A 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle is probably not your idea of a dream car. At 25 mpg, it’s probably also not your idea of a green car. But a group of mechanical engineering students at the University of Kansas have completed a year-long project aimed at making a Bug much more eco-friendly… with an eventual goal of creating a 500 mpg vehicle.
Dubbing themselves the Ecohawks, these seniors set more modest objectives for the project’s first year: creating a neighborhood vehicle “capable of attaining speeds of 45 mph and stretching in-town fuel efficiency to 54 miles per gallon.” Currently powered by locally-sourced biodiesel and an 800 lb. lead acid battery pack, goals for future Ecohawks include getting the vehicle to “street legal” status, upgrading to lithium-ion batteries, and “establishing the vehicle as a viable plug-in hybrid, complete with a solar-powered fueling station.”
If you’d like to keep up on the progress of this project, check out the Ecohawks blog; there are many images available on a photo gallery page.
via LJWorld.com
May 18th, 2009 - 6:59 pm
Open the doors wide and let the students find the ingenuity which had been lost for lack of personal goals, or means to promote.
It is a well known fact that the dedicated back-yard mechanic has had a bead on some very creative and functional inventions. Many have abandoned prospects or been disappointed in the solitary process.
How coincidental that the energy needs and the financial impetus have met around a simple Volks project. Economics reinforce ecology once more. Where there’s a need…there’s a mind grinding away.
May 18th, 2009 - 7:52 pm
Nadine… thanks so much for your thoughts… I really liked the “backyard mechanic” aspect of this story, also…
May 19th, 2009 - 11:03 am
I have seen a wonderful old ’60’s VW bug around here in Berkeley that is painted black with an elegant logo design of a lightning bolt in white and pale lemon on the side door. I think it is an EV conversion.
I got this pic at the Albany dog run.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32164784@N07/3238966905/
I would think old VW bugs would make great straight EVs as I’m sure they have a very lightweight body.
May 19th, 2009 - 12:36 pm
Great photo, Susan (and great car!). Thanks for sharing…!