Coskata has developed a proprietary high temperature plasma gasification process that turns any carbon-containing waste or biological product into ethanol. In the first step the carbon containing material is gassified into CO and hydrogen. Proprietary microorganisms then combine both gases directly into ethanol. In the final step the ethanol is separated from the water.

The technique does not rely on expensive enzymes, as the microorganisms can reproduce themselves.

A great value of the technology is that ethanol can be made from many sources including numerous feedstocks, wood biomass, agricultural waste, sustainable energy crops, and garbage, old tires, and construction waste. It yields a 7 to 1 energy ratio and uses half the water it takes to produce gasoline.

Earlier this week the company opened a small-scale or semi-production facility in Madison PA that is capable of producing 50,000-gallons-a-year.

This facility demonstrates the capability of scaling up the technology from the laboratory into the 65 foot high structure. The next step will be opening a full scale production facility capable of producing 55 million gallons per year in 2012.

According to the company’s CEO Wes Bolen, the cost of the process is about $1 to make one gallon of ethanol.

As part owner, GM is also one of Coskata’s first customers.

“We invested in Coskata so that we could enable the rapid deployment of commercially viable and environmentally sustainable ethanol globally,” said Bob Babik, GM Vehicle Emissions Director. “We’re proud to say that we have already accepted some of Coskata’s ethanol at our Milford facility.”

As we know the Chevy Volt itself is E85 capable, and on one leg of the recent extended development test drives, the Volt prototypes were filled with E85 to analyze function using that fuel source.

Source (Coskata)

According to Volt vehicle line engineer Tony Posawatz, “the VOLT can run without gas since it is an EV.”

Here’s how he explains it:

We will provide many tips to customers on how they can get the most out of their VOLT as we continue the education process, work our demo programs and train our dealers and customers at the point of sale. For example, we will recommend that they keep some gas in their tank to avoid range anxiety and if they are always driving in EV, we want to make sure that once every month or so, we can perform a maintenance run on the engine (for keeping the engine parts lubricated and the gas from getting stale).

This will be done automatically for the customer because of the intelligence built right into the car. We don’t want to have the customers worry about putting additive in their gas tanks like snowmobilers and boaters have to. If the customer runs primarily in EV mode, we would also suggest that they not keep their tank full. That’s a lot of extra mass to carry around. Prior to a long trip is the right time to gas up at one of our countries 170,000 gas stations.

As to whether the car can run without its battery he says “the VOLT can run with an injured battery but not without a battery in the car.”

Finally Posawatz declares “the VOLT is a very smart car, it will be the smartest device on the smart grid of the future.”

I was recently told by Volt vehicle line executive Frank Weber that “the gas tank will be between 6 and 10 gallons.”

Below is some further detail I was given by Volt lead engineer, Andrew Farah:

A long standing secret seems to be how large the Volt’s gas tank will be, can you clarify?
Its not a secret. I’m still balancing (the decision). I can trade off fuel tank size for other things. As we’re taking the vehicle through this critical phase of development this calendar year, there’s a strong likelihood I’ll still be making changes to that variable. And rather than throw a number out, we have said the car is going to go several hundred miles. Exactly how much is something we’re going to be tuning and trading off for other things.

So the size of the gas tank affects the mass and thus may be varied according to your needs?
Certainly. Fuel is very heavy and it also takes up space so maybe we’re going to use some of that space for something else too.

Have you solved the stale gas problem?
I’m not so worried about that. Most people are going to use up some fuel at some rate, probably faster than six months. Fuel is certainly going to be good for six months without concern. Most people are going to take one or two long trips in six months. We’re not designing this vehicle as a pure EV for a reason. Most people realistically while they’re going to get their 40 miles and there’s going to be five days a week when they may never use any gas at all, there’s a strong likelihood that they are going to use enough gas that this isn’t going to be a significant problem for most people.

So you feel you don’t need to build in a system to deal with it?
I don’t think we need to build in a special system.

If somebody never uses their gas in a year and a half will the car remind them about it?
That’s one solution, but if you go read the regulations about fuel management and evaporative emissions, (you will see) we have to limit our evaporative emissions to almost nothing. If you limit your evaporative emissions to almost nothing, things don’t get stale very much.

Take any volatile fluid, in the sense that it has a low vapor pressure and keep a lid on it and what happens? Almost nothing. Its not the same as in a lawn mower where you don’t have a sealed system. We have a sealed system. So there is something we are doing, it is not particularly special, but thats what we’re going to do.

One thing to consider is what would happen if the car ran out of gas after the battery has reached its depletion point, or was in charge-sustaining mode. Since there would still be charge in the battery, it is conceivable that the car could be engineered to dip into that a little and give the driver a “limp-home mode” that might allow 1 to 2 miles of slow driving to get you to the gas station.

The New York Times has just reported that Volt executive Frank Weber mentioned such a limp home mode might be available on the Volt.

Or will it?

I just recently had asked this same question to Mr. Weber’s colleague, Bob Kruse, who is GMs director of Hybrids and EVs.  My questions and his comments follow:

Will there be a limp home mode, if you run out of gas at the same time you’re at battery depletion, allowing the driver a couple of miles of low speed driving?
If it’s your Volt, are you willing to wound your battery for that convenience?

If it happens very rarely it may not impact the cells longevity.
Well I’m the expert on that and is that something that you’re willing to sacrifice, the longevity of your battery in order to overcharge it?

Ideally no, but I think if it were a dire situation the car could give you a big red button on the screen…
I could let you do it but you can’t expect me to give you a life of the car battery of you want to operate outside the norms. But we do have Onstar so if you use it they’ll bring you a gallon of gas.  I don’t know whether were going to do it (have this feature) or not.

So it looks like this idea is probably still up in the air.

Would you want this feature?

