring the VW Polo over to the U.S. (again, they use to sell the predecessor to the Polo platform in the U.S. as the VW Fox)
The Lupo and the Polo share the same platform, therefore if the Polo is brought over, the Lupo could be too b/c it would be the same platform (same crash testing) and the emissions would be lower (don't have to worry about EPA testing) as these are ULEV vehicles.
So is a 78.5 M.P.G. vehicle that could be run on 100 % biodegradable fuel something to yawn at?