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Boone Blog: Chicago Town Hall »

America’s Favorite Mechanic Weighs In on the Pickens Plan

When you had Boone on the Tonight Show, you mentioned that you were going to convert a ’57 Cadillac of yours so it would run on natural gas.
It’s very simple. The technology is already out there, and it’s been out there for ages. There’s a guy named Dick Guldstrand – he’s an old racecar driver – and he built a natural gas Corvette. This was 10 or 15 years ago. But he made all the papers because now you have something that’s better, faster, and, wow, it pollutes less than everything. You know everybody says they want to help, but when it comes right down to it, they don’t want to unless it’s less work for them. So you almost need to make it so easy for people that they don’t have to do a lot of lifting.

Most of the heavy lifting has already been done, hasn’t it?
That’s right. Honda for 10 years has been quietly building natural gas Honda Civics and Honda cars and they sell okay. Nothing crazy because they just look like regular cars and they blend in so well people have no idea that they’re running on natural gas.

That’s a good start, isn’t it?
It’s not enough. We live in a time when people only see certain things as sexy. Right now the electric car is considered sexy, and the hydrogen fuel cell is considered sexy. For some reason, natural gas doesn’t have the cachet.

You guys have the largest bus fleet in the nation on natural gas, don’t you, out there in L.A.?
That’s my point. What’s the least way to impress a woman in L.A.? Pull up in a bus.

Point well taken. What do you suggest?
Here’s what you need to do. I have a car that I debuted at SEMA a couple of years ago. They’ll have it again this year. It’s a jet-powered car, 750 horses, and we run it on bio-diesel fuel. We made a tremendous impression with it because it’s fast, it’s sleek, and, wow, it saves gas. It runs on bio-diesel. You need to have a Corvette or a Ferrari or just a high-powered vehicle that was faster on natural gas than it was on regular fuel.

In 2001 I demonstrated a hydrogen car, BMW’s hydrogen car. I drove it up to the platform at Warner Brothers in front of an audience and left the car running. While the car was running, I put a glass under the tailpipe. I spoke for 25 minutes about hydrocarbons, and everybody’s eyes glazed over. At the end of my speech I went over and took the glass, which was now filled with water, and drank it. And it was like, whoa, look at that.

Everything I said went in one ear and out the other, but when I drank the water – admittedly not the best-tasting water - but when I drank the water and it was not harmful and it was fine that made a huge impression. And that’s almost what you have to do with natural gas because it’s not a subject that fascinates someone unless you’re a petrohead.

You’re a big believer in the WOW factor.
Nobody’s impressed if you pull up in a Ford or Econo-box and you say you’re getting 40 miles per gallon. Nobody’s impressed. We’ve all seen that. I mean why is Sarah Palin popular now? Because she’s attractive.

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED, CONDENSED, AND EDITED BY ERIC O’KEEFE

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 9:00 am by Eric in Pickens Plan.
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Comments13 Responses to “America’s Favorite Mechanic Weighs In on the Pickens Plan”

October 13th, 2008 at 9:40 am

Pat Jack


What Jay Leno is saying is what the gasoline automobile industry has been saying for over 90 years. Natural Gas vehicles must be promoted, using the exact same model as the gasoline vehicle industry has used to wild success. As soon as I joined the Pickens Plan this was so obvious to me that one of the best pieces of literature I have ever written simply popped right out of me, (best in that I enjoy it). If you can't believe Jay Leno on this subject, who will you believe? Here's the link to my blog. http://push.pickensplan.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2187034:BlogPost:577874 Pat Jack Pickens Plan Ambassador

October 13th, 2008 at 9:42 am

Pat Jack


http://push.pickensplan.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2187034:BlogPost:577874

October 13th, 2008 at 10:29 am

Mike Johnston


Jay Leno has it exactly right. people love the idea of green energy but want it to be as easy as energy currently is and that means no extra expense or extra work for themselves. He is also right in that, if you can make energy sexy you get everyone's attention. Any successful plan will have to take those facts into account. An additional factor which I think is equally important is personal involvement. People like to be included in the planning phase and like to know that their voices and their ideas are important and appreciated. I think that Pickens was right on the money with his addition of a community site as part of his Pickens Plan. So many similar campaigns just ask supporters to sign petitions on demand but reserve the planning to a few people at the top.

October 13th, 2008 at 11:19 am

Pat Jack


A young man graduates from college and gets into his American made NGV, (natural gas vehicle). Next: He picks up his girlfriend and presents her with an engagement ring in the vehicle. Next: He and his wife are loading groceries into the vehicle, she has a beautiful baby in one of those shoulder strap holders, in the background is a gas price Marquee with the price of Natural Gas on TOP, not on the bottom and most of the photos on the Pickens Plan depict. Next: The family is getting out of the vehicle, the child is 3, and the woman has another child in the shoulder strap baby carrier. Next: The father is handing the keys to the old clunker, (NGV), to the teen son, a brand new NGV is in the driveway and the 2nd child, now 3, is sitting in the new NGV pretending to drive the car. Next: The now teen daughter drives up into the driveway in the old Clunker as the now college age boy is pulling out of the driveway in the hand-me-down 2nd NGV, as the father pulls up in a sleek, new electric or hydrogen powered vehicle, the house is never, bigger and sports solar panels on top and a windturbine attached to the side of the house. Next: You finish the dream. You are the army. Boone has a plan.

