If you haven’t read Forward Drive by Jim Motavalli (published by Sierra Club Press) you should. The book is about future automobiles, specifically fuel cell powered electric cars. It’s a little short on technical details, especially costs, but it does make one point over and over: People aren’t going to buy any new technology unless it costs the same as the old technology and gives at least equal performance. Unless, of course, their government forces them to do so. Since that isn’t likely to happen in the U.S. you won’t be seeing many hybrid powered passenger cars.

The added weight of the batteries and motor/generator is such a large part of the car’s weight that it actually hinders performance. Since 80 mpg and SULE (super low emissions) is achievable without hybrid power why go to the added expense? Hybrid power makes sense for buses (which spend their entire life in stop and go traffic), for medium sized trucks (where the hybrid powerplant is a very small percentage of the gross vehicle weight and lots of starts and stops are made) and maybe for over the road haulers in the 100,000 lbs. range where fuel costs are such a large part of total operating costs. It doesn’t make sense (or dollars) for passenger cars.

Take a look at Toyota’s Prius website (www.prius.toyota.com). The Prius is 10-year-old technology and pretty lackluster technology at that. Only the nickel-metal-hydride batteries are really up to date. The Prius weighs 2800 lbs. of mostly steel construction, gets 45 mpg on the highway (about the same as a 1960 Austin Mini), will accelerate to 60 mph in 12.5 sec and has a top speed of 88 mph. Educated guesses say that the electric motor, generator and battery pack add 330 lbs., or 11%, to the weight of the car. They also contribute 44 of the total 114 h.p. It achieves its SULE status by virtue of a special rpm-limited high compression engine coupled to a continuously variable transmission, shutoff at idle, and some pretty exotic catalytic converters. In the EPA urban cycle the regenerative braking coupled with initial takeoff on the electric motor gets the emissions way down. In the real world of jackrabbit starts, freeway on-ramps, and slow and go traffic without the application of brakes, the emissions probably equal a regular LEV. Driven like most people drive an economy car, the Prius will continually call on the electric motor for added oomph and get about 35 mpg (Car and Driver actually tried it).

The Honda Insight is quite a bit more advanced for the same price. It makes me think Honda is losing even more money than Toyota. When you look at the specs you see that the electric motor only contributes 13 of the 80 h.p. total. It’s stretching it to call the Insight a true hybrid. Its real technological merit comes in other areas, innovations we will see in all cars in the immediate future. The Insight has an aluminum unibody, nylon reinforced plastic body panels, a .25 drag coefficient, an integrated motor/generator, a super-light 3 cylinder engine, and a battery pack that weighs 50 lbs. (less than half that of the Toyota). The Honda can accelerate to 60 in 10.5 sec, has a top speed of 112, and gets 68 mpg on the EPA highway cycle. When driven hard it still gets 50 mpg. At 1850 lbs. it’s no lightweight (the original Lotus Seven weighed about 700 lbs.), but it does have all the creature comforts for two people and some baggage. The Insight has won many awards for its environmental friendliness and fuel frugality. Neither of these merits has much to do with its hybrid power. At a real price of $40,000 would you buy one when you can buy a Ford Focus that has comparable performance for $12,000 and get 30 mpg? You can drive the Focus a half a million miles on the money you save!

Where does this leave Jaguar? Jaguar builds upscale luxury autos with superior performance. The cost of the electric part of a hybrid powerplant would be a much smaller part of the total cost than in an economy car. So wouldn’t hybrid power make sense with its quick starts and smooth and silent running? Wouldn’t it make a great selling point to say that Jaguar was the most environmentally friendly luxury car with the best gas mileage? Yes, except for the battery pack. Both Toyota and Honda are guaranteeing the battery pack for the life of the car, or 8 years/80,000 miles, whichever comes first. I’ve found it impossible to get a price quote from either company on the retail cost of the battery pack, but I would guess that the Insight pack would cost $2000 and the Prius $5000. Typical battery life will probably be 3 years because of the number of times the batteries will be cycled in real world driving. 10,000 cycles per year is a conservative estimate. An extra $10,000 is a lot of money even when you’re shelling out $65,000. Would you pay it? The Prius has been in production in Japan for 4 years. Does anyone know how long the batteries are lasting?

The real lessons that will be learned from hybrids are how to build much better IC cars. The Toyota engine can actually achieve a thermal efficiency of 42% in part of its operating range. This exceeds most diesels and is double what was achievable only a few years ago. There is absolutely no reason why a car’s engine should run when the car isn’t moving. With the coming 42 volt electrical systems instant starting is achievable without the large hybrid motor/generator. Continuously variable transmissions and exotic catalytic converters are here. Let’s use them. The compression ignition engine (diesel) has come of age and with reformulated fuels it can pollute way less than gas engines and achieve 30% higher efficiencies. Bring then on. Composite technology for bodies marches upward as its price marches downward. A 5 passenger vehicle weighing 2000 lbs. is easily achievable. Why don’t we have it already?

Checkout RMI If you’re interested in the latest news on the hybrid car front and other thoughts on saving the environment checkout the Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org). Lots of predictions from the auto industry and lots of interesting links.

Essential tools If you’re going to work on an old Jag you need to have some way to clean up rusted and stripped nuts and bolts. Add a set of taps and dies to your tool chest. Harbor Freight (www.harborfreight.com) sells a set for $12.99 in S.A.E. or metric. It covers most of the threads you will encounter. When the most used ones break replace them with quality ones.

