Students Build Hydrogen Vehicle That Gets 1,336 MPG
Turkish students at Sakarya University have built a hydrogen car that gets 1,336 mpg. Well, sorta.
Called the SAHİMO, the vehicle’s current range is about 353 miles on a quarter gallon of fuel (568 kilometers on 1 liter). It travels such an obscene distance with so little fuel due to the vehicle’s uber-light weight: it weighs only 240 pounds (110 kilograms). The car’s made up of 90-percent carbon fiber.
I assume the size and weight limit it to holding only a liter of fuel. I couldn’t verify this as their site is in Turkish and mine is a little rusty.
The SAHMO won third most efficient vehicle in Europe’s 26th Shell Eco Marathon. And their next goal is to conquer the inaugural 2009 Global Green Challengee–an evolution of the World Solar Challenge competition in Australia–this October. About twenty electric, hybrid, alternative fuel and low emission production and prototype vehicles will compete in the race.
Melemez, a fourth-year student in the engineering department at Sakarya University, says “We are hoping to raise our record from 568 kilometers on one liter of hydrogen up to a full 1,000 kilometers on one liter, and we believe we can do it.”
A 3,000 kilometer trek across the Australian Outback on just 3 liters is quite ambitious but I really hope they can pull it off.
But before you think about running out and buying one, the car did cost $170,000 to build.
The 40-member group that developed the SAHIMO hydrogen car is the Sakarya University Advanced Technologies Implementation Group (SAITEM). Today’s Zaman reports that the team hopes to work on a non-piloted aircraft next and is already trying to get support from Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI).
Source: Inhabitat
Btw, if you’re interested in joining the first mailing list dedicated to bulk purchasing electric cars, check it out (you can also get cheap solar there too).
THEY .SHOULD. NAME,IT -AFTER- THEIR ” SCHOOL ” , , ,
THE * SAKAR * . . . . . . .
This is asinine! I could have a Tow Truck haul my SUV to Florida and claim 1000 mpg and it would be just as plausible as this.
Don’t waste Web space with this stupid crap!
If all cars were able to do this, then Obama would pass a bill that would require a minimum of 1400 miles per gallon because he’s just that kind of idiot.
And don’t forget…at 240lbs, the car is a complete and total safety standard failure. Even one of those minis could crush this car. The Institute for Highway Safety suggests downsizing the engine, not the car, if you want to increase mpg while maintaining safe travel standards.
So, until this magic car can withstand a 40mph crash-test with a good rating, this thing isn’t worth the media time.
What is special about 1337?
this technology has been around for 20 years!!! our cars have had poor MPG because if you get less MPG, you end up buying MORE GAS!!!
170,000 is not a lot of money, production cost would decrease greatly and the cost would be a tenth of that.
I -WANT- ” * ONE * ” …!.NOW.!…
wow! and that was 3rd place?
Why hasn’t Chevrolet, Ford or Toyota done something like this and made it available to everyone? I don’t understand the hold-up. Is the gas companies? What is it? We are putting men/women all over space, but we can’t come up with an affordable option to fuel BTW, I live in Texas and I can tell you that the reason the prices of food is so high is because all of our farmers are growing their corn for ethanol. That was a really, really bad idea.
Well how much mpg would it be once the car goes to practical every day car size and weight?