October 13th, 2008 at 7:54 pm

John Brown


To make CNG cars sexy is one challenge. To make such cars and trucks not just economical but also easy for the user is the other. This requires rapid progress on the scale of implementation. What SPECIFICS are proposed by the Pickens Plan to boost us to a level of large scale and ease of use??? Does it propose direct Federal Govt action? Such as-- --subsidies or tax incentives to natural gas suppliers to build CNG service stations for CARS? Subsidies or tax incentives to auto manufacturers to build more CNG vehicles? Subsidies or tax incentives to individuals to buy CNG cars and/or home fueling systems? --subsidies or tax incentives to natural gas suppliers to build LNG service stations for TRUCKS? Subsidies or tax incentives to truck manufacturers to build more LNG trucks? Subsidies or tax incentives to truckers to buy LNG trucks?

October 14th, 2008 at 2:26 am

Pat Jack


John, I believe that the automakers and retailers and the natural gas suppliers must step up to provide solutions for natural gas refueling just as they did in the earliest days of gasoline powered vehicles. Boone has said that the Eisenhower's National Defense Interstate Highway Program as a model for Pickens Plan Infrastructure Development is our 500lb gorilla. The stimulation techniques you discuss are all valid but are very granular. A granular approach to the energy crisis we face is an approach that will take too long. Fighting thousands of little legislative battles across federal and state lines will take too long. We need grand and sweeping reform and that comes as a national effort legislated in gigantic steps. The banks and the automakers got their handouts and welfare for failure, we will recieve the funds for vision.

October 14th, 2008 at 5:48 am

Misterg


Jay, What do you think of Stanley Myers water car? Kurt Gradel

October 14th, 2008 at 7:05 pm

Leonard Skreba


Today an idea occured to me that if we could convince NASCAR to start a phased in program of racing CNG vehicles by appealing to their patriotic duty, millions would be convinced of the idea. Think, if we spent every dollar saved on oil inports towards rebuilding America from the ground up in manufacturing capacity and good paying American jobs our future generations could realize the American dream of home ownership without any future trillion dollar bailouts. So I start the letter this weekend to Nascar and each and every one of the Pickens team should do the same.

October 15th, 2008 at 5:17 am

Jeana Fox


We are all still thinking of two or three cars to each household, with these cars running more efficiently on some other kind of energy. That's a start, for sure. But we need to COMPLETELY change our thinking about transportation and reconsider the train. I am now a senior citizen (not bragging) and when a teen I remember taking the train from my small town in Wisconsin directly to Chicago to shop. Now that railroad network is largely gone.....I suppose nobody used it for years or helped upgrade it. I'm not sure. But with the increased traffic, increased energy costs, increased everything, I think we have to go back to our original idea, the railroad system. Then we have to figure out how to keep it safe from a criminal population.

October 15th, 2008 at 5:38 am

Gerald M. Scroggins


First steps are often the most difficult and challenging. Pickens has the challenge out there for the transition from CNG to alternative fuels and it should be applauded and supported as do I. However, the realities of putting legs on this proposal is more difficult: Where are the resources and commitment to create certified CNG conversion equipment for "normal" cars? When searching the web, I only found certified conversions for many V8 engines. Unless we are willing to trade in our current cars for the Honda Civic model, which is the only commercially available option, how do we take the first step? What we need are engineering and manufacturing firms supporting the production of CNG conversions for many current engines and the willingness of auto manufacturers to develop additional models. An economic stimulus package for the financial markets makes less sense to me that incentives and tax breaks to support those putting an infrastructure in place for our energy independence. We need to start with our legislators, like Pickens did this week in Chicago, to plan our transition to make energy independence a viable reality.

October 15th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

T Vesely (Four Winds Solar Store)


Thank you all for Supporting Jay and the gang.... And our friend T Boone pickens.....

October 15th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

WILLIAM V. SAFARIK JR


Hi Jay...always liked your stories in Popular Mechanics and your push for alternative energy....Now, i am glad you are pushing The Pickens Plan along with all the technology made with auto industry done in garages..... Have you heard of David Blume and his working plan with Alcohol Fuel ?????? Visit his site to learn... www.alcoholcanbeagas.com There are alot of people that are following his plan including myself......wouldn't hurt to look... Thank you again Jay..keep up the great work...Bill

October 19th, 2008 at 9:57 am

Pat Jack


Leonard, We have to get nascar onboard and leverage their well developed media for the gasoline powered vehicle industry for our purposes. One celebrity nascar driver behind Boone Pickens and the Pickens Plan will bring an avalance of support. There ARE groups that race natural gas vehicles and we need to bring them on to the Pickens Plan. Pat Jack Team Pickens

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