TV Program Description
Original PBS Broadcast Date: April 22, 2008
Tom Magliozzi has a problem. The wacky
cohost of NPR's Car Talk needs to replace his beloved 1952 MG roadster. But in
today's car market, where should he turn? Is new technology about to
transform the way we drive? Tom and his brother Ray hit the road in this
program for a lighthearted but shrewd take on America's four-wheeled
future.
John Lithgow narrates as Tom and Ray
mix their trademark slapstick with serious nuts-and-bolts analysis of what it
will take to make our autos more energy-efficient. With a quarter of all the
oil ever consumed guzzled up in the last decade and oil supplies being drawn
down faster every day, the brothers' screwball automotive odyssey doubles
as a serious environmental wake-up call. (Hear energy expert David Greene's
take on this pressing subject in Beyond Technology.)
Tom and Ray explore everything from
the glitzy, high-octane North American International Auto Show in Detroit to
the earnest do-it-yourselfers of the AltWheels Festival in Boston, where the
brothers squeeze, clown-car style, into a tiny three-wheeler that, even at 100
miles per gallon, isn't quite ready for the rush-hour commute—it
can't go in reverse.
A distinguished group of engineers
doubles as Tom and Ray's straight men, including Lee Lynd of Mascoma
Corporation, who is working to bioengineer microbes that can produce ethanol
from plant wastes, and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, who is
developing an ultralight, full-size "green" car that is efficient
and almost indestructible (see Model of Efficiency).
Also appearing are Andy Frank of the
University of California at Davis, whose lab has developed a plug-in hybrid
vehicle that "fills up" from an ordinary electrical outlet, and
Martin Eberhard, founder of Tesla Motors, who wants to prove that
battery-powered cars can be fast, stylish, and take you 250 miles on one
charge.
Even representatives of the giant
automakers make an appearance, despite their penchant for producing 500-horsepower, gas-guzzling
road machines that even a couple of car nuts like Tom and Ray find
excessive—as the brothers emphatically point out to a cornered Detroit
executive. A decade ago, Toyota paved the way to more efficient vehicles with
its Prius. But will our current romance with hybrids lead to a breakup between
Americans and their big, high-powered automobiles?
Which new technology will take off as
the standard for the car of the future? With Tom and Ray, we learn that
hydrogen fuel cells are the touchstone of zero emissions, since all the waste
they produce is water vapor. But they require a new infrastructure for tanking
up with hydrogen gas, which, as Tom and Ray note with a nod to the notorious
Hindenburg zeppelin accident, is highly flammable.
Care to tank up on niblets? An
ethanol-gasoline blend is already available at many filling stations, but
doubts persist about whether ethanol represents much of an energy savings.
Energy-dense lithium-ion batteries, like the ones that power computer laptops,
could one day replace the gas tank altogether—but, as Ray points out, a
pesky few of those batteries have spontaneously burst into flame. (See some
inspired but undeveloped ideas of the past in History's Innovative
Autos.)
Tom and Ray again turn an expert,
comic eye on the promise and pitfalls of tomorrow's auto technology, and
their quest inspires cautious optimism that novel green vehicles are about to
get roadworthy. But do any of these future cars tempt Tom to give up his
'52 MG? Tune in to see how the car guys answer this puzzler.
Program Transcript
Program Credits
