RideLust

An oil refinery burns in Ichihara. Image: Cranky5

The unimaginable scale of devastation in Japan has brought a temporary halt to production of Japanese automobiles. Mazda has announced a temporary shutdown of their Hiroshima and Hofu plants through the night shift on March 16, with further announcements on production expected on March 17. Honda is suspending production at most of their Japanese facilities through March 20, and an announcements are expected from Nissan and Toyota today. Although the bulk of Japan’s auto industry lies south of the most heavily damaged areas, the massive damage to the country’s infrastructure will impact the delivery of parts to automakers as well as the delivery of completed vehicles to ports. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has ordered rolling power blackouts to conserve electricity, and it may be some time before we fully understand the extent of the disaster’s impact on the world’s economy. Read More…

When I made my car related predictions for the coming year, I said that gas would top $4.00 a gallon by the end of 2011. I also said that it probably wouldn’t slide back below $3.00 per gallon, as we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. Recent political unrest in the Middle East appears to have accelerated the timeline for that gasoline price jump, and energy tracking company DTN is predicting that it’ll rise even higher. In fact, they say we should be prepared to spend as much as $5.00 per gallon by this summer. Read More…

Announcing that you’ve just invented synthetic fuel that produces zero carbon emissions and costs just $1.50 a gallon is a great way to get oil company commandos to burn down your house. But that’s just what a company in the U.K. has done. Cella Energy, an advanced materials lab, says it can turn hydrogen into a fuel that’ll free the world from grasp of fossil fuels. Read More…

Buried deep in the bottom of the news last week was the fact that the EPA gave its approval for E15 fuel to be sold alongside current gasoline and gasoline / ethanol blends. If you own a motorcycle, use gas-powered lawn equipment and drive cars older than the 2007 model year, this is potentially bad news. Why the concern? There are several reasons, but the big one is that fuel formulated with 15% ethanol may damage plastic and rubber components used in automotive fuel systems prior to 2007. In motorcycles using plastic fuel tanks, there is already significant evidence that E10 formulations cause the plastic to distort, creating the potential of a fuel leak and associated fire. If you’re the owner of a small gas station or convenience store, the news gets even bleaker. Read More…

The guys over at Edmunds Inside Line always put out some great stuff. Take this quick video they did on the differences between conventional motor oil vs. synthetic. Sure it’s not that long, but it doesn’t have to be to answer a few simple questions that the general public has been asking for years. Obviously at the end of the day you want to read your cars owners manual for the straight truth as it pertains to your specific vehicle. At least now though you’ll have a better understanding of what makes your car tick.

Source: Insideline.com

The latest numbers on gasoline consumption are in from the American Petroleum Institute, and to no one’s surprise overall demand is down nearly 1% in the first six months of this year. Demand for the month of June is lower by 0.5%, marking the lowest demand in the month of June since 2004. As Autoblog points out, gas was selling for an average of $2.00 a gallon back then, compared to $2.70 per gallon today. There have been higher spikes in pricing with no corresponding drop in demand, but that was back in the days when the economy was relatively healthy and people had jobs.

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A barrel of oil holds 44 gallons of crude, but what is that crude oil turned into? The folks at The Daily Green recently took a look at what happens to those 44 gallons of crude, as illustrated by the above chart. It’s pretty clear that a barrel of oil gives us 18.56 gallons of gasoline, 10.31 gallons of diesel and 4.07 gallons of jet fuel, but what about the “Other Products” category? What does seven gallons of crude oil from every barrel go into making?

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Photo: NASA

Coast Guard officials are reporting that oil from the sunken Deepwater Horizon may have reached the coast of Louisiana. A massive coordinated effort to contain the spill is underway, including teams from the U.S Navy and civilian contractors. Containment booms have been placed at strategic points along the Louisiana coast, and teams are working to skim as much of the oil as possible. A separate effort is underway to contain and ignite some of the spilled oil, preventing it from reaching shore.

Attempts to block the flow of oil since the rig sank eight days ago have failed, and the rig continues to leak an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil per day. To put this in perspective, the Exxon Valdez leaked approximately 250,000 barrels when it ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, in March of 1989. BP, the company that leased the Deepwater Horizon, is cooperating with Federal authorities in attempting to find a solution and plug the leaking well. Key to this is activating the rig’s blowout preventer, and six deep water submersibles are currently engaged in activity to fix the the blowout preventer valve.

No one knows exactly how much oil is left hidden beneath the earth’s surface, but we can all agree on one thing: it is a finite supply. The U.S. military is well aware of this, and is looking at developing alternative energy solutions for troop and material deployment to preserve the fossil fuel we have left. As you’d imagine, the Department of Defense probably has more than a few people assigned to the task of projecting just how much fermented dinosaur juice remains untapped. Their recent findings don’t bode well for those of us who enjoy the sound of a V8 at full throttle.

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If you haven’t had a chance to see the hundreds of youtube videos of bored Middle Eastern dudes with too much money to spend doing insane stunts on sandy roads, then perhaps this wild custom motorcycle commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Police Department and built by Paul Teutul Sr. of Orange County Choppers fame won’t make much sense. To be frank, even if you have, it might not. Car culture and conspicuous consumption have been exploding in the oil-rich Gulf nations, and the Abu Dhabi “Barbican Turbo” car show is a sign of the times.

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