Brazil has just put its ten millionth flex-fuel car on the road. Ten million of them. Really. It almost boggles the mind to read a figure like that. Likewise, it is staggering to behold the full bloom of their progress on that front; “almost all vehicles sold in Brazil are flex-fuel capable…and some are even compatible with 100% ethanol…Every gas station in the country sells E85 and almost all sell E100. This has all been accomplished without government subsidies.” Brazil is not, by the way, a wealthy country. But they caught the potential for this technology early and made a real investment in it, and now their ethanol industry is self-sustaining. Whatever else you may want to say (or hear from us) about that industry’s blemishes, they’ve done a lot more to lessen their dependence on fossil fuels than we have.

We, by the way, are still trying to shore up votes on how much we should even care, at the federal level, about the environment at all. Cap-and-trade is dead, and Democrats are scrambling to come up with something else. What they’ve come up with - “different types of limits for different sectors of the economy, beginning with electric utilities and then turning later to manufacturers such as chemical plants and pulp and paper mills” - isn’t terrible, but it does include built-in stall time while industry negotiates with the government. In the meantime, industry will be gobbling up resources and polluting with their usual gusto. Which is bad enough without so-called “green-savvy” politicians having no sense of urgency about broadening our energy sources or shrinking our carbon footprint. To quote one of our more loyal readers, this latest effort, while noble, will most likely “remain viable until the next round of ignorant talking points are developed.”

So Porsche has officially said no to proposed hybrid versions of the 911 or the Boxster - hybrid components, they claim, would add too much weight, and sports cars aren’t meant for city driving anyway. Debatable point, but whatever. The good news is that Porsche does want to make an all-electric sports car, assuming it could meet the performance standards of a regular engine. Or, more likely, when the corporate yuppie fartbags who drive Porsches can be convinced to go electric.

But hybrids are making progress elsewhere. Peugeot is still in production for its 2011 diesel-hybrid vehicle, the 3008 Hybrid4 Concept, and both Mercedes-Benz and GM are following suit. “Both cars are mild hybrids,” says Fox News’ website, “meaning the electric motor adds power to that of the combustion engine, as well as restarting it from stops. But they are not capable of running in all-electric mode, like…the Toyota Prius.” That was…surprisingly vitriol-free for Fox. Huh.

Anyway, hybrids and other green cars have been a hit for American automakers, whose finances are still delicate after Detroit’s 2007-08 freefalling crash - The Daily Green reports that “Ford’s hybrid sales were up 147% for the year,” adding that “the Ford Fusion Hybrid is a hit.” Ford has been recouping its losses, ending 2009 with a full percentage point gain in US market share, and their stock price is now 10 times improved. Their success could partly explain why GM is gunning for hybrid and diesel-hybrid vehicle production in the coming year - both GM and Chrysler are still struggling. Then again, Ford could go nowhere but up - owners of the ‘93 Taurus understand what we mean here.

Still, this is all promising news for 2010. Keep sending us stories, folks, and we’ll keep reporting ‘em. There might be a list in the works, too…

The Solar Decathlon is this weekend! Yaaay! We’re heading down there on Saturday to check out the proceedings and take some pictures for a full report here on Corn Car, so keep your eyes here for that.

In the meantime, we promised a list of ways to introduce cellulosic ethanol to the mainstream. This was before we realized that we’d previously made a list of how to sell automakers on the idea, which is pretty similar. But we’ve still got some ideas that break away into their own category:
1. Park cellulose-fueled cars at Wal-Mart, Target, and other discount department stores. Wal-Mart and its ilk are where Middle America shops, if their corporate propaganda tells it right, and flex-fuels are still seen as uppity for reasons we’re still not clear on. Regardless, it wouldn’t hurt for people to see those cars around places where “ordinary” Americans go, just to prove the point that this technology isn’t leverage in some weird, beside-the-point class struggle.

2. Establish that pot and beer can fuel cars. This was the intern’s idea, so blame him, but there is merit in explaining that cellulosic ethanol can be made from nearly anything. Molson Coors already used their waste beer to fuel vehicles for the last Democratic National Convention, so the precedent has been set. Inserting pot into the equation will draw crazy people, but it’s still an ordinary facet of American life that can make cellulosic ethanol more approachable, and it deflates the anti-corn people who think we’re stealing ethanol stock from famine-ravaged Africans.

3. Hot girls. Another intern suggestion, but he’s right; hot girls can sell anything.

4. Auto racing, which has been underway for more than a year now. Racing is a great venue for showcasing flex-fuels, and Indy cars have been using methanol since the 1960s. Switching over to cellulosic ethanol would help out a lot, and already has: a biobutanol/ethanol blend car was raced at Petiti Le Mans last month.

5. No, seriously, hot girls.

Way back in May of last year, we laughed off the prospect of a chocolate-fueled car in our List of Things that Wouldn’t be Powering Cars Any Time Soon.

Well boy, are our faces red. Turns out a group of plucky young squires from Warwick University have designed a chocolate-powered race car. Really.

According to a write-up from Jalopnik, “its body is made of potatoes, the steering wheel is carrots,” referring to the recycled plant and fruit fibers/extracts used to build it, “and the fuel is derived from chocolate.” And it works, too; the car can hit 145 mph and apparently corners like a champ.

So we have to scratch chocolate off that list of ours. Anyone got any ideas for something to replace it?

Even though Ford is hiking their base-level ethanol blend to circumvent expensive testing, and even though they’re shy about admitting that they’ve even gone that far, we’re still pleased that they’re taking this step towards more responsible energy use. It’s certainly in keeping with the company statement about flex-fuel vehicles; Ford has made more than 1.6 million of them since 1996, and their Model T was the first flex-fuel vehicle ever made, running as it did on any combination of gasoline, ethanol, or caramelized hate distilled from the brain of Henry Ford.

Of course, more recently, Ford’s environmental record has been, erm, mixed, to say the least. And their products are bearing a similar cross - hell, they’ve built marketing campaigns on the admission that their cars are shit. So whether or not this is an honest effort to move forward or an end-run around economic reality can’t be determined. Again, we’re glad that Ford is refocusing their commitment to flex-fuel vehicles, but it had better be genuine. All it would take is one battery of product recalls (like the ones for the Ford Escape) to make flex-fuel cars unpalatable for another 30 years.