Cruising on veggie power
I'M OUT on Route 3, doing a little over 60 in traffic, about to switch the
No shudder, no bump, no hiccup, nothing. The transition is seamless.
A few moments later, when I hit the gas - well, vegetable - pedal, the car accelerates steadily. Now we're cruising toward the future, or one version of it, anyway, at 80, on veggie power.
Joe Carven, director of finance and operations for Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems - and father of company founder and CEO Justin Carven - says his Jetta gets about the same 40-plus miles per gallon on vegetable oil as it does on diesel.
A greasecar still needs to use diesel for a few minutes as things warm up, but with vegetable oil as its primary power, the vehicle really stretches the former fuel; Carven logs about 2,000 miles between diesel fill-ups.
The vegetable-oil system, which starts at about $1,000 for cars but can run up to $3,000 for pickup trucks, is disarmingly unobtrusive. A cylindrical tank fits in the spare-tire well of the trunk (the tire can lie atop it). A heat exchanger inside the tank warms the vegetable oil to the right temperature and viscosity. Add a filter for the oil, a valve to switch between fuel sources, a few hoses, and the control mechanism, and that's basically it.
A competent do-it-yourselfer can rig the kit up; otherwise, installation costs around $1,000.
And, no, the vehicle doesn't have any smell, at least not that I noticed.
So how did Greasecar, about to relocate from Easthampton to a new, larger home in Holyoke, come to be?
The story really begins with the tractor factor. As a mechanical design major at Hampshire College in Amherst back in the late 1990s, Justin Carven became interested in technologies that would let farmers in rural areas of Asia and Africa use vegetable oils for fuels. As part of his program, he spearheaded efforts to convert a farm tractor to run on vegetable oil.
"That was sort of the first prototype," he says.
Six months after graduating in 2000, Carven borrowed $10,000 from a cousin and started his company. Now, at 31, he employs 15 people and is on pace to sell 2,500 conversion kits - and do close to $3 million in business - this year.
The economics of converting to vegetable oil depend on the mileage your diesel vehicle gets and the distance you drive each year. And, of course, where you'll get your alternative fuel. If, as most greasecar drivers do, you strike a deal with a local restaurant to haul away their used vegetable oil for free, converting starts looking pretty good pretty fast.
Vegetable power isn't for everyone, though. The technology only works with diesel engines. If you're using restaurant leftovers, there's some storing, filtering, and pumping or pouring involved. (Greasecar sells a storage-and-filtering system for $870.)
Although he's proud of what he's accomplished, Justin stresses that vegetable-oil autos and trucks are only a small part of the larger energy answer.
"We are going to see much more of a multi-fuel energy economy than we have in the last 100 years," he says. "This is just one piece of the patchwork. But it's good to be part of the solution."
With gas and diesel prices soaring, the country is casting about for technological alternatives. Hybrids are obviously one. If the battery problem can be solved, electric cars like Chevy's promised Volt may be another. Cellulosic ethanol could well be a third.
My own 10-year-old
But now, I'm not so sure. Some three decades after high school, I may just become a greaser instead.
Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.