Cheap auxiliary cooling fan Need an auxiliary cooling fan? Check the junkyard for a mid 80’s Mazda 626. It’s a 10" eight-blade pusher (mounts in front of the radiator) that should flow about 800-1000 cfm. The shroud is only 1 ¾ in. deep and the whole assembly, 3 in. I got one at Pick-n-Pull for $18. The same fan, but with a deeper shroud, can be found on a mid 80’s Nissan 200 SX. Hayden sells a thermostat that attaches to the radiator without drilling any holes or opening the cooling system if you don’t have a built in thermo. If you want something more versatile in the way of cooling fans checkout Vintage Air (1-800-TO-COOL-U, www.vintageair.com). They’ve got everything from 5 in. to 18 in., pusher and puller configs. When mounting don’t put the auxiliary fan directly in line with the main fan. You can create turbulent flow that will actually give less effective cooling.

Ceramic brake discs As you may know, Porsche will be the first on the market with ceramic brake discs as used in Formula 1. The discs are 50% lighter than iron and predicted to last 180,000 miles. I’ve put my order in at Marin Jaguar but they can’t promise me when the discs that fit my Jags will be delivered. Anything that reduces unsprung weight is welcome. The fabulous Jaguar independent rear suspension, first conceived in the 1930’s and introduced on the E-Type in 1961, owes its sublime combination of ride and handling to very low unsprung weight. This was achieved by mounting the brakes inboard and using aluminum hub carriers.

Intelligent tires In a few years sensors that transmit info about tire pressure, loads, cornering forces and wear will be built into tires. This information can be processed by the onboard computer to help ABS, traction, and yaw systems do a better job and give a safety warning before it’s too late. I wonder if Firestone will include a special sensor to tell you when the tread is going to peel off? The last step in tire technology will be the elimination of air. If tires didn’t need to be inflated we wouldn’t need the space and weight penality of a spare.

Smart airbags from Jaguar In the S.A.E. Tech Briefs for Nov 2000 (www.sae.org) there is a very nice writeup about the 2001 XK’s airbags. Sensors in the A and B pillars and the roof will monitor the presence and position of front seat passengers and, in the event of a crash, decide whether, and at what force, to deploy the airbags. Jaguar calls the system ARTS (Adaptive Restraint Technology System). Two stage return springs for the safety belts are also new. This makes putting the belts on easier and riding with them more comfortable.

Recycling cars Read somewhere and can’t find the reference that cars manufactured after 2007 will be returnable at the end of their life to the maker at no cost to the owner. The idea is to encourage the manufacturers to build cars that are easily and economically recyclable. In a small way California is already doing this. I keep on getting letters from the Air Resources Board encouraging me to turn my ’73 E-Type in for a $500 smog credit. Don’t you think that’s too good a deal to pass up?

SEX Road & Track continues to heap plaudits on Jaguar. In the Feb issue Pete Egan talks about the ability of an E-Type to pick up women. Admittedly Egan lives in the Midwest where E-Types are a rarity, but even here in Babylon-by-the-Bay an E-Type is better than a "St. Bernard with a tragic limp" when it comes to getting the ladies’ attention. I’ve often wondered why the E-Type appeals equally to women and men. Most cars of distinction appeal to one or the other. How many women do you know that get turned on by a Blower Bentley? How many guys do you know that get turned on by a pink ’57 T-Bird? If there are any psychoanalysts in the club who are reading this I sure would like a scientific explanation of why the E-Type, 40 years on, still has the magic like no other.

Cheap cruise control and airflow meter mounts A few months ago I wrote about a website that lists parts interchangeability for Jaguars (www.mich.com/~kroppe/jaguar). I’d like to verify that one of the tips, cruise control and air flow meter mounts, is right on. Harley Davidson sells part #6256365 for $2.25 and it works. The other part #, 52192-86A is too long. Harley used these mounts from 1965 until very recently to mount oil tanks and transmissions.

The third hand Work alone and often wish you had a third hand to hold the spacer and washer and lock washer and part while you push the bolt through or put the nut on? Try contact adhesive. A few dabs, wait a few minutes and stick things together. If you use it sparingly you will have no trouble getting the pieces apart when you work on them again next month.

K.I.S.S. For the past two years one of my E-Types has had an intermittent problem that will spontaneously turn the engine off in the most inconvenient places, like the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, or the 150° climbing right hander on the way to Bootjack on Mt. Tam. After a few minutes I could usually get started and crawl home, or get to a place where I could safely work on the car. The first problem that came to light was a fuel pump that was only functioning on one side on its good days and not at all on the others. Fixed for $275. The next time it was the original coil (that had been compressed oval by some hamfisted assembly line worker) finally leaking its oil guts after all these years. A $45 Lucas Hotshot solved that problem. Next I found gunk in the fuel filter. Hastings sells part #FF934 for $5. Then I discovered that the ballast resistor had a loose terminal. Lucas stiffed me $75 for that one, probably because it also works on an Aston Martin. Of course you know where this is leading. I stalled on the steepest hill in Mill Valley in the 5:00 o’clock rush to get home for cocktails. Waited two minutes and the car wouldn’t start. Coasted backwards into a convenient driveway and waited. Nothing. Pulled the gas line and got a gusher. Pulled the coil wire. No spark. Checked all the wires. The primary wire on the coil was off, inspite of having just tightened the terminal a few miles before so that I could barely shove it on. ??? Explanation. Under hard acceleration and tight turns the engine was leaning over enough that the wire was rubbed against the radiator hose, pulling it off enough so that it lost contact. When the engine died it returned to straight up position and sometimes, esp. after things had cooled down, enough contact was made so that the engine would start again. Of course I always checked all the wires after each stall and probably pushed the wire on just enough to make a few more miles possible. Did I need to replace all those other parts? I’d like to believe that they all were about to fail anyway.