Gale Banks has been improving the performance of vehicles since he was 14; now the CEO of a 100+ strong company based in Azusa.  He says about himself:

“I’m a futurist. My entire career has been about what’s next. Through the decades, we at Banks have opened new markets in marine engines, turbocharging, truck and motor-home power systems, turbocharged tuner cars, diesel power systems, electronic tuners, and exhaust brakes. Plus, I’m proud to have worked for many major car and engine manufacturers in defining their future products.”

He said California, particularly Southern California has been shaped by the automobile and as there are too many cars and now not enough roads, vehicles have to get smaller.  This mandate is co-driven by our U.S. government demanding higher average corporate mpg.

“I use racing to find the limits of engine design,” Gail said.   The armed forces is the single biggest user of oil in the U.S. and Gail is helping to get more efficient.  He said the military is looking for a common fuel for all military applications and has selected HP8, high performance jet fuel can work also in diesels.

As far as other fuel alternatives he said Hydrogen has no practical value because it takes 4 times as much energy to create the Hydrogen from water. He said it would only be practical if you could the Hydrogen fuel for nothing.

He like diesel fuel and its applications.  He said a Bosch study looking at diesel vs. gas noted a higher residual value if the vehicle is owned for three or more years.  There is better fuel economy with diesel which can be in expensively from natural gas.  Diesel offers the highest energy density per gallon.  Natural gas has currently the lowest cost per unit of energy.

Natural Gas has applications as long as there is easy access to refueling (e.g. truckstops) and plenty of room to store it on the vehicle e.g. trucks.  He  suggested trucking would be a great application for natural gas and save alot too.

One are of Gail’s expertise is turbochargers; a device that uses waste energy to produce more energy when we need it.  In this way the engines can be smaller and when needed the turbocharge ramps up to provide temporarily much power.

Electrical only vehicles have challenges. Gail said that TSLA is only profitable because carbon credits (provided by the taxpayer) allow it to be so.   Electrical vehicles have limits of practicality, i.e. their range.  Another challenge is the that Lithium batteries work best at 75 degrees. Higher or lower temperatures reduce the power available.

The Hybrid is Gail favorite.  He is working with the military to upgrade the Humvees to Hyrbid.  Part of the efficiency comes from dynamic braking – capturing the energy of braking to charge the battery.  He like the hybrid that has a small gasoline engine as a backup if the battery charge runs low.  This extends the range and reduces the limitations of all-electric vehicles.  Bosch and Siemens are the main players of hybrid technology.

Ten years from now Gail foresee autonomous vehicles using the very accurate GPS already available and the cheap radar, also available now.