Green Wheels: Shell Eco-Marathon:

[aallahwalla]

can we get this. how much will it cost

[ilovebewbz101]

if high school kids can design more fuel efficient cars than the car company's themselves that really shows how the car industry & the oil industry are fucking us over

[MrNocaster1]

You know the BIG oil companies would NEVER allow anything like this to even get to market. They would lose too much money.

[deezynar]

Take away airbags, 5mph bumpers, crumple zones, air conditioning, cup holders, sound system, defroster, passenger space, trunk, and highway speed capability and you have a velomobile that doesn't even help your waist line.

Kidding aside, what's to learn from this? That light aerodynamic cars that are accelerated up to speed and then coast w/ the engine off will get better mileage than a car that is actually usable? We need real cars. Nuclear power plants to charge electric cars.

[rutgermsc]

That's nicely played around by Shell (how about green-washing and window-dressing?). But velomobiles are the future mode of transport, probably aided with some sustainably harvested energy (not oil - it will soon be too expensive, even now it's already way cheaper to use electricity). Search on Google for info using terms: lowtechmagazine velomobile, one fantastic article.

[miranipour]

david SEXton wtf??!!

[KrunchyJD]

A velomobile, which is a human powered trike with a fairing, would win as it uses no fuel.

[Yagmilner]

well, its obvious the automakers are being paid by the oil companies now ... I mean come on a couple hundred miles to the gallons should be easy...

[HolyGuyz]

cool~~~!

[madisonsuicide]

What is with all the "ride a bike" comments?

This way at least you arrive without completely sweaty and tired.

Ride your bike, that is fine and rather fun...but that is not the future of travel though.

My grandmother can drive just fine, but you can't except her to ride a bike around, especially in the rain. Take whatever "alternative" transportation you think is best and then apply it to someone else. What works for you is not the answer for everyone.

[saylrp]

@madisonsuicide and a tiny carbon fiber teardrop without storage, climate control, or a comfortable/safe riding position is the future of travel? Would your grandmother ride ride one of those?

[alabala327]

what is the max speed of one of these cool things?

[timrocket2008]

E-Bikes use 0... ZERO Gas.Equivalentto to 2,000 miles per gallon

[LibertaerUeberAlles]

Now we just need to build a comprehensive cycling infrastructure, like the one which exists in most of Europe.

[seahorse1945]

Simplistic propaganda- we already have bicycles that can do this on no gasoline

[circusboy90210]

the cars that need a push to start them should be disqualified. what's the 0-60 times?? 4 minutes?? it would take longer than necessary to get anywhere in one of these death traps. forget about traffic. nice concepts but not practical.

[MrRiceowlex]

They said as BP GUSHED OIL into the Gulf of Mexico. 67 days, company has been around for 100 yuears and doesn't have a THOROUGH PLAN in the event something goes wrong ??? Especially in DEEP DEEP WATER ....

[goofy775]

@MrRiceowlex how many fail safes does a person need,,, not trying to defend them but when shit like that happens people will always say they should have done even more. You can't have a fool proof plan.. with infinite fail safes. Just not possible..

[emforty2]

try seaching for VELOMOBILE

ZERO [0] miles per gallon

not a science project but a REAL transportation being used daily

[ramblergarage]

Mobile sponcered the Mobile gas economy run for years this is nothing new.

[paoktshsostokokalo]

Bull-shit only theory built cars,ofcourse they didnt count weights,friction,air generally and longevity of the engine ? The game is to find something different than petrol to use not using less .And as a friend said WHY SHELL WHOULD SPONSOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS ?

[TheThirdEdge]

@greatblueherron Of course for real! California (especially SoCal) is Kar Krazy!

[pantherproof]

But are any of them legal to drive on the roads? What MPG would they get after necessary modifications?

[NoiteraD]

@pantherproof Look up "Loremo", that means low resistance mobile and it's a new car that is made after the same concept as these here, but beeing street legal and the size of a car.

[ndyt]

you cant drive these on the street, total waste of time.

[crazywolf889]

whats the point of making them sleek and aerodynamic, they go so slow there is no air resistance

[SuperJafman]

Its captain hollister from red dwarf?

[StylesOfThought]

best way for them to make sure they get the tech and no one else does...

[foxprogt]

this is cool and all but at the same time this is total BULL SHIT!!!! not that i dont believe you can get 2000 miles per gal.... its just its not like us average americans are going to get to ever own one of these.. american car companys would kill to NOT let these kind of cars get put on american roads. these are the last things car companys want us americans to have so fuck them!

[FliegenCockatiel]

The car companies will make whatever they think people will buy. They don't think people want cars like these, which is bullshit...I'd buy one, and I know a lot of other people who would. The other thing stopping them from making vehicles like these is bribery from the oil companies. That's what makes this odd, though - it's sponsered by an oil company, when usually this would be an oil company's worst enemy.

[TheThirdEdge]

FC: Kids made these cars. Make one yourself!

