The Goodwin guy makes a lot of claims. Most of which don't seem to be possible from an engineering standpoint. For example, a 1960 Lincoln Continental cannot be made astoundingly more efficient because it's got so much weight, rolling resistance, and drag. You can't reduce that very much without changing the exterior and frame at which point it's no longer a 1960 Lincoln Continental. So he must be claiming that he's going to make a power plant that is 4x-5x more efficient, which is difficult since that would probably exceed even the theoretical thermodynamic efficiency limit of internal combustion. Ah good luck with that. IIRC he was going to use a turbine... which is substantially more efficient in theory. Sure. Capstone Microturbines builds some which are pretty much state-of-the-art AFAIK. BUT, we're talking gains in the low 10's of %. Not hundreds of % more energy out. There doesn't seem to be a lot of verification either- people who have actually measured what he did or even seen these vehicles. In fact he got that Lincoln Continental a year ago... how'd that turn out? If he was so sure that he had the stuff to do it 3-6mo for conversion should do it and we should have a bunch of people who have verified the results in the field. The declaration that he's "famous in the world of underground car modders" seems to come from himself, to be frank. There are hundreds of people claiming to boost your mileage or run it on water or whatever, or just give you free energy. Tilley Electric Vehicle, Steorn, that HHO guy, blah blah. Some skepticism required. I'm only annoyed because there are people who make unrealistic promises that ultimately seem to discredit the alternative energy movement or at least lead to totally unrealistic expectations. Danny > Jinx wrote: > >> Saw this fella on CBS via local TV >> >> http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead-messiah.html >> >> 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!" >> >> This is the sort of work that's making Goodwin famous in the world of >> underground car modders. He is a virtuoso of fuel economy. He takes the >> hugest American cars on the road and rejiggers them to get up to quadruple >> their normal mileage and burn low-emission renewable fuels grown on U.S. >> soil--all while doubling their horsepower. The result thrills eco-evangelists >> and red-meat Americans alike: a vehicle that's simultaneously green and mean. >> And word's getting out. In the corner of his office sits Arnold Schwarzenegger's >> 1987 Jeep Wagoneer, which Goodwin is converting to biodiesel; soon, Neil >> Young will be shipping him a 1960 Lincoln Continental to transform into a >> biodiesel--electric hybrid. >> >> His target for Young's car? One hundred miles per gallon. >> >> This is more than a mere American Chopper-style makeover. Goodwin's >> experiments point to a radically cleaner and cheaper future for the American car. >> >> "Johnathan's in a league of his own," says Martin Tobias, CEO of Imperium >> Renewables, the nation's largest producer of biodiesel. "Nobody out there is >> doing experiments like he is." >> >> Nobody - particularly not Detroit. Indeed, Goodwin is doing precisely what >> the big American automakers have always insisted is impossible. They have >> long argued that fuel-efficient and alternative-fuel cars are a hard sell because >> they're too cramped and meek for our market. They've lobbied aggressively >> against raising fuel-efficiency and emissions standards, insisting that either >> would doom the domestic industry. Yet the truth is that Detroit is now getting >> squeezed from all sides........ >> >> >> -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist