For most of a decade – call it 2008-2018 – most of my contributions to CleanTechnica “corporate” came through Gas 2. Gas 2, for those of you who have never read it, have had two captions over the years. An official one, it was: “Gas 2.0: the future of fuel,” and an unofficial one that was a little more nuanced: “Green cars that do not suck.”
Granted, this is a bit vague. Still, I think it can sum it up quite nicely by sharing a little exchange I had with someone cars.com about the Ford C-Max. Ford was involved in a bit of drama surrounding the car’s declared fuel consumption at the time, and my fellow journalist asked me how Gas 2 would cover the “scandalous” story.
“We probably won’t talk about everything,” I replied. “Because the C-Max sucks.”
Ford C Max Hybrid
Image courtesy of Ford.
Almost ten years later, I still stand by that statement. At its best day, the C-Max was styled like a kind of space egg, was way too long to be sporty or nimble, and tried so much, very hard to sell itself on the merits of efficiency and logic. And, do not get me wrong, it was efficient and logical… but this is America, and we do not buy vehicles on the basis of efficiency. (If you do not believe me, count how many pickups you see on the road with empty beds the next time you drive anywhere.)
Why am I talking about all this? Because I recently came across Gas 2’s “About Us” page on an old backup disk, and I felt it might use a bit of an update (especially since, you know, Gas 2 does not really exist anymore). So, here it is Gas 2’s Jo Borrás personal green car manifesto. Enjoy it!
Green cars that do not suck
Image courtesy of Everatti.
I believe that embracing trees and burning rubber (that’s good, it’s denied) can coexist. When I read about a car, I want to talk about 60 ‘and 1/4 mile times, custom construction, four-wheel drive, all while – of course – having a planet where we can do those things. The most important thing, I think, is that I want to show the enthusiastic community – the “gear heads” and hot-rodders – that green cars no suck.
There’s a little more to me than that, of course – if only. I like to think I can hold on to a few beliefs here. Nothing hard and fast and absolute. Just in general, you know? And I like to think that my 25-year history in the automotive world will prove some of the following:
- THE
FUTURECURRENT IS ELECTRICAL My motoring journalistic career was born right when the ’08 housing bubble burst and the world economy got a tank. At the time, it felt like there were a number of ways things could go, and a future for biofuels felt just as likely as a hydrogen or battery future – but the electrical appliances won. The electric won, and it’s great, because that soccer mom in the electric Kia crossover can rip off 12-second 1/4-mile passes anytime, day or night! - THE BEST WAY TO APPRECIATE NATURE IS TO GET INTO IT Longtime readers have probably seen that rule a few times now, and I still stand by it. I believe that a love of nature is and should be at the heart of environmental conservation efforts. That love, more than a fear of nature’s anger in the form of wildfires, hurricanes and deadly heat waves is what is going to motivate people to make the right environmental choices. As such, I want to encourage people to visit America’s national parks, Europe’s mountain passes, Australia’s coral reefs and Costa Rica’s cloud forests – and I want to cover RVs, ATVs, dirt bikes, personal watercraft and cool campers, because these things make the outdoors more fun, more accessible and more inclusive.
- TWO WHEELS ARE BETTER THAN FOUR – Whether we are talking about motorcycles, mopeds or bicycles, to cycle requires less raw materials to build, operate and maintain than cars. This is not physics. When almost three out of four vehicles in the US spend most of their time carrying a single occupant (or, worse: parked!), It’s just a great idea to switch to bikes – and lots more fun!
- THE GREATEST CAR YOU CAN BUY IS ONE WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN BUILT / WE WILL NOT CONSUME OURSELVES FROM HERE – Regardless of the fuel you use to run it, building a new car literally takes ton of raw materials. That material needs to be mined, refined, transported, processed, machined, then transported a few more times, and probably painted for a good size. Scrapping a car that gets 25 MPG to drive an EV does not go for those carbon emissions years. What does it mean? This means that, if you’re really trying to reduce carbon emissions, you may want to think about keeping the car you have on the road bit longer (if not a very longer!). When it comes to custom construction, I want to celebrate people and projects that reduce waste, reuse materials and recycle parts as they can while trying to bring something new, but not entirely new, to life.
- INDOOR BURNING IS NOT YET DEAD yet – Do you remember that thing of the electric win? Well, the internal combustion engine will still be relevant for a few years, and it’s not quite out of the tricks yet. What’s more, ignore the benefits ICE do in terms of energy density, infrastructure and market support it will not make it disappear faster. As such, I plan to celebrate real improvements as they come, because better is better, and I do not want to make perfection the enemy of progress.
That’s just about all I have.
If you’ve read this far, you may like what you’ve read and want to read more. It’s nice, and I hope you come to visit CleanTechnica – and comment! – often. So, until the next post hits, I would like to invite you to subscribe to one of our newsletters, watch the CleanTech Talk podcast, and visit our YouTube page every now and then.
Finally, I’m far from the only person writing about EVs here CleanTechnica. If you hate what you just read and you’re an EV maximist: it’s great! Anything that helps move the needle, and you can read more from great writers like Steve Hanley, Carolyn Fortuna, Jennifer Sensiba, Tina Casey, and (of course) the great Zachary Shahan.
Original content of Gas 2 CleanTechnica.
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