Car Hacker’s Hummer Gets 60 MPG
If you haven’ heard of the Motorhead Messiah, Jonathan Goodwin, let me introduce you: he hacks cars for a living, and he can get 60 mpg out of an H3 Hummer while doubling the horsepower and cutting emissions in half. Unbelievable? Yes, but this is no joke, and it’s doesn’t defy the laws of physics either. The hacked H3 is a hybrid with the gasoline fuel system removed. In its place, Goodwin installed a biodiesel-burning jet turbine to recharge the electrical system:
Goodwin leads me over to a red 2005 H3 Hummer that’s up on jacks, its mechanicals removed. He aims to use the turbine to turn the Hummer into a tricked-out electric hybrid. 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.
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Power and Efficiency? The notion seems contrary to everything we’ve seen from the auto industry in the last 20 years. But Goodwin is disproving the ’status quo’ by concrete example, the Hummer hybrid being one of many. He’s gotten 100 mpg out of a Lincoln continental and developed a bolt-on kit for diesel engines that doubles fuel economy and reduces emissions by 80%. Goodwin’s a model iconoclast, with a love for the environment and big vehicles.
So Goodwin decided to prove that environmentalism and power could go together–by making his new lemon into exhibit A. First, he pulled the gas engine so he could drop in a Duramax V8, GM’s core diesel for large trucks. Diesel technology is crucial to all of Goodwin’s innovations because it offers several advantages over traditional gasoline engines. Pound for pound, diesel offers more power and torque; it’s also inherently more efficient, offering up to 40% better mileage and 20% lower emissions in engines of comparable size. What’s more, many diesel engines can easily accept a wide range of biodiesel–from the high-quality stuff produced at refineries to the melted chicken grease siphoned off from the local KFC.
Goodwin’s endorsement of diesel engines makes sense, and he has a 3-part plan to wean the nation from gasoline. First, aggressively mass-produce diesel passenger vehicles. Converting just 1/3 of our nations passenger vehicles and light trucks to diesel would eliminate Saudi Arabian oil imports. Second, start producing diesel-electric hybrid cars, the holy-grail for biodiesel enthusiasts. After reading this article I’m convinced it’s possible (the whole ‘diesels are too heavy argument’ is ridiculous). And third, produce hybrids with a dual fuel mode, such as hydrogen or propane injection. I’ve heard of propane injection, which shoots a small amount of propane into the combustion chamber along the diesel fuel, increasing mileage, horsepower, and decreasing emissions.
“Detroit could do all this stuff overnight if it wanted to,” he adds.
For a thoroughly interesting read, see the FastCompany.com article (November 2007).
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December 14th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
: Car Hacker’s Hummer Gets 60 MPG – Gas 2.0…
If you haven’ heard of the Motorhead Messiah, Jonathan Goodwin, let me introduce you: he hacks cars for a living, and he can get 60 mpg out of an H3 Hummer while doubling the horsepower and cutting emissions in half. Unbelievable? Yes, but this is no…
December 15th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Great but biofuels have their own problems. Rainforests are being cut down to grow palm oil. We need a step further. Hydrogen probably.
December 15th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
SUCK IT BIG MOTORS. Its not long before peons like this guy overwhelm your legal departments and lobyist with a feeling of absolute exposure to their lies!
SUCK IT LOBYIST AND CORPORATE GREED SUCK IT!
December 15th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
In response to the end of the article: VW’s turbodiesel are pretty good as it is… hybrid efficiency w/o the drawbacks of a huge battery, and their new 2.0 model is better in every regard. I’m pretty sure that we won’t see turbodiesel hybrids for a LONG time because it’d come at about a $5,000 premium :/
December 15th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
It is all great; but where can I get such kits? There are thousands of websites claiming that if you purchase their kit, you can boost your millage 100%s. So, the questions is, how do you filter out the spam? Couldn’t Motorhead Messiah be just one more of them?
http://thebenjamins101.blogspot.com
December 15th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
[...] : Car Hacker’s Hummer Gets 60 MPG – Gas 2.0 This was written by gregor. Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2007, at 10:15 am. Filed under america!, awesomeness, science, tech. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Post a comment or leave a trackback. [...]
December 15th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Yankee ingenuity at its best.
December 15th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
This guy is my new idol! I read a story of 6 or so GM engineers standing around his 60mpg hummer telling him GM told them this was impossible.
December 15th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
[...] jefw.com wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
December 15th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
This is incredible. anything on running a motor on water? we’re looking to do some tests…
December 15th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
December 15th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Uh, huh. Everyone run to KFC and start eating a lot of chicken so he can drive home after the show. This is green because you are looking through smoke and green-tinted mirrors.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I drive a diesel truck and am in the process of building a biodiesel processor to turn used grease into fuel. I agree that a lot more diesel cars should be produced such as the vw rabbit. These things get outrageous fuel mileage plus you can run bio fuel in them to boot.
