Alternative fuel not so new
With gas prices so high, host Kai Ryssdal talks to our Pulitzer Prize-winning auto critic Dan Neil about green technologies. Where has the auto industry been? And where is it going?
According to the Petersen Automotive Museum, in 1900:
40% of all automobiles were powered by steam
38% of all automobiles were powered by electricity
22% of all automobiles were powered by gasoline
A 1938 Citroen powered by coal. (Petersen Automotive Museum)
Los Angeles Times auto critic Dan Neil checks out the bag of coal in the back of the 1938 Citroen powered by it. (Brett Neely)
A 1917 Woods Dual-Power, an early gas hybrid car using a technology in some ways similar to the current Honda Civic hybrids. (Petersen Automotive Museum)
A 1917 Woods Dual-Power, an early gas hybrid car using a technology in some ways similar to the current Honda Civic hybrids. (Brett Neely)GM’s EV1, a mass-produced electric vehicle. The program was discontinued in 2002 and almost all of them were destroyed. (Brett Neely)