Hybrid Hot Rods Inspire New Breed Of Gearheads

Autopia:

A growing number of Steve McGreens are souping up their gas-electric hybrids to make them go faster and handle better, while delivering stellar fuel economy. It isn't just gearheads busting their knuckles, either. A lot of the hybrid hackers are tech geeks whose innovations may well appear in the cars we'll buy tomorrow.

"The gearhead of today has evolved. People today want performance and fuel economy," Paul Goldman, the 46-year-old CEO of the hot-rod hybrid shop Juiced Hybrid, tells Wired.com. He sells more than 500 items ranging from suspension kits and chassis stiffeners to body kits and floor mats. Most of his customers are "educated people who care about the environment" and modify their cars "because they're tech savvy, not necessarily because they're car savvy."

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Comments

[Keith52]

This is how we can capture the NASCAR crowd. Make hybrid, electric and alternative cars macho / sexy. It's the only way to go mainstream and get serious buying potential. This is great news.

[WasteNJ]

The NASCAR crowd isn't even ready to give up their carburetors for fuel injection. And let's be honest, not many hybrids are going to get the blood flowing like the sound of an uncorked Chevy, Ford, or Dodge V8...

[Keith52]

OK maybe not NASCAR but maybe CART fans.... But sooner or later NASCAR will need to give up the carbs. Evolution will make it so. And a sexy alternative should be a good "fix" for them.

[WasteNJ]

Being one of those turbo guys, we like to tweak cars for more power and handling using a mix of electronics and increased fuel and airflow, but there's a rule to making power. You need more fuel and air. No doubt you can build a hybrid that makes good power, but at some point you cease to have an electric drive system supported by a small gas engine, and begin to have a high performance gas engine with an electric drive system bolted to it.

I know guys who tuned 4 cylinder Mitsubishi turbo cars to get 25MPG at cruise, and put down 350 horsepower when you hit the gas. No matter how efficient the car is, if it's got some good power you're going to drive it harder, and use more gas.

I like the leaf shaped exhaust on the Braile Altima, nice detail!

[PSM42]

For the background information on EVs -

Doug Korthof liveoilfree http://www.youtube.com/liveoilfree

Who Killed The Electric Car WKTEC. Ignore Italian subtitles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wofjkTmVgt4

Iris and Stan Ovshinsky - in WKTEC. American genius. 'Good guy.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_R._Ovshinsky
- Berkeley Alternative Energy speech (long intro to intro @ 13:40) video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DYxoacwuxg

Amory Lovins http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid41.php
- On the Hypercar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D-uhKHy7mk
When you hear "hydrogen" realise that Ovshinsky NiMH battery IS a hydrogen storage device. Doug Korthof describes it and how it could have been available TEN years ago and OR RIGHT NOW, with pressure.

[Bluebayou101]

The one I'm curious about is the Fisker Karma. Supposedly it's going to be rolled out in 2009 and according to the head of the company, it gets over 100 mpg and will have an $80K price tag. I'm curious how much is hype and how much is reality.

[DieselRocks]

If Tesla is any indicator, it will be very late and very expensive. Lots of newbies in the auto industry think they can replicate their successes from the computer space. They bump up against reality and cost once it comes to crash testing. Not to mention batteries still pose a huge challenge, especially the long-term supply of lithium, controlled now mostly by Russia and a couple of other nations. That said, battery electric vehicles are still a great way to go, so long as the near-term good (clean diesels, hyrbids, internal combustion engine advances) isn't sacrificed for the long-term perfect (EVs, plug-ins).

[bbridges1962]

It will only cost you half a million dollars to purchase one.

[DieselRocks]

The VW Jetta TDI diesel gets 50 mpg if you don't exceed 70 mph. Europeans get to drive a BMW 535d diesel that gets 45 mpg and it's a rocket. All this fancy and expensive hybrid gimmickry is fine if you want to pay for it. However, a solid, emissions-compliant diesel does the exact same thing as a comparable hybrid at less cost and way, way better performance. More diesels are coming to the U.S. They deserve as much hype as a hybrid.

[PSM42]

Diesel certainly does deserve it and did ten years ago ... But battery electric vehicles will win over gas. The battery is here now. And was in 1994. Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) from Stan Ovshinsky. Who Killed the The Electric Car. Ignore Italian subtitles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wofjkTmVgt4

[proudliberal4truth]

445 horsepower? Color me green :)

[tx]

In 1983, GM marketed a car that got, right out of the box, 50 miles per gallon. They even had a model which was hot-rodded in reverse, and did a little better. It was simple enough to work on yourself. It ran and ran and ran. I put one hundred fifty thousand mile on one and only had to put gas in the thing and change to oil. This car had over twice the cargo space of a "Smart Car" and contained no high tech gadgets in need of voluminous owners manuals, nor did it need the dense multilayered high tech infrastructure of today's hybrids. Under ten grand, brand new.

In 2000, it was replaced by the Hummer.

Now why exactly should I think that this is impossible or even difficult today? Why do car companies keep telling me that thirty five miles per gallon is such a great deal? I don't want a hybrid. In my opinion, it's a step in the wrong direction. We don't need no stinkin' battery, unless the battery is all there is. See, Tesla motors web site, for more information.

[TimmySlagle]

Now why exactly should I think that this is impossible or even difficult today?

Because cars today have much stricter safety and pollution requirements than they did in 1983. Crumple zones, impact beams, airbags have all added weight and inefficiency to cars.

Once we started letting Washington build cars, they started getting crappy.

I defy you to name one car built after 1980 that could be categorized as a "classic."

[Palemoon]

People sure are crazy bout the mid 1980's model Buick Grand National, especially the GNX that would blow away Corvette's and was powered by nothing but a puny 6 cylinder engine. By the way, speaking of gas mileage, the mid 80's Ford compacts, I think the Fiesta? Those would get 40+ mpg easy. In 2008, the Big 3 can't even field a car that gets 30mpg. My 1984 Fiero got 35mph highway, 29mpg city stop-and-go. And it was considered a "sports car".

[KillTheMessenger]

My Prius runs fine. It would run even better if people stopped honking because I am not willing to violate the speed limit on the highways for them.

:-)

[Vyvjala]

Drive the speed limit in Houston during rush hour traffic and you'll end up in intensive care. They can change a flat tire at 55 mph.......­..........­..........­.

[KillTheMessenger]

:-)

I be they can. And I bet they do.

[kellygrrrl]

sounds like Los Angeles. Wall to wall cars across 5 lanes moving at 90 mph is standard Rush Hour Traffic.