Ernie interviewed by The Fresno Bee on Biodiesel and MAX MPG, his UBER MPG New Beetl

Seems Dr. Ernie is at the forefront with his NB "MAX MPG" from the Mad Max Beyond Thunder MPGs per gallon program. Article will run, we hope, on 3-5-06 in the Fresno Bee.

Hopefully something will be on this link with pictures on Sunday Morning.

http://www.fresnobee.com/


Hope we get a good story Ernie.


One of the stories, no pics.

This Volkswagen bug goes a long way on a little fuel

The Fresno Bee
(Updated Sunday, March 5, 2006, 5:45 AM)

A typical manual diesel VW bug can get up to 49 mpg in highway driving.
Ernie Rogers revamped his silver bug (with the "MAX MPG" license plate) and gets an extra 16 mpg.
The most noticeable modification is a giant spoilerlike device that he created on the back of the car. The "wing" acts as a drag reducer, reducing air resistance and adding about 3 miles per gallon to his mileage.
About 5% of the fuel in Rogers' fuel tank is biodiesel. The rest is regular diesel. The "pinch" of biodiesel adds about 2 miles per gallon, he said.
"You get all the benefit, in terms of efficiency, even at 2%," he said.
Rogers uses Motul motor oil, which costs $18 a liter and is imported from France, to improve his fuel efficiency, and he uses special tires.
His Michelin MXV4 S8 tires, now standard on Honda Accord hybrids, use a type of rubber that reduces friction.
And he just drives slower.
"If I slow down 5 mph, my mileage improved 10%," he said.
That's because there's less air to cut through and provide resistance. Reducing speed is also a frequent AAA recommendation for saving money on gas.
"Slow down," Rogers said. "Anybody can do that. Think about the fantastic amounts of energy we'd save if everybody would relax."
He got 78 mpg when he drove the 1,209 miles from Park City, Utah, to Davenport, Iowa. He drove 55 miles an hour and got honked at four times.

Here's the article:
http://www.fresnobee.com/business/story/11895232p-12664810c.html

Hey he was at the Fest right?

Rob,
Was that the guy with the huge tea table wing on his NB at the Fest?

Yup. That was the guy!

HERE'S A LINK to a video by the Fresno Bee of Ernie... Sounds like an AA program, but with only 4 steps to better fuel mileage.

Helps if you have Apple QuickTime software and a good high speed connection, it's a large file. If you have dial up, use your time wisely to do an oil and filter change while it downloads.
Enter http://fresnobee.com - Wing2mov


Can someone cut and paste the article featuredin the right column here, so we all don't have to register with the Fresno Bee? Thanks

Audi5000TDI said:

HERE'S A LINK to a video by the Fresno Bee of Ernie... Sounds like an AA program, but with only 4 steps to better fuel mileage.

Helps if you have Apple QuickTime software and a good high speed connection, it's a large file. If you have dial up, use your time wisely to do an oil and filter change while it downloads.
Enter http://fresnobee.com - Wing2mov


Can someone cut and paste the article featuredin the right column here, so we all don't have to register with the Fresno Bee? Thanks

Click to expand...

Video: http://www.fresnobee.com/static/includes/beehive/wing2.mov

Article: here (pdf)

Ernie,
Perhaps you could get the State of Utah to mandate a 2% biodiesel blend into every gallon of diesel. My home state of Minnesota has already done so and it is working well for us.

Great article! Well done Ernie.

Yes, slowing down 5 mph from 55 to 50mph would give you a 10% increase.

Slowing down from 85mph to 80 mph aint gonna get the 10%, what with the speeds people drive nowadays.

What is so stupid is that unless you drive 110 miles one way to work every day, the time savings is nothing for the amount of energy wasted speeding. If you drive 60 mph and you only have a 40 mile commute and the last 10 miles is choked in traffic and eats 20 minutes of your time.... how much spare time have you gained each day? 2 or 3 minutes over a 30 mile commute, only to lose it at a stop sign or a red light at a signal at the offramp or on surface streets. Now that's what is meant by conserving energy... Americans are gluttonous energy wasters, that wont change until energy gets too expensive to waste and the wasters feel it where it hurts... in the wallet.

The ARTICLE...



Biodiesel's power is growing

Alternative fuels become more mainstream as the Valley becomes a home for ethanol.

