The general just can't figure out how to quit you, E85. GM chief Rick Wagoner opened his company's press conference by pointing out that less than one percent of the vehicles on the road were fuel cell or hybrid-powered. His solution, ironically, was not to tell us about a new GM hybrid or fuel cell vehicle, but to release two giant flex-fuel concepts: the Hummer Hx we told you about earlier, and the Saab 94x BioPower. While the Hx rocks an envirolicious 3.6-liter V6, the 94x BioPower sports a more sensible 2-liter four cylinder that is apparently good for 300hp when running on biofuel. More interesting than company's ho-hum intros, however, is their new partnership with Illinois-based biofuel manufacturer Coskata.
Coskata, apparently, has a process for creating ethanol that is significantly more efficient than current methods. According to the company, they can make the fuel out of nearly anything—including waste plastic and old tires—netting as much as 7.7 units of energy output for every unit used. Sounds like perpetual motion to us, but they say their numbers are verified by Argonne National Labs.
The nature of the partnership is still unclear, but it sounds like GM is giveing Coskata a buch of money. They plan to have a pilot plan up and running by the end of this year, and by 2011 hope to be able to produce 50-100 million gallons of the trash-born fuel.
