Hummers and muscle cars go green

Jonathan Goodwin has built a car that can run on ethanol, hydrogen, biodiesel or natural gas--all fairly clean fuels. It gets the equivalent of 40 miles a gallon. And it's a Hummer.

Goodwin, a biodiesel conversion specialist and founder of alternative energy start-up SAE Energy, is an emerging name in an unlikely niche in the clean tech market: making muscle cars green.

He's already converted about 60 H2 Hummers from gas to diesel and about 100 H1 hummers, including a Hummer that can burn the whole menu of clean fuels.

On Earth Day (April 22nd), MTV Networks' show Pimp My Ride will feature a 1965 Impala he converted from gas to biodiesel. And since nothing says Earth Day like a drag race, the converted Impala went up against a Lamborghini in a quarter-mile test. The Impala won.

"You don't have to sacrifice the fun aspects of a car. All you have to do is change your fuel," said Martin Tobias, CEO of Imperium Renewables, a biodiesel refiner that developed the Pimp My Ride biodiesel experiment with MTV. "It completely blew away the Lamborghini. It was only two-thirds down the track when the Impala crossed the finish line."

The same dynamics underpin the growth in the clean car market. Manufacturers are offering consumers clean cars--a big selling point--but not cutting back on performance.

"The first electric cars were like golf carts. You really had to be freakin' altruistic to drive one of those things," Tobias said. "Tesla changed that by telling customers 'You can have it all.'"

If anything, consumers and businesses are clearly interested in clean cars. With the rise of biodiesel, the market and price for used diesel cars has climbed, according to anecdotal reports from sellers, and Toyota has continued to experience dramatic shipment growth for its Prius hybrid.

Video: Souped-up Impala outraces Lamborghini
The car community is seeing a new breed of modified cars.

Goodwin says a large delivery company is currently negotiating with him about converting fleets of their diesel delivery vehicles from diesel to natural gas.

Goodwin, who's based in Wichita, Kan., doesn't advertise or push the services through Web sites much because it generates too many inquiries.

"I really get pounded with a lot of requests when I do," he said. "But it doesn't look like I will be able to hide much longer."

Gas-to-diesel conversions are the automotive equivalent of a heart transplant. The gas-burning engine and original transmission are removed and replaced with a Duramax diesel engine, typically inserted in Chevy trucks, and an Allison transmission.

With a Hummer, little retrofitting is required. With the Impala, the center divider in the car had to be widened. In the end, though, the car still accommodated four or more passengers, unlike the two-seater Lamborghini.

A gas-to-diesel conversion boosts a Hummer's mileage from about 10 miles a gallon to between 22 and 24 miles a gallon. Additionally, the horsepower jumps from about 325 in the regular Hummer to 650, giving the car more power.

The performance increase comes in part from the inherent properties of diesel engines. Overall, a diesel can deliver more torque--the rotational force applied to an object, in this case the car's crankshaft--than a gas engine. A 500 horsepower gas engine might put out 600 foot-pounds of torque. A similar diesel might put out 800 to 900 foot-pounds of torque.

The engine inserted into the 1965 Impala cranks 850 horsepower and 1200 foot-pounds of torque. The Impala was chosen because it has a stronger frame than most other mid-1960s muscle cars.

"Torque is the key," Goodwin said.

The mileage increase alone makes the Hummer more green than it was originally. But drivers can cut down on emissions even more if they run their cars on biodiesel, made from vegetable oil, rather than diesel derived from hydrocarbons dug from the earth. The converted cars can run on either fuel, but biodiesel puts far less carbon dioxide into the air, along with other pollutants. (Diesel cars can also run on waste vegetable oil, but typically require additional modifications before it can just get filled up at the deep fat fryer.)

Some customers eye conversions in terms of dollars and cents. The delivery company wants to switch from diesel to natural gas because the fuel costs far less. "If I can reduce their fuel consumption by 5 percent, that's huge," Goodwin said.

For most customers, though, the status and novelty factor seem to be drivers. The conversion, which takes about seven days, costs roughly $24,000. If gas sells for $3 a gallon, you'd have to drive around 140,000 miles before breaking even.

Still, the idea of a green Hummer does take getting used to. Another TV network wants to do a story on biodiesel conversion, but balked at the idea of centering the show around a Hummer. To avoid potential complaints, they will convert a Cadillac Escalade.

[lingsun]

It makes no economic sense.

So you'd have to drive 140,000 miles before you break even. That's a dream for a liberal. It doesn't matter if it makes any sense. What matters is if it makes you feel good. You can always brag that you "saved the planet".

[KSC519]

Balance

The idea here is not an immediate economic payback. Reducing the environmental impact of the vehicles we drive is equally if not more important. As well as reducing our dependancy on oil. There is no one magic technology that will save the planet and/or your pocketbook. Adopting and combining multiple technologies is a good step towards securing a future that will be both economically and environmentally sound.