December 15th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
that’s really groovy that he can modify vehicles like a hummer to get 60 mpg! however instead of changing the car industries production of vehicles to diesel, good luck with that, but butanol is much better for the environment than diesel, because the earth cycles the carbon it outputs in only one year, and it can be made from damn near anything, honestly in america what we need to do is change our transportation habits and provide much much much better public transit, the tradeoff of butanol is you don’t have to modify the vehicle you drive now you can just use the butanol in the place of gasoline, given the convienence of butanol for our curent vehicles now all we need is for butanol to make its way to the pumps so we can replace our current foriegn oil dependancy with some home grown fuel!
December 15th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Too bad that isn’t an H3 Hummer in the pic……….false story.
December 15th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Ford and GM should hire this guy,they got into bed with the oil companies and see what it got them.
December 15th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
If it’s so easy to manufacture these engines, then why is he not starting his own car company using his techniques. It would seem trivial to get the investment funding.
If detroit is not using his design, then maybe there are a zillion laws and regulations stopping them. The problem is not GM, the problem is most likely the federal government. When is the last time you saw a new car company spring up from someone’s garage, like they used to in the early days of automobiles.
December 16th, 2007 at 12:57 am
That is great. Now how do we support him and start a movement instead of waiting for our politicians to take action. This has to be grassroot from the bottom up instead of top down. Instead of spending money to fight the big companies, lobbyist and politician, the green party and its like should invest in people like him. That is my 2 cents.
December 16th, 2007 at 3:34 am
And this cost…?
December 16th, 2007 at 9:08 am
THIS IS JUST WRONG.
December 16th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Pictured in this article is a horrendously parked Hummer H1, not a 2005 H3. Very misleading!
December 16th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
[...] get 60 mpg by now if it wasn’t for the greedy oil companies. We have hummers that get 60 MPG : Car Hacker
December 17th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Yes, right, unless we significantly increase average fuel economy and figure out algae biodiesel…
http://claytonbodiecornell.greenoptions.com/2007/11/13/algae-biodiesel-first-industrial-algae-plants-go-online/
December 18th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
I love the free market.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:39 am
This seems like a great idea, but converting all the motors in North America to diesel is not an option. Crude oil is distilled into its many products; gasoline, kerosene, diesel, jet fuel; not because of the demand for those products, but because that is the only thing that can be made from that part of the barrel of crude.
If a barrel of crude makes 20% diesel and 20% gasoline, you might be able to change that to 25% and 15%, but definitely not all diesel. This is the reason why NA is primarily a gasoline market, and Europe/Asia are diesel.
December 21st, 2007 at 3:10 am
It’s Thursday, and I thought that you would like to know I really really really liked this article (s Hummer Gets 60 MPG – Gas 2.0). I wasn’t really looking for this (I was searching on ‘model car kit’), but I’m glad I found your blog as a result. Keep up the great blogging!! I’ve bookmarked you.
January 10th, 2008 at 5:52 am
this guy is my f___________ing hero.
January 14th, 2008 at 3:58 am
[...] this isn’t exactly the 60 mpg Hummer I’ve mentioned before, but that’s a 10 mpg increase in efficieny over previous models. To be honest, it also looks [...]
January 17th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
honestly i dont believe the solution is just that simple…
So I am saying this is too unbelieveable i would like to see data proveing that it actually gets 60 miles to the gallon… it just seems unlikely you could get such a poor MPG vehicle to get such good mileage… perhaps where the 60MPG readings from a constant downhill slope?
January 17th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
BioDiesel does not have any problems. How you acquire BioDiesel is the problem. RapeSeed jatroba peatmoss are not good methods. The most promising method seems to be algae capturing waste C02 emissions from sources such as electrical power plants, city sewage system, or large farm animal waste or fertilizer run off.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
this is brilliant
March 10th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
[...] Abott (aka Gadget) custom-converts cars for a living, but instead of tricking out cars to run on biodiesel or get better mileage, he’s hacking them to run on electricity. He’s the owner of Left [...]
May 13th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
[...] another tribute to high-mileage car hacks, a man named Evan McMullen rediscovered a 1975 Guiness-World [...]
May 13th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
[...] Car Hacker’s Hummer Gets 60 MPG [...]
May 14th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
All the US has to do is legalize hemp for Bio Diesel, and paper and the Rain forest problem is cured.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
[...] Car Hacker’s Hummer Gets 60 MPG [...]