By Bethany Clough / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Sunday, March 5, 2006, 7:07 AM)


Ernie Rogers drives from Utah to Fresno on less than a tank of gas.
The retired physicist, inventor and fuel-efficiency advocate drives a modified diesel Volkswagen beetle that gets 65 miles per gallon in the summertime.
He also designed an engine that gets more than 100 mpg.
Alternative fuels and innovators like Rogers are becoming more mainstream, especially as the central San Joaquin Valley becomes a home for ethanol producers and President Bush calls for more spending on research on ethanol and increased production of renewable fuels to rid the country of its "addiction" to oil.
But biodiesel doesn't have much of a chance in the Valley and producing it here may face an uphill battle, experts say.
But Rogers, 69, isn't deterred. He hopes to persuade a Utah company to open a plant here, and others in the agriculture industry are quietly experimenting with the fuel's potential.
"We have to use less energy," Rogers said. "Just by improving efficiency and thoughtfulness, we can get by on half the energy in California.
Rogers, a Fresno native who splits time between here and Utah, has modified his VW to get super mileage, upgrading the standard diesel bug with a giant spoiler, special tires and adds some biodiesel fuel to improve efficiency.
Others hope the fuel gains traction. Singer Willie Nelson is opening biodiesel stations nationwide, including two in the San Diego area. Nelson, who powers his tour buses on biodiesel, started the company Willie Nelson's Biodiesel. His Web site says the idea is to do something useful to eliminate America's dependence on foreign oil, help put the the American family farmer back to work and clean up the environment.
Bush in a speech to governors last week said his administration's Advanced Energy Initiative would promote investment in alternative fuels like biodiesel. Bush said, "By applying the talent and innovative spirit of our citizens, we will move beyond a petroleum-based economy, protect our environment, and make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy."
Actors are also getting into the trend. Ford Motor Co. reported that supporting-actor Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal is scheduled to show up at the awards ceremony in a Ford Excursion powered by biodiesel, according to the The Associated Press.
Rogers is a 1958 Fresno State graduate and attended Roosevelt High School. A lifelong inventor, he has patents for power-generating windmills and other ecologically friendly inventions. He worked in the aerospace industry, including a stint at Morton Thiokol, where he worked on engines that power space shuttle rocket boosters.
He makes the 800-mile trip from Utah to Fresno on 12.5 gallons, never stopping to fuel up.
"I stop at stations and I say, 'Sorry, I don't need any fuel,' " he said.
But solving the nation's reliance on oil isn't as simple as buying a car like Rogers'.
New diesel cars can't be sold in California because they don't meet emissions standards. Rogers bought his in Utah.
Diesel emissions standards for cars are different than those for trucks, and no diesel cars have been certified to be sold in the state since the 2003 model year, said Gennet Paauwe, spokeswoman for the California Air Resources Board.
However, changing engine technology and modifications to diesel fuel mean diesel cars are expected to be sold in the next few years, she said.
There are no biodiesel pumps in the Central Valley, and just 25 retailers in the state sell the fuel.
Rogers is helping a Utah biodiesel company, Domestic Energy Partners, look for a place to build a plant in the central San Joaquin Valley.
Although crops can be grown to produce biodiesel, the ideal varieties, like soybeans, don't thrive in the Valley and might not be profitable if they did, said Dan Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Davis.
Fresno State's International Center for Water Technology is experimenting with canola crops on farmland sitting empty because the soil is saturated with selenium, a naturally occurring chemical element linked to deformities in waterfowl.
The canola draws selenium out of the soil and is processed and fed to cattle that need the mineral in their diet.
Canola oil is a byproduct of the process and though it's not profitable to produce it for biodiesel on its own, it could be used to make the fuel, said Jim Tischer, the center's regional program manager.
"If it's part of a larger process then it may have real value to the Central Valley," Tischer said.
A study released last year also suggested gas from dairy manure, known as biomethane, could be used to power motor vehicles and generate electricity.
But ethanol is having a better time here.
An ethanol plant is up and running in Goshen and Fresno-based Pacific Ethanol plans operations in Madera and Visalia. Calgren Renewable Fuels LLC has plans for plants in Hanford and Pixley.
Rogers' plans for the future include building his engine that gets 100 mpg. Right now the design is only on paper.
And he'll continue to drive his silver Volkswagen with the attention-getting wing on the back.
"Girls think it looks cool," he said. "Guys think it looks funny."
The reporter can be reached at bclough@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6431.

Bookworm said:

Ernie,
Perhaps you could get the State of Utah to mandate a 2% biodiesel blend into every gallon of diesel. My home state of Minnesota has already done so and it is working well for us.

Click to expand...

Perhaps the people of Minnesota are crazy? Electing Jesse "The Body" Ventura to the governorship was a start. Mandating 2% biodiesel, then having truckers stranded on the sides of roads with clogged filters and fuel problems was a another bonehead move by the government.

No thank you on mandates. Let people be stupid themselves if they want to risk running biodiesel in a freezing cold snap, don't force them.

You can't protect stupid people from themselves... I'm getting tired of the government dumbing things down to the lowest common denominator.

Chill...

Audi5000TDI said:

Perhaps the people of Minnesota are crazy? Electing Jesse "The Body" Ventura to the governorship was a start. Mandating 2% biodiesel, then having truckers stranded on the sides of roads with clogged filters and fuel problems was a another bonehead move by the government.

