60mpg, sportscar fast…. and a Hummer?

green hummer

Crazy car tuner John Goodwin has done some unbelievable things in the past, but his current project takes the cake, and was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine.

John got his hands on a 1985 jet turbine which he is planning on dropping in a 2005 Hummer H3, promising to be the latest in a long series of huge green cars that Goodwin has engineered. He is currently working on a 1960 Lincoln Continental conversion for Neil Young with the target of 100mpg. More on the unbelievable Hummer conversion from the magazine (because he’s a better author):

Like most hybrids, it’ll have two engines, including an electric motor. But in this case, the second will be the turbine, Goodwin’s secret ingredient. Whenever the truck’s juice runs low, the turbine will roar into action for a few seconds, powering a generator with such gusto that it’ll recharge a set of “supercapacitor” batteries in seconds. This means the H3’s electric motor will be able to perform awesome feats of acceleration and power over and over again, like a Prius on steroids. What’s more, the turbine will burn biodiesel, a renewable fuel with much lower emissions than normal diesel; a hydrogen-injection system will then cut those low emissions in half. And when it’s time to fill the tank, he’ll be able to just pull up to the back of a diner and dump in its excess french-fry grease–as he does with his many other Hummers. Oh, yeah, he adds, the horsepower will double–from 300 to 600.

“Conservatively,” Goodwin muses, scratching his chin, “it’ll get 60 miles to the gallon. With 2,000 foot-pounds of torque. You’ll be able to smoke the tires. And it’s going to be superefficient.”

He laughs. “Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!”

A high school dropout from Kansas can do this and Detroit can’t do what?


Posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 3:23 pm | Tagged in Biofuel, Energy Efficiency, Transportation | posted by Marc

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