By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
5/21/2008 3:38:13 PM

It may be the mother of all doom and gloom gas price predictions: $12 for a gallon of gas is “inevitable.”

Robert Hirsch, Management Information Services Senior Energy Advisor, gave a dire warning about the potential future of gas prices on CNBC’s May 20 “Squawk Box”. He told host Becky Quick there was no single thing that would solve the problem, due to the enormity of the problem.

“[T]he prices that we’re paying at the pump today are, I think, going to be ‘the good old days,’ because others who watch this very closely forecast that we’re going to be hitting $12 and $15 per gallon,” Hirsch said. “And then, after that, when oil – world oil production goes into decline, we’re going to talk about rationing. In other words, not only are we going to be paying high prices and have considerable economic problems, but in addition to that, we’re not going to be able to get the fuel when we want it.”

Hirsch told the Business & Media Institute the $12-$15 a gallon wasn’t his prediction, but that he was citing Charles T. Maxwell, described as the “Dean of Oil Analysts” and the senior energy analyst at Weeden & Co. Still, Hirsch admitted the high price was inevitable in his view.

“I don’t attempt to predict oil prices because it’s been impossible in the past,” Hirsch said in an e-mail. “We’re into a new era now, and over the next roughly five years the trend will be up significantly. However, there may be dips and bumps that no one can forecast; I wouldn’t be at all surprised. To me the multi-year upswing is inevitable.”

Read more at businessandmedia.org.

This is indeed concerning news. But as energy prices rise, the demand for a more fuel efficient engine becomes all the more apparent.

The Scuderi team closed out the third and final day of Engine Expo in Stuttgart, meeting more engineers from some of the largest auto makers in the region and having another very successful meeting at one of the local OEMs where talks continue in an effort to bring the Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine to the world’s drivers.

As the show wound down, engineers and press continued to frequent the booth, sometimes coming back for additional visits, and mostly to check out the enlarged model of the valve train assembly.

During the three days at Engine Expo many engineers took the opportunity to learn more about the Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine.

Even with a hot Renault Team Formula 3 race car anchoring the exhibit, it was the valve train model that understandably got the most attention. With the valve train test rig proving the speed of the valves and its design are in working order, it gave visitors a peek at how the Air-Hybrid engine will accomplish significant gains in fuel efficiency and produce up to 80 percent less NOx. It’s configuration also gave engineers a chance to see how the engine will have have little impact on the overall manufacuring process since the Air-Hybrid uses most of the same components already in place in vehicles today.

With the Day Three finished, the Scuderi takes a deep breath as it moves on to other meetings with development partners and back to everyone’s respective offices in Frankfurt and Massachusetts. The engineering and licensing teams are due back in Germany early next month, this time in Munich to participate in the 2008 MTZ Motor Conference.

Recovered from jet lag and with a good night’s sleep behind them, the Scuderi Team was ready for another full day of exhibiting at the 2008 Engine Expo in Stuttgart, Germany. With a the remainder of the materials finally released from German Customs, there was plenty of information to distribute to the hundreds of visitors that showed to learn more about the Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine.

The centerpiece of the exhibit - the first model of the engine that features the valve train assembly - continued to draw a crowd as many onlookers watched the revolving model while getting more of a multimedia demonstration via the Scuderi DVD. Several major OEMs spent lots of time in the booth talking with engineers about nuances of the engine and how it can achieve historial fuel efficiency levels and product up to 80 percent less toxins than all the conventional and hybrid vehicles on the road today.

The booth is located right next to the Open Technology Forum, which was the stage for this year’s Engine of the Year Awards. This year, taking the prize for Green Engine of the Year 2008 was Toyota with it 1.5-litre Hybrid Synergy Drive (Prius). Just edging out the BMW Diesel 2-litre 118d and 318d, the Toyota engine claimed the award for “still being the greenest engine that the automotive industry can provide, and still unbeatable by any other concept,” stated the judges report. The Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine was not eligible for the award this year. Wth the award-winning engines lining one side of the Scuderi booth, it gave some of the top engineering executives from Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche, and Subaru additional opportunities to learn more about the Scuderi Air-Hybrid.

Day Three promises to be another busy day, starting with an offsite meeting at a major OEM and continued discussions with European engineers and media visiting the booth. Stay tuned!

After many hours of travel via trains, planes and automobiles, the Scuderi team arrived at the brand new Stuttgart Messa on Tuesday for the opening of the 2008 Engine Expo, Europe’s premier trade show focusing on engine design and development. This is the third consecutive year the Scuderi Group and its Air-Hybrid Engine had participated in the event.

Sal Scuderi presents his talk during the Open Technology Forum held Tuesday at Engine Expo in Stuttgart, Germany.

For the first time, an actual model of what is expected to be the world’s most fuel efficient internal combustion engine was on display at the exhibit. Showcased on a revolving stand in the center of the booth, the model attracted steady crowds of engineers, investors, students and the media. This is the first time an actual model of the Scuderi engine has been available for public viewing and features the split cycle arrangement and valve train that was recently proven by an independent laboratory to match or exceed all earlier computer simulated predictions. And the OEMs definitely took notice as many of their research and development teams poked, prodded and inquired about the innovative features of the engine.

Another highlight of the day was a presentation by Scuderi Group president Sal Scuderi to a packed Open Technology Forum where he participated in the Reducing Emissions track. Titled, “Air Could Be the Answer,” Sal explored the idea of using compressed air to reduce vehicle emissions. In his presentation, he highlighted that the Scuderi Air-Hybrid - with its air tank that captures wasted energy in the form of compressed air - has the potential of increasing fuel efficiency to historical levels and reduce the release of NOx by up to 80 percent compared to all the vehicles on the road today. He also discussed how the Air-Hybrid is expected to have considerably more torque an power over conventional engines with minimal manufacturing and retooling costs.

The day was capped off by the Scuderi Group’s annual booth buffet reception, where over 200 engineers and press attended and had the chance to learn more about the Air-Hybrid technology.

Scuderi Group executives are busy planning for their next trip, this time to Engine Expo 2008, May 6-8 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Now in its tenth year, Engine Expo is billed as “the most important international trade show for automotive, bus and truck engine designers and manufacturers … Engine Expo provides the most intense concentration of engine component manufacturers and technology providers anywhere in the world.”

Scuderi Group executives and staff will be at Stand 5342. The company invites attendees to stop by to get an overview of the Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine, and to learn about recent test findings — based on a working valve train prototype — that back the design Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine’s crossover valve train.

These findings demonstrate that the sophisticated computer models that the Scuderi Group is using to develop the Air-Hybrid Engine are producing concrete engineering results that work as expected when prototyped.

When asked about plans for Engine Exop, Scuderi President Sal Scuderi said that the company plans to display a demonstration model of the valve train (seen below), so that engineers can “touch and feel it and get a much better picture of how the hardware is going to work.” .