100-MPG Hybrid Evokes Classic 1963 Corvette

Wired:

The Progressive Automotive X Prize has drawn a lot of impressive cars, but one of the coolest has to be a carbon fiber-bodied, Corvette-inspired biodiesel hybrid that opens like a clam.

Lightning Hybrids says the LH4 will achieve 100 mpg and do zero to 60 in 5.9 seconds. Power comes from a 90-horsepower diesel engine plucked from a Volkswagen and mated to a 150 horsepower Rexroth hydraulic hybrid system - technology that has so far been limited to delivery trucks. Such systems ditch batteries in favor of hydraulic power, and the company says it offers better fuel economy and energy regeneration than conventional gas-electric systems.

Read the whole story: Wired

Comments

[markinaz]

Another ridiculously over-priced piece of metal or composite that will cost you a fortune to insure. No thanks. I'll keep taking the bus.

[Palemoon]

By the way, the front half of the car reminds me of the mid 80's Corvettes, aside from the front being so rounded off like that.

Also, it's good to see people starting to innovate and design stuff around green concepts, that can only go a long ways towards helping it become accepted in the mainstream. I welcome it. And probably the only way I'd be able to own something identical to a '62 Ferrari 250 GTO would be to have a hybrid/electric version. Which would make me very happy anyways.

[JBS]

The front clip looks more like a 54 'vette than it does a 63 ... or anything from the mid 80s models.

AND ... as with every other green car proposal I've seen, there are two sticking points:

1. Will you be able to find one to buy?
2. If you can, will you be able to afford one?

If it ever even makes it into production, at $39,000 to $59,000, it's another unaffordable pie-in-the-sky non-solution.

[Palemoon]

True and good points. Ah well, I'm back to reality now. Thanks. :o)

[jacobomorales]

I have a honda civic hybrid and was wondering how long it would take anyone to match a diesel engine into hybrid technology. I bet such a blend in a small civic type car could easily break the 75 mpg. I would surely buy one if it had the Honda performance quality.

[Palemoon]

I'm a certain kind of car freak, LOL. So based on what I know of styling of my favorite cars, is that the rear shape of the car seems to actually be a hybrid like the car itself. The bodyshape is all early 1960's, like the 1962, Ferrari 250 GTO which I would love to own. Probably the most copied car shape in the world as well. While yes, the split rear window is all about the 1963 Corvette. So to me the car says 1962 Ferrari 250, while the window says 1963 Corvette.

The hybrid
http://blog.wired.com/cars/images/2009/03/11/lightning_hybrids_sized07.jpg

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
http://www.supercars.net/carpics/518/1962_Ferrari_250GTO2.jpg

1963 Corvette "split window"
http://www.corvettearchive.com/gen2/1963_corvette_split_window.jpg

Pictures linked for reference material. :o)

[facet]

The "Birkenstock" mobile.

[bubbuh]

lol

[Skyhawk]

I think I saw this car on a Speed Racer cartoon.

[Myshkin57]

In what way does that look like a '63 Corvette? It looks like the horrid, bloated Corvettes of the '70s more than the '63.

[outmost1]

Perhaps the headline writer meant to say '83 (the one that didn't exist)

[Myshkin57]

Good one.

[SworldPeas]

gee I'd like an economical car that gets a 100 mpg... it wouldn't even have to go 0-60 in 5.9 seconds. This piece of crap is an eye sore. Grandma is not going to be driving it to church on Sundays. Perfect example of a great technology with a poor application. Get real guys.

[KPinSEA]

Except for one thing .... the '63 Corvette actually existed.

[bubbuh]

The reason it's green is that it runs on pipedreams. rrrum-rrummm.

[friedfish2718]

Notice that the high-mpg cars are diesel.
European pollution standards are more realistic so most European passenger cars are diesels.
GM, Ford do make diesel passenger cars but they cannot sell them in the US because of US EPA laws.

[KPinSEA]

Volkswagen's TDI diesels are EPA legal in all 50 states.

Don't blame environmental standards for Detroit being late to yet another tech party.

[LADawson]

BMW, Mercedes and VW all have diesel cars EPA legal in all 50 states. The argument that it is standards holding other manufacturers back is just an excuse. The real problem is the stigma that diesel has in the US. You mention diesel to anyone, and the first thing that comes to mind is rattling, black smoke belching monstrosities - which hasn't been so for decades. If diesel was re-marketed as Happy Fun Time Gas(tm) by the Burson-Marsteller PR team, everyone would love it. :)

[NotBob]

Kind of reminds me more of the '62 Corvair Monza GT Concept car. That car even had the clam shell cockpit door.

See:
http://www.shorey.net/Auto/American/GM/Chevrolet/Corvair/1962%20Corvair%20Monza%20GT-02.jpg
http://www.special-classics.com/Archive/prototyp/corvair.jpg

[Palemoon]

I don't know how I skipped over your message when I went to write that in my opinion it looked more like a '62 Ferrari 250 GTO.

But you are right, the rear of that Corvair Monza GT looks