May 21st, 2008 at 9:15 pm
This is a great Hybrid, however Diesel is still in the hands of the greedy. Hydrolitic converters are the future, water as the fuel, splitting water into Hydrogen
and Oxygen, burning the hydrogen & releasing oxygen and unused water. The Plans are out there with conversion standing at $1000 or less depending on how much of the gas system you keep. Imagine, refuel with your garden hose at home, hah. Stick that to the Oil Rich Bastards.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Umm the hummer in the picture is a H1 not an H3 and even H3’s get OK gas milege any way.
June 1st, 2008 at 11:43 pm
How do you get your hands on one of these bolt on kits that’ll double your gas mileage?
June 4th, 2008 at 3:01 am
1973 SHELL OIL MPG CONTEST WINNER! 356 MPG, AT 30 MPH. 1924 CONTEST WINNER! 1924 CHEVY ROADSTER! 166 MPG. GOOGLE “TOM OGLE”. May 6th. 2004 HONDA ACCORD DIESEL GETS 92 MPG AVERAGE. 24 Endurance AVG. 130 MPH.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Forget about the big 3 or any other major auto manufacturer trying to build a 100 mpg car anytime soon, at least in in this country. Technology is there now!
Big oil companies run this country and don’t you forget it. Imagine having their profit margins go down the drain. This will not happen. Only in the private sector will someone put out a fuel efficient car but never be able to produce it in vast numbers. It is a sorry fact, but that’s the free enterprise system for you. Chevron, BP, Exxon Mobile and the rest want those yearly profits up and John Q. public has nothing to say about it. Just do it on you own and keep a low profile.
June 7th, 2008 at 12:53 am
I have a 1995 H1 truck with a naturally asperated diesel that has a cracked block, does a diesel to gas (big block or small block) conversion kit exist?
June 7th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Well others have apparently noticed that the pict. is an H1 not an H3. Now if this guy wants to get anywhere he needs to get on something like 20/20 or something that can/will do investigative reporting. He needs to get this thing independently validated by a 3rd party. Then maybe he could do kits or maybe even resell the idea. bio-diesel is cool by me. It would be nice to see soybean oil producing farms.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:26 am
He makes serial hybrids, which have fewer moving parts than today’s parallel hybrids. And by using a turbine that is hyper-efficient at a single speed to spin a generator, he adds even more efficiency. All of this has been obvious in an engineering sense for many years.
The next step is single-unit wheel/motor assemblies. I believe a company in The Netherlands is producing buses and trucks with motor/wheel drive trains.
No new technology is needed for any of this. Strictly off-the-shelf. Surprising that at least one major carbuilder hasn’t gone this route — and, sadly, I believe we’re more likely to see this kind of breakthrough vehicle come from India’s Tata or China’s Chery than from a U.S. company.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Now if we can get automobiles converted to use bio-fuels we don’t have to cut down forests to grow palm-oil or change current farming procedures in the world to create perceived ‘food-shortages’. All we need to do is have farmers (or have folks invest into) buying land in dry and poor soil conditions to grow the Jatropha plant for bio-Diesel Fuel … in addition to recycled bio waste into a bio-fuel, I think it is an interesting and plausible idea achieve these goals.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Sorry forgot link to Jatropha plant site:
http://www.jatrophaworld.org/index.html
July 16th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Bolt on kit? You people must be joking. This guy probably spent on the order of $80-100 thousand dollars on his truck to save a few thousand a year in gas bills. Unless you think you can got to your nearest Wal Mart for the gas turbine, the super capacitors, the computer controllers, the Duramax diesel, etc.
Give me a break. Until this is independently verified, it is vaporware, if not outright lies.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
While I have read this article and really want to believe in Mr. Goodwin, I have tried several times to contact him and his company. If his technology works so well why doesn’t the government require it in all new vehicles?
July 31st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
[...] if I was going to spend that kind of money $60K I would more likely be interested in doing like this for a bit more $$$. __________________ GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!! – GOD BLESS [...]
August 11th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Magic Mate Magic! Looking at converting My 2000 4 cylnd turbo-diesel Nissan Patrol to dual fuel, this has helped me make the decision. Do you have any other advice or links I could look at. From downunder.
December 21st, 2008 at 7:09 pm
[...] 9. Car Hacker’s Hummer Gets 60 MPG [...]
