Ground Control to Un-eco Beetle
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.18.06
Now here's a loophole... (Those of you who thought "Torch My Ride" inappropriate content for TreeHugger may choose to look away here.) Could this jet-powered VW Beetle really qualify for use of the commuter lane as a "hydrid?". The engineer behind the idea, Ron Patrick, used his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford to build a jet engine into the back of a VW Beetle. Preservation of the factory motor up front allows the car to retain "street legal" status (at least until its next inspection is due, when it will presumably have to join the stream of end-of-life vehicles rather prematurely.) Ron muses: "Hmmm, the car has two engines making the car a hybrid so maybe we can drive in the commuter lanes along with the Toyota Priuses." (Before we chastise Doctor Patrick too severely, let's give him credit for developing a slightly more eco friendly jet-powered Vespa, photo below. This TreeHugger, for one, enjoys the absurdity and hopes it will give a kick in the pants to the powers that be to introduce a unified concept for renewable and ecologically friendly powersources.)
Buried in this post is an idea that should be examined a little more, I think: eco-friendly is good, but guys like fast, powerful stuff. Maybe one key to greater adoption of alternative-fueld vehicles, at least in some important market segments, is to develop higher-performance alternative-fueld vehicles. Wouldn't it be great to have your cake and eat it too? And at least one company is working on some serious electric performance: http://wrightspeed.com/
Wow, maybe if he spent two minutes examining the law on HOV lane access, he wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of this absurd stunt.
The law contrains based on emissions, and in the case of hybrids, MPG as well.
http://arbis.arb.ca.gov/msprog/carpool/carpool.htm
typo
contrains = constrains
It was a joke... sheesh.
For me, the key idea here is that this is another inspirational example of individual people taking control of technology and making things.
I think that the more that people are unafraid to approach technology and manufacturing this way, the more people we'll have being able to build and repair their own windmills, safely rig their own photovoltaic systems, set up biogas digesters, and on and on. Plus, a culture where more of us individually make more of the things we use seems like a good (if perhaps only partial) antidote to cultures of mass-produced consumerism.
actually, this car has passed two inspections and is fully road legal. there is no law against fitting a jet engine to your car, but there is a law against using the "big flame" mode the owner installed. even if it did fail the inspection, the car would not have to be scrapped. drag racer anyone?