Cool Fuel!!!
Been checking out Planet Green’s re-run’s of last year’s Cool Fuel U.S.A. road trip. The premise is that this Australian guy named Shaun travels 16,000 miles around the country on his various scooters and motorcycles, which are electric, as well as hopping rides on transportation as diverse as ethanol-powered BMW roadsters, Amish horse and buggy set-ups, hang-gliders, and whiskey powered planes. All of the devices seem to be made by backyard inventors rather than corporations and the show is pretty silent on vehicle sponsorship. The dude’s team travels around in support behind him in biodiesel Ford F450-based campers.
What’s really something is that while Cool Fuel showcases all sorts of alternative fuels, it really shows how king electricity is when it comes to getting around. The show uses electricity created by wind, solar and even garbage (incineration and methane capture, but oddly enough, not gasification) to power the main vehichles. Given the range of these home-made vehicles, the excuses about a lacking hydrogen or ethanol infrastructure are void as far as daily commutes are concerned: the electric grid is everywhere.
The last cool thing to note is that the electricity used to power Cool Fuels bikes can’t come from gasoline or coal power, which makes the show stand out. 16,000 miles on zero fossil fuel. That’s huge.
Cool Fuel airs on Tuesdays at 10pm Eastern on Discovery’s Planet Green. Check it out.
