I never thought I’d see this logo on a gas pump, and maybe I never will, but what I’ve read so far sounds promising.
Whether we’re talking about the overall durability and longevity of a Honda or the offensive price tag and top speed of a Bugatti, the local manufacturers have some stiff competition out there. Don’t get me wrong, I still cheer when a Corvette beats a Porsche on the track, but I still respect the Porsche for setting the bar at that height in the first place. Every single day I hear about electric this and hybrid that, and I absolutely despise the upcoming sound of silence. I figured I’d be safe in my domestic market, with big American car companies burning big amounts of American oil, but I was wrong. GM teases an electric Hummer and Ford an electric Mustang. At the other end of the spectrum, Dodge is still cramming the Hellcat engine into everything, which is both cool and concerning, as even I myself don’t believe that business model is sustainable in a world with greener goals. As more and more companies cram more and more batteries into cars with multiple electric motors in various configurations, Porsche recently revealed they’re willing to speak the conventional performance language. I’m not talking English, and I’m not talking German. I’m talking horsepower, you can hear.
The wonderful people at Porsche have identified the problem that no one else wants seems to want to talk about: old cars. They claim that roughly seventy percent of their cars are still on the road, and I wouldn’t doubt it, as high-end cars tend to attract high-end owners. Sure, the odd one gets wrecked in a race or trashed by a rich celebrity, but they’re not exactly the car you see parked in the field between a Ford F100 and a Dodge Dart. Based on the fact that certain customers want to drive a classic Porsche, while others might want to purchase a newer used one in a cost-cutting measure, Porsche is working on what they call “eFuel.” eFuel is a synthetic fuel of some sort, and although I haven’t been able to track down what exactly it’s made from, I can confirm that Porsche claims that the combined CO2 produced in the production and use of each vehicle will be roughly the same as with an electric vehicle. It seems like an ambitious estimate, but it’s one that makes perfect sense to me, as pollution coming out the tailpipe vs. pollution coming out of a power plant is still the same pollution on the same planet. I’m also a firm believer in quality fuel-producing quality results. Just look at what the alkylate fuels have done for small engines. It has a long shelf life, lots of octane, and no smell. If Porsche can do for my Chevy C10 what Aspen did for my weed trimmer, count me in. I don’t care what anyone says; keeping old cars on the road with cleaner-burning fuel is better for the planet than crushing them all and building batteries. All the infrastructure is also reusable, as tankers can still haul it, and service stations can still pump it. As long as it’s reasonably affordable and sustainable, people will run it. I just ran the cordless drill on one side of a red glass pack and put my ear to the other end. I didn’t hear the ocean, and I certainly didn’t hear the soothing sound of horsepower.
Have a question or comment for Kelly? Post it at lmtimes.ca/kirk