Reserves of natural gas are considerable, cost is low, and domestic supplies are twice as large as that of petroleum. This had led many here to speculate that natural gas would make a great range extender option for the Volt, or as a primary fuel source for other vehicles. As well, oil tycoon T Boone Pickens has been promoting a plan to move the US to CNG vehicles.

GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said that he wanted European governments to encourage the use of CNG, stating “we need a policy that creates concrete action now to make…CNG widely available.”

GM already has the capability of making natural gas vehicles, but unlike Honda, has no models available in the US. I asked GM spokesperson Dee Aleen about GM’s US CNG car production plans. Dee stated, “In Europe we have the CNG Opel Zafira and Astra, and Chevrolet LPG, and I believe some models in Asia — but nothing in the U.S. ”

I also asked whether CNG would make for a good range extender in the Volt. He replied, “Let us get the original version out before we start having variants. As we’ve said from the beginning, even when no one believed we were even serious, the range extender can be gasoline, E85, diesel, hydrogen, cooking oil, solar, whatever . . . as long as it can efficiently regenerate the electricity in the battery.”

Oil peaked at over $147 barrel on July 11, and now has retreated back to $115.  Hopefully to continue to drop.

High prices have led to reduced global and US demand, and the end of China’s hoarding in preparation for the Olympics has occurred.

Further, speculative forces also appear to be declining.

Source (Reuters )

He reiterated GMs position that there is no single solution to achieve petroleum displacement, and that a multifaceted approach is needed.

Natural gas is described as a good transportation fuel alternative because it is "abundant, affordable, and relatively clean."

He states that GM can in the mid-term "leverage natural gas to create electricity for the Volt and future variants".

For the near term he indicates natural gas could be used in combustion engines and hints at what may be imminent production plans; "we are exploring a dual-fuel approach with natural gas and gasoline for U.S. customers."

As well Burns states that GM believes the government will have to play a role to encourage adoption of and infrastructure development for natural gas through incentives.

Source (FastLane Blog )

On Sunday, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty announced that the National Governors Association and GM will work together to expand the nationwide ethanol (E85) infrastructure and distribution network.

GM has been steadily expanding the percent of their new vehicles that are flex-fuel capable, and for 2009 will have 18 flex-fuel models. Indeed the Volt’s generator, when it arrives, will also be E85 capable.

GM has recently formed strategic partnerships with the companies Coskata and Mascoma both of which aim to efficiently mass-produce ethanol from non-grain sources.

As per GM VP of Energy Beth Lowery, “GM continues to believe ethanol is the most significant near-term energy alternative to offset the increasing demand for oil. To make ethanol a viable alternative to gasoline requires sustainable production methods, a variety of vehicle offerings and a robust infrastructure to make the fuel available to consumers.”

It is noted that at present there are less than 1700 E85 pumps at the nation’s 170,000 gas stations.

Source (GM )

The TV commercial will apparently begin with the following Dear John letter from GM:

“Dear Oil,
We’ve had this great relationship for many years. We think we will both be a lot happier and healthier if we see less of each other.”

It truly remarkable to see the changes that are underfoot. A massive industry, and a leading giant within it is beginning to swear off the stuff that made it all happen for the last 100 years.

Source (Automotive News, subscription required)

On a related note, GM has just announced a partnership with Clean Energy Fuels Corp to build a new hydrogen fueling station in Los Angeles near LAX. GM has been engineering hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for some time and already has a fleet of 100 fuel cell Equinoxes in consumers hands called Project Driveway (see my test drive video). The fuel cell generator Volt is also production intent (2012′ish), and now has Nick Zielinksi as its vehicle line director.

Despite GMs clear desire to bring fuel cells to the masses, they have been stymied by the lack of infrastructure. Apparently reluctant to wait for the infrastructure to build itself, and spurred by the latest gas and oil prices, GM has obviously decided to help do it themselves.

In the words of Mary Beth Stanek, director of energy and environmental policy & commercialization at GM, “Developing and growing hydrogen infrastructure is vital to GM’s efforts to bring larger volumes of fuel cell vehicles to the market.”

Source (GM)

When the Volt was first introduced in January 2007, oil was roughly $60 per barrel. Now it has touched $135. Timely as the Volt concept was then, GM couldn’t have predicted how important this car rapidly would become.

U.S. gas prices are now around the $4.00 mark or greater. Analysts point out that although oil prices have increased 33% since the beginning of the year, gas prices have only increased 22%. Refineries have been absorbing some of the cost increase, but this may not be able to continue. The oil price bubble may grow further, and Goldman Sachs predicts it could hit $200 barrel within the next 6 months to 2 years. This could translate into a $6-$7 per gallon gas.

Source (MarketWatch )

In a New York Times editorial, Ben Stein paints a very bleak picture. Conjuring up images of 6000 pound SUVs being used to chauffeur 100 pound teenagers, and the apocalyptic chaos of Mad Max movies, he writes “the prognosis for gasoline is grim in the long run.”

He points out that 2/3 of U.S. gas is imported and mostly from countries whose governments and people don’t like us, and asks what will happen, for example, if Venezuela decided to stop sending us oil.

Further, the threat of peak oil and the likelihood we are already there is put forth. Equally dismal is how woefully ill-prepared he feels the country will be to handle rapidly diminishing supplies.

He tells us we have become deeply and inextricably dependent on oil, and that if nothing is done about it, the future is terrifying.

His solution. Turn coal into oil, build nuclear plants, drill everywhere and “brush aside the concerns of the beautiful people who live on coastal pastures.”

I agree the situation is an emergency and drastic measures are needed, but Mr.Stein forgot to mention one obvious thing. Build and drive electric vehicles. And then very well, not only might the Volt save GM, but it may go along way to help save this country.

Source (New York Times )