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:19 am
So why do they show a picture of an H1 when the article is about an H3? Apples and oranges.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
More efficient alternatives are available, but the “Big Two” need even more Exlax to get things going! Fact is, Americans throw Shiite away (spread it all over the land for all to see!), Swedes and Norwegians bio-gas it into fuel and import less! Truth is, Americans were spoiled rotten by GM, Chrysler and Ford, who know from the sales folks in the field just what the expectations are, and they are astronomically high, for the paltry disposable income the average American can haul home now-a-days! – Enter, the hungry and more desperate Japanese and other Asian companies who pay workers and staff much less in poorer countries to produce better vehicles – they are not running out to get into the diesel market because Americans have an inherent dislike for rattlers, and need a gentle let-down from the high-displacement smooth running gassers from days gone by! One day, when gas prices are so damn high good diesels can be justified, the Asians have the required items, already well developed and on the shelf, ready for Yankee Doodle and his finicky tastes. Don’t kid yourself, marketing is everything. It determine the almighty ROI, and even the best, most efficient diesel, entering the marketplace at the wrong time can sink like a stone and take the company with it, good name, market position and all! Technically, an algae diesel, turbo’ed and tuned properly, batteried up as a plug-in hybrid, with a carbon fiber and polymer composite body of very aerodynamic style, built as a two passenger super-commuter can get much better than 100 U.S. mpg, but! on todays markets nobody would buy it! too radical, to futuristic, outlandish! As the marketplace warms to new ideas, and Big Oil lets prices edge up, the changes will evolve, slowly through the model lines and by the end of the century, Americans, if still in existence at all, will be weened from the Corvettes and will willingly purchase a plastic hybrid diesel car – just about when the oil runs out completely, and bio-diesel fron Algae is the fuel of the day!
August 19th, 2009 at 2:34 am
[...] when you step on the gas pedal as was the case in propane fueled trucks several years ago. It gets competitive fuel mileage as compared to gasoline. The average of highway and in town driving for a 2007 F150 is 14 mpg, and [...]
August 30th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
The “money for nothing” concept of fuel production *always* stirs up interesting comments, and I love blogs like this! BUT, as mentioned by nearly everyone, you *can’t* get something for nothing. But too many others have commented along those lines. I won’t.
I *will* comment on “the diesel issue” in regards to the US as I’ve owned diesel vehicles for ages. None US made, BTW. (though there are some decent trucks out there with good unmodded economy.)
I found a way to double the fuel economy of the Smart Car ForTwo — I simply purchased a non-US model with a turbo diesel engine! lol
Sadly, the much hyped smart — which has been around for ten years now, pretty much everywhere but the US — got an mpg trip to make it “legal” in the USA. The current US models get on average of 35-40 mpg from a non-turbo petrol engine.
I have an unmodified 1985 heavy slow Mercedes Benz with 5 cylinder turbo-diesel that will get 33 on the highway!
Back to the smart comment — my other car is a 2006 smart CDI Canadian spec with teeeeeeny 800cc turbo-diesel engine, and on the highway *it* gets nearly 70 mpg with no mods, using regular or biodiesel.
If Mercedes can build engines with such economy, why can’t Detroit?? If Japan can do the same, why can’t Detroit? And why do they have to be detuned to meet US spec when EU specs for emissions are even tighter???? Why has diesel suddenly gone up in cost past premium gasoline when it used to be half the price of regular???? (the “low sulfur” excuse doesn’t cut it, Exxon!!! The EU has had low sulfur fuels for many years!)
Questions, so many questions, never any real answers.
I think GM soured the US interest in diesel automobiles in the 70’s with a series of underdesigned engines that stayed broken all the time. Combine that with the various tarriff and trade hits given makers such as Mercedes and there isn’t much incentive to attempt to sell more diesel powered cars. VW *has* has offered cars in the past — the smoky diesel Rabbit from years ago — and currently with their more modern turbo-diesels that deliver 60 mpg easily.
Will American car buyers heed the call??? At least a few of us have, as seen on this site and others that focus on maximizing fuel economy.
I mean, diesels have been the mainstay for Europe and the UK for many decades.
But as for water and home-brew Browns Gas, who knows of a way to make it in large enough quantites — and with no scammy-smelling offers for $100 downloadable files. *shrug*
Another tangent – we had an early Chevy Sprint (Suzuki Swift) that got over 50 mpg on the road. Later models got less and less fuel economy. My wife drives a 2007 Ford Taurus which barely makes 22 mpg, but yet earlier models with similar engines could easily extract 30 miles per gallon of petrol. What is it with Detroit?? Is it any wonder nearly all US car companies have gone under? And why are US built Toyotas and Hondas sold as imports, while Mexican built Fords are sold as domestic???? Yea, more questions, few answers.
Laterz
August 31st, 2009 at 4:24 am
This is awesome! Hummer H3 with 60 MPG! I’m extremely jealous. My small car does get me 60 MPG.
December 21st, 2009 at 11:42 pm
This goes to show that car companies are not producing cars as efficient as they can. It seems that everyone except car companies can do this.