I recently hired an Alamo rental car to drive from South Bend to Indianapolis.  My only criteria was that it should be a “compact” vehicle with a good price relative to other car rental companies for one-way drop-off.  With key in hand, I went to the airport rental car lot and beeped my way to find myself looking at some sort of bright orange SUV-ish vehicle? “That’s no compact,” I bleeped to myself.  I have been living in Europe for 8 years, so have become unfamiliar with the car brand and makes landscape in the U.S. I headed to the back of the car which said “HHR” and also mention of the word “ethanol.”  I thought, “OK. Guess it is some kind of hybrid so it is an apropos compact car substitute?”

My inquiring mind wanted to know more about this HHR!  My findings:  Unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show in mid-February 2009, the 2009 Chevrolet HHR E85 is the first 4-cylinder Flex-Fuel Engine from GM in North America. It is a FlexFuel vehicle that runs on either gasoline or E85 ethanol.  “GM has pledged that half of the vehicles it produces by 2012 will be flex-fuel capable. The company currently has 11 flex-fuel models for 2008, and more than 15 planned for 2009.”

In January, GM announced at the Detroit Auto Show its partnership with and investment in the start-up company, an innovative developer of next generation ethanol, called Coskata (Illinois). Coskata produces produces ethanol from cellulosic biomass or waste at a low cost.  

Coskata is working with ICM (Kansas) to design and build its first sygnas-fermentation ethanol plant in late 2010.

What does “well-to-wheel” analysis by the Argonne National Laboratory say about E85? “An HHR running on E85 - a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline - would emit up to 23% fewer carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions than if running on gasoline.”

What I want to know now is how I would switch to E85 once I rented the HHR or do I need to switch? I guess I was emitting 23% more CO2 than I should have? (Anyone reading who knows, please do post a comment!)

Where would one go to refuel on E85?  As shown at http://e85vehicles.com/e85-stations.htm, there are nearly 1900 gas stations where you can fuel up with E85 across the U.S. That number is expected to double in a little over a year.

According to the www.hybridcars.com Sept 2008 article, Guide to Hybrid Car Rentals:

“A few years ago, it was nearly impossible to rent a hybrid car. Now, the ability to complete a hybrid car rental is only limited by your willingness to plan ahead… Unfortunately, the rental car companies are fighting for the same limited hybrid inventory that has put retail consumers on long waiting lists.”  The article mentions that Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hertz, and Avis-Budget as the major rental car companies that all have hybrids in their fleets. Based on my recent experience, add Alamo to the list!  And, I just checked out the National Car Rental website which has a “Go Green” link which takes you to their “Comprehensive Environmental Platform.” Good move by National, considering their green color branding! 

Since knowledge is power, I will take this to heart next time I rent a “compact” car, ahem, SUV hybrid.  Recreational driving plus ethanol – a natural high!