[skrubol]

Something seems off

First of all, the H1 is only available with a diesel stock. Secondly, the numbers seem to be rather exaggerated. Diesels typically get about 25% better gas mileage, not 120-340% better as stated for the H2 conversion. And by doubling the horsepower on top of that, I'm sure the gas mileage would take a hit (especially if you actually use that 650 HP.)

[Hi)a(k]

Not so good

At all natural resources aren't eternal. So mankind have to discover new engines and fuel. But biodiesel not such a good alternative. It has some asvantages but it is still a internal-combustion engine and can cause damage to environment. Maybe it's just intermediate step to new engine for all vehicles.

[p40tomahawk]

So What

What does having an Impala beat a Lamborghini have to do with anything? I could fuel an Impala with alcohol made from my leftover cereal milk, and it would go even faster. I'm still polluting the environment when I make the stuff, because I'm using energy derived from coal/oil/whatever to make the alcohol, and then I'm releasing massive amounts of carbon as I burn it.

By the way, fulfilling the world's oil needs through biofuels as they are **today** would require more agricultural landmass than three entire Earth's. Doesn't work.

[jogiba]

HP jumps from 325 to 650

That must be a typo. How do you double MPG with twice the HP ? It takes more fuel to make more HP not less. I could see getting 30% better mpg with a diesel conversion but to take out a V8 gas engine and install a V8 diesel for $24,000 to save money does not make sense.

[twotall610]

Another carsalesman

I don't trust carsalesman. They only tell you the good and hide the
bad. It is just a marketing ploy. The word for autos these days is
"Green". Mine is more "Greener" than yours. When they develope a
vehicle that doesn't emit any type of pollution and doesn't require
plugging it into a home outlet, then it will truly be "Green". Until
then, stop using the word "Green".

[dondarko]

tesla...

was around for quite a while. Purely an electrical car, it gets a range of 200 miles on a single charge, and it goes 0-60 in 4 seconds. www.teslamotors.com

[Zupek]

Water is better and I can do it

You support me(aka pay for my house, food, dog, etc) and i'll GIVE everyone a technology that can run on today's cars and be 100% renewable with better power then bio-diesel(which is only torque anyways). The largest reason nobody has done it(to the general pulics knowledge) is because a car running on water doesnt benifit the rich, it benefits the world, and we all know the rich don't look out for anybody but themselves. Im not asking for much. Just the time and expensive of living, then i'll give it the technology away for free and help people. Its not as hard as everyone thinks, people just keep making reasons why it shouldnt work, but it would work if someone was willing to do it.

FYI someone created a gas that converts water to hydrogen extremely easily (its a welding gas) and he car was running off of water (video should be on youtube.com). BUT the government bought the guy and his technology and he is installing it in hummers FOR THE ARMY. Its possible, the government just doesnt want it to happen.

[treet007]

...At the Expense of Food and Increasing Food Prices

Going biodiesel and other alternate fuel sources are great ideas, but they should not be used at the expense of food production. Water is a scarce commodity, and there are a lot of people in world in poverty and starvation. It is absolutely stupid to use these resources as alternate fuels just so that you can maintain your "fun" factor in the Hummers and muscle cars.

Haven't you noticed that once the President of the USA promotes alternate fuels, the food prices went up because the corn used to feed the livestock for food is being diverted for fuel? Once demand increases for these alternate fuels, you think the food prices won't continue to increase?

[timinraymond]

Hummers

It seems to me that anyone buying a "Hummer" has a lot more money than intelligence. The "Hummer" is just a ripoff on the HumVee, without the capabilities of the real thing. I'd buy a HumVee, I *laugh* at "Hummers". Luckily, I do not *need* either one, so I won't be buying one. My Suburban burns enough fuel to satisfy my testosterone levels.

[wp enterprises]

not apples to apples

By saying a jump in HP like that they are not compairing apples to apples. they are talking about the baseline 325HP Gasoline hummer motor being swapped out for a turbo charged diesel duramax motor. The horsepower gains are not related to the fact that its running green. These motors would make 650HP all day with convential diesel as well. In fact a gasoline engine with a similar displacement to the duramax they are using, would probably have even more horsepower than the diesel if turbocharged as aggressively, though its not as easy to turbocharge gasoline engines with as much boost as diesels. Also the diesel would still be the winner in torque likely, and as corky bell says "Rule : Torque makes fun"

[wp enterprises]

blah blah blah

blah blah blah, government conspiracy this and that

The real problem is there is no mainstream efficent way to seperate hydrogen that easily. Yes welding gas can run a car, but its $60 to fill a bottle, and it wouldn't get you as far as $30 in gasoline even at the prices of today. Plus where did that bottle of hydrogen come from? It takes a lot of heat energy to seperate hydrogen. If we all ran cars on hydrogen we would require many many many new nuclear plants to provide us with the power to make all the hydrogen that would be required, and does that really help anything at all? Maybe one day someone will come up with a breakthrough easy way to seperate hydrogen, until then, it just doesn't make sense.

[dean265]

water i can do it better contact me

iam from the central west australia
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please email me
[e-mail]