Kids Build Soybean-Fueled Car

[epicstruggle]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/17/eveningnews/main1329941.shtml

The star at last week's Philadelphia Auto Show wasn't a sports car or an economy car. It was a sports-economy car — one that combines performance and practicality under one hood.

But as CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports in this week's Assignment America, the car that buyers have been waiting decades comes from an unexpected source and runs on soybean bio-diesel fuel to boot.

A car that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon would be enough to pique any driver's interest. So who do we have to thank for it. Ford? GM? Toyota? No — just Victor, David, Cheeseborough, Bruce, and Kosi, five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School

Go philly!!

epic

 

[KimB]

0-60 in 4 seconds and 50 mpg? As an after-school project? Quite impressive

 

[ByteMe]

GM, Toyota and Ford just get pwned?

 

[KimB]

GM, Toyota and Ford just get pwned?

Well, I'm sure it has other limitations that would prevent it from being a production car as they built it. One obvious one is that all the soybeans in the world can't make up for the amount of oil we use now. But it is, at least, an excellent proof of concept (all provided it's not a hoax, of course).

 

[_xxx_]

Exhaust limits are the problem as always, I guess.

 

[nintenho]

Well, I'm sure it has other limitations that would prevent it from being a production car as they built it. One obvious one is that all the soybeans in the world can't make up for the amount of oil we use now. But it is, at least, an excellent proof of concept (all provided it's not a hoax, of course).

Well I'm sure it could use ethanol or vegetable oil or something if it could run on soybean oil.

 

[_xxx_]

Most diesel cars will run on vegetable oil with minor alterations. Actually, there are quite a few of these on the road here in Germany.

 

[nintenho]

Most diesel cars will run on vegetable oil with minor alterations. Actually, there are quite a few of these on the road here in Germany.

Even in America, a lot of cars (one that I can remember is the Ford Taurus) can run on ethanol, which is made with vegetable oil.

 

[_xxx_]

Even in America, a lot of cars (one that I can remember is the Ford Taurus) can run on ethanol, which is made with vegetable oil.

Nope, ethanol is alcohol. The stuff you have in your whiskey.

 

[nintenho]

Nope, ethanol is alcohol. The stuff you have in your whiskey.

Yeah, but you can make it out of vegetable oil by fermenting it. That's what some people do. They go to McDonald's or whatever, get the vegetable oil that the fast food restaraunt would have to pay to dispose of, and ferment it in a huge tank in their garage giving them free fuel. The catch is you actually have to go through the trouble of getting and making your own fuel and the fermenting tank thing may actually explode.

 

[pocketmoon66]

"Most diesel cars will run on vegetable oil with minor alterations"

"Top Gear", here in the UK, ran an old Volvo diesel estate on various 'flavours' of used vegetable oil. You could tell by the smell of the exhaust, what type of food had been cooked Fish 'n' Chip, Chinese , yummy

The low down was you could buy this used veg oil as 'waste' at knock down prices, stick in in your car and save £££. Of course as soon as you put in in the car you have to pay the Revenue ~40p tax per litre...

Some folks have been known to stick a litre or so of supermarket oil in their tanks with the diesel! Not sure if they would ever mix that well...

 

[nintenho]

Some folks have been known to stick a litre or so of supermarket oil in their tanks with the diesel! Not sure if they would ever mix that well...

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't damage anything, but vegetable oil isn't flammable. You have to ferment it and seperate the alcohol in order for it to be fuel and even then it isn't as...er..productive as gasoline, not sure about diesel though.

 

[KimB]

Well, the main problem with using vegtable oil and whatnot would be impurities: you could well shorten the life of your engine if you don't go through a really good refinement process. I'd be willing to bet that being able to smell where the oil came from would be very bad for the engine over long periods of time.

 

[nintenho]

Well, the main problem with using vegtable oil and whatnot would be impurities: you could well shorten the life of your engine if you don't go through a really good refinement process. I'd be willing to bet that being able to smell where the oil came from would be very bad for the engine over long periods of time.

When they ferment it, it's basically just pure alcohol. I just posted basically the same response like three times now, woohoo!

 

[_xxx_]

Yeah, but you can make it out of vegetable oil by fermenting it.

Dunno that, but the engine running on ethanol is totally different than the diesel/oil engine. Ethanol engine is more like a normal gasoline engine.

 

[_xxx_]

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't damage anything, but vegetable oil isn't flammable. You have to ferment it and seperate the alcohol in order for it to be fuel and even then it isn't as...er..productive as gasoline, not sure about diesel though.

You got it wrong. Diesel ain't flammable either. Google for some theory about combustion engines, that might help

Veg oil will destroy a diesel engine eventually, because oil damages some sealings (oil dissolves quite a few sorts of rubber).

 

[KimB]

When they ferment it, it's basically just pure alcohol. I just posted basically the same response like three times now, woohoo!

Well, depends upon what you're talking about. A couple of different things were discussed in this thread.

As for ethanol, fermented from vegetable oil, if the fermenting is done at home, as seems to have been suggested in some of the above posts, it's unlikely to be all that pure.

 

[nintenho]

Well, depends upon what you're talking about. A couple of different things were discussed in this thread.

As for ethanol, fermented from vegetable oil, if the fermenting is done at home, as seems to have been suggested in some of the above posts, it's unlikely to be all that pure.

Well, I heard that ethanol from a home fermenter is usually about only 30% less productive than the equal volume of gasoline.

 

[nintenho]

You got it wrong. Diesel ain't flammable either. Google for some theory about combustion engines, that might help

Veg oil will destroy a diesel engine eventually, because oil damages some sealings (oil dissolves quite a few sorts of rubber).

Oh yeah, I forgot about that whole compression thingy for diesel.

 

[Snyder]

Most diesel cars will run on vegetable oil with minor alterations. Actually, there are quite a few of these on the road here in Germany.

AFAIK Biodiesel is quite frequently used for excavators and similar construction vehicles. At least here in Austria, it's even a requirement when works are done in environmentally sensitive areas (e.g. riverbeds).