No thank you on mandates. Let people be stupid themselves if they want to risk running biodiesel in a freezing cold snap, don't force them.

You can't protect stupid people from themselves... I'm getting tired of the government dumbing things down to the lowest common denominator.

Click to expand...

Minnesota citizens seems to be a little more open minded then some, me thinks . They voted in Jesse the Body and guess what?!? The state didn't burn to the ground and the economy chugged along fine while he was there. On the whole he may not have met the promise that the citizens hoped for but at least the had the courage to throw the other bums out and try something new. They learned and more importantly the two other parties learned that they had to be more responsive to the peoples want and issues.

With the biodiesel issue this was driven by the PEOPLE and by thier elected representatives. Remember that all the hyperbole about ADM and others aside, the vast majority of Minnesota is a food and fiber state. No surprise that the good citizens there might want to support thier own economy. They had a problem with the fuel, and guess what, it was because the makers (profit driven businesses) didn't clean (refine) the fuel to a reasonable standard. IT WAS NOT BIODIESEL PROBLEM, it was a DIRTY biodiesel problem. To their credit the state didn't scrap the idea, they learned, adapted, and are overcoming the problem. Their only mistake was to trust a business to overlook profit motives for sake of the good of society.

An excerpt from http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/12/22_pugmiret_biodiesel/?rsssource=1

"...
"It's not a problem overall with the fuel," Pawlenty said. "It's just a cold weather issue in limited or isolated areas. It's not across the whole state, and it's not even across all trucks. So, there are certain areas on certain days where there seems to be a problem. And we have to get to the bottom of it."

The state's largest refiner, Flint Hills Resources in Rosemount, recently quit delivering certain cold-weather biodiesel blends to greater Minnesota. The refinery's own tests found high levels of glycerin in some of the biodiesel. ..."

By the way, I was buying 5% bioD at the pump in Wisconsin at the same time and driving in the same general conditions with both a Cummins and a VW with out a lick of problems.

One more factoid directed at your rant; Governor Ventura threatened a veto to any BioD mandate back in 2002. But wait...he appears to agree with you??? Then what does that say about your opinions, in your opinion??

Audi5000TDI said:

Perhaps the people of Minnesota are crazy? Electing Jesse "The Body" Ventura to the governorship was a start. Mandating 2% biodiesel, then having truckers stranded on the sides of roads with clogged filters and fuel problems was a another bonehead move by the government.

No thank you on mandates. Let people be stupid themselves if they want to risk running biodiesel in a freezing cold snap, don't force them.

You can't protect stupid people from themselves... I'm getting tired of the government dumbing things down to the lowest common denominator.

Click to expand...

A follow-up link... http://www.mntruck.org/biodiesel_mandate.htm apparantly the Minnesotans can learn from their attempts.

Nothing ventured... nothing gained!

testy_SOB said:

One more factoid directed at your rant; Governor Ventura threatened a veto to any BioD mandate back in 2002. But wait...he appears to agree with you??? Then what does that say about your opinions, in your opinion??

Click to expand...

By 2002, Ventura's political capital was exhausted; he had several veto overrides where the Republicans and Democrats teamed up to get the 2/3 majorities - and this was with Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the Senate.

vikingrob said:

By 2002, Ventura's political capital was exhausted; he had several veto overrides where the Republicans and Democrats teamed up to get the 2/3 majorities - and this was with Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the Senate.

Click to expand...

I know, I put that in there to point out the original posters logical dilemma. What really burned me is someone from California calling Minnesotans stupid!

We Cheeseheads reserve the right to dis Mud Ducks and relinquish it to no one.

Actors are also getting into the trend. Ford Motor Co. reported that supporting-actor Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal is scheduled to show up at the awards ceremony in a Ford Excursion powered by biodiesel, according to the The Associated Press.

Click to expand...

Wow, that's SMART. Biodiesel in a HEUI, AND using an EXCURSION instead of something a little smaller (although, Ford doesn't want people to know about diesel cars... )

testy_SOB said:

I know, I put that in there to point out the original posters logical dilemma. What really burned me is someone from California calling Minnesotans stupid!

We Cheeseheads reserve the right to dis Mud Ducks and relinquish it to no one.

Click to expand...

Context my dear boy... it's all in the context. Posing it as a question is legitimate, has nothing to do with being logical or illogical... making a statement as fact or opinion is not.

Audi5000TDI said:

Context my dear boy... it's all in the context. Posing it as a question is legitimate, has nothing to do with being logical or illogical... making a statement as fact or opinion is not.

Click to expand...

I started to write a response revisiting the 'context'. But I figured that if you can't figure it out on it's face then trying to 'splain it to you ain't going to work either...

testy,

What's the going rate for a 98 NB with 200k miles on the clock?

Audi5000TDI said:

testy,

What's the going rate for a 98 NB with 200k miles on the clock?

Click to expand...

No Idea.