auto enthusaists hack Toyota Prius, get 250 MPG

[bascule]

While I haven't studied it yet, I am fairly convinced that my mileage suffers terribly on E-85, power seems about the same. I have also heard reports that it takes more energy to make E-85 than it provides.

Those reports would be wrong. Even in 1988 energy generated by the ethanol exceeded energy inputs by 16%. Nowadays that number is closer to 34%, according to a USDA study.

This is a tired argument against ethanol-based fuels... and every time I mention E-85 it's inevitable that someone brings it up. Where the hell is this rumor coming from anyway?

[bascule]

Hybrids are a fluke which will exist until they actually manage to cram a full reformer/fuel cell or high temperature fuel cell combo under the hood of a car.

True, but there's also the question of fuelling infrastructure to consider.

The whole point of using a reformer (to extract hydrogen from gasoline/other hydrocarbons) + a low temp fuel cell, or using a high temp fuel cell (which generates electricity directly from the combination of gasoline/hydrocarbons and an oxidizer [O2] with no combustion involved) is so the existing gasoline fuel infrastructure can still be utilized. Such vehicles could still run on gas (or E-85, or pure ethanol, or any other hydrocarbon you want) but would combine gas with an oxidizer directly to generate electricity rather than burning the fuel to generate mechanical force directly (and thus losing the majority of energy to heat)

Fuel cells can be upwards of 60% efficient compared to the 25% efficiency of most internal combustion engines.

[big chopper]

This is a tired argument against ethanol-based fuels... and every time I mention E-85 it's inevitable that someone brings it up. Where the hell is this rumor coming from anyway?

Oil companies?
--BC,

[Deviant Ollam]

Glad ya liked it :) This is one of my favourite topics, and it's really nice to have had a thread like this here - for once, we got into something that didn't go way off on a tangent (sort of), or end up petering out.

there's another bit of data that i saw today (caught it from a link posted on fark) which described use of Acetone as a mileage booster... and a whole heck of a lot of other fuel and oil discussion.

the piece can be found here (it's not super long... a couple dozen Q&A style points the author makes)

i'd love to hear people's thoughts and comments regarding this material, as well.

This is a tired argument against ethanol-based fuels... and every time I mention E-85 it's inevitable that someone brings it up.

there is a lot of that sort of FUD in the above-mentioned page. does it discredit the other things the author has to say? makes me wonder.

[Deviant Ollam]

Fuel cells can be upwards of 60% efficient compared to the 25% efficiency of most internal combustion engines.

what is the efficiency of a typical diesel (and/or a turbodiesel) ?

[John D]

I've heard about this (and admit that I know relatively little on the subject), but it does sound interesting.

And now you can use dead cats for biodiesel!!!

A German inventor has angered animal rights activists with his answer to fighting the soaring cost of fuel -- dead cats.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe...eut/index.html

JohnD

[Deviant Ollam]

no responses on my earlier comment about the use of Acetone as a mileage booster. i'd really love to know if there's much truth to this or not. googling turns up a good number of pages where it's discussed on forums, etc... but very few knoweldgable-sounding articles or sites whose authority jumps out. thoughts?

[TheCotMan]

no responses on my earlier comment about the use of Acetone as a mileage booster. i'd really love to know if there's much truth to this or not. googling turns up a good number of pages where it's discussed on forums, etc... but very few knoweldgable-sounding articles or sites whose authority jumps out. thoughts?

My thoughts:
Assuming it really worked...

If it was a great value as an additive to improving gas mileage well beyond the cost of acetone, then the gas companies would consider it as a marketing ploy to get people to buy their gas.

However, they would probably not consider it, if there were environmental concerns

Using the above two as guidelines, I suspect it is either not as great a value (cost of acetone as an additive considered with cost savings with gas) and/or adding it causes more harm to the environment.

BTW, the link to the article appears to be dead.

[skroo]

no responses on my earlier comment about the use of Acetone as a mileage booster. i'd really love to know if there's much truth to this or not.

Oops, I must've missed that earlier.

I've been running acetone at a concentration of 1 ounce per 5 gallons of gas in my Jeep for about six months, and in my car for about a month. In both cases, I have seen improvements in fuel economy (typically about 10%) and the idle is noticeably smoother. I tried different concentrations, but found that this seemed to be about the sweet spot for both vehicles. Apparently (and I am *not* a chemist, so take this for what it's worth) it improves fuel economy by weakening the surface tension of the gasoline, thus leading to better atomisation (and combustion) of the fuel in the chamber. Sounds reasonable to me.

Both vehicles are MPFI, and the Jeep runs about 8.5:1 compression on regular unleaded with the car at 10:1 on premuim unleaded. No idea what would happen if you ran this in a carburetted vehicle, but I'd imagine the results would be largely comparable. One other nice side effect: it has a cleaning effect on the fuel delivery system from the tank to the injectors. Even if you're running on a tank of 'pure' gasoline after a couple tanks of acetone, the difference is noticeable.

[astcell]

Just read about a guy who powers his diesel on dead cats. Sure to be a hit. Google it if interested.

[lil_freak]

Just read about a guy who powers his diesel on dead cats. Sure to be a hit. Google it if interested.

We have some guy here in Colorado showing people how to use/convert the waste oil from places that have grease fryers to fuel diesel trucks. The only bad thing about this concept is that your truck gives off this really nasty smell of death and rotting food.

/me wonders does dead cat fuel smells like dead cats or something worse?

[renderman]

Just read about a guy who powers his diesel on dead cats. Sure to be a hit. Google it if interested.

New meaning to 'Tiger in the tank'

[allentrace]

New meaning to 'Tiger in the tank'

Or pussified

[Ridirich]

Or pussified

So, it is methane powered? No surprise. Farmers have been fueling tractors and other farm equipment on methane for years. All dead things give off methane, all ya gotta do is wait till it rotts, or simply fart in it a few hundred thousand times.

[Deviant Ollam]

We have some guy here in Colorado showing people how to use/convert the waste oil from places that have grease fryers to fuel diesel trucks.

i've heard that greasel engines sometimes smell nasty but other times smell like you're making french fries. there was even a story a little while ago of a guy whose car (converted volkswagen diesel i think) was attacked by a bear during the night since it smelled the odor of cooking. i'll google for a link.

UPDATE: found it. pretty funny.