Here in SoCal, lotsa people make or modify their own vehicles.

[greatblueherron]

@TheThirdEdge 4real? i gotta move there!

[greatblueherron]

@FliegenCockatiel they probably make a shit ton of moey from this event.

[namitsu1]

Sure, but elements of it could be integrated in more normal cars.

[gumpydoood]

2000 mpg? BULLSHIT. Not without having other erergy inputs.

[Dallouez]

ONe football player gets MILLIONS a year! What do these guys get? Most get nothing except a bill! Shell and et al spend millions and millions on ads. Not one makes a car.

[ThePhantomChannel]

Bicycles are WAY more efficient, as you can see one riding alongside the Cal Poly car-thing. Also makes you sexier in the long run :]

[BrennerMaschinenbau]

have a look at london-delhi1

[khenry1991]

plenty in Texas

damn spics

[josephdupont]

Try making a street legal car!!! There is no incentive to do so! The only real break are electic bikes your allowed up to 1000 watts.. I imagine you could make a hybrid bicycle with a small generator.

[rock3tcat]

Why would Shell sponsor an event like this?

[SOVEREIGNDesigns]

@rock3tcat ; to get the pattens and then hide them in a closet so we have to use petro.

[jefecapitan]

@rock3tcat to save its oil for ages hehehe

[knicknase]

thats the kind of direction we need for the future

[psybmw]

so does shell :(

[davetista]

@knicknase That's what we need for the present.

[josephdupont]

wait a minute.

a van getting 18 mpg

might hold 10 people

that 's like 180 people miles per gallon.

so the advantage is more like 10 to one.

[CDickFly]

It's the gas version of the Electrothon, and just a tax deduction for Shell, and some "feel good" public relations. The electric velomobile like an Aerorider is the same as a bike, will run for ever, and is the future since its carbon foot print is miniscule compared to even these cars which will never see the road.

Gm, and the oil companies helped kill the electric car, and now its going to come back and haunt them..

[CDickFly]

The problem is the auto industry really doesn't give a damm and that's why they are basically bankrupt and hitting up the Gov't for a bailout.

They should be using electriciy in these vehicles..oh thats right it's sponsored by Shell.

The hype continues

[netmasta10bt]

Sorry no.  Government regulation on cars would never allow a company to produce something like this.

[crezzyman]

Okay, now- try going up a hill.

Are the engines open to whatever they want to put in it? If they were I'd just get a motorcycle engine and run it really lean and hope it didn't blow up. Should last for an hour and get great MPG while producing enough power to just stay at 800 RPM the whole time.

They need to set a 3000# minimum weight and get this kind of MPG. If they did that, this might actually be impressive. Then they need to drive it for 200000 miles and see how it's doing. Then make it

[TommeyLeeReed]

My $4000.00 ev

[beaumec242]

this is really great but can we call these things cars anymore???I wonder what the good term would be,otherwise great event

[drugaria]

yes but none of these count unless these cars atually travel all that distance they claim they could go

[justinstute]

Where do you propose we run 2000 miles? Good try

[drugaria]

well even if you run in circles for 2000 miles It would count. Anyone can make an engine that can last for only an hour max before trashing it and yield high mpg.

[justinstute]

Actually we have used the same engine for 5 years straight. Most of the time in 2 competitions but the last 2 years in 3 competitions. Never have had wearing issues, have had engine problems due to sitting for months at a time... gunk in the carb mainly.

[AAMEMBERSHIPFAN]

Where is this then?

[justinstute]

California.  watch and learn

[roidroid]

hmm... i wonder if a normal car simply weighs 90x as much.

[justinstute]

Not quite 90, that would put your little camry tippin the scales at 9750 lbs. good try

[roidroid]

Cal-poly's car got 1902 mpg and weighted 89 lb.

Directly scaling (x90) that with weight and you get a 8010lb (ie: x90) vehicle with 21mpg (ie: / 90).

That's the weight and MPG rating of a good SUV.

So, it seems that efficiency DOES scale with weight.

booya!

[justinstute]

HUH never seen an explorer or tahor or burban that gets 21 mpg. Unless your talkin bout those awd minivans.

[roidroid]

google: SUV MPG

My point is just that this is a weight-scaled version of vehicles we currently have on the road right now - vehicles that are 90x the weight and get 1/90th the fuel efficiency (or worse).

It's a good lesson that one of the best ways to increase fuel efficiency is by reducing the weight of our cars.

[justinstute]

I completely agree the weight is one of the largest advantages we these cars have over regular street wehicles. BUT manufacturers can help this also. Something like power windows adds weight to a vehicle because you have a motor, 40+ feet of wiring, switches, relays, and other misc. pieces that have mass. And like our advisor says if it doesn't float it's hurting us.

[ssredwave]

hmmmmm, what's the actual development cost in man hours? still less than the avg auto price tag?

Wouldnt it be great if we could get even a quarter of these results with heavier cars? Ill give up the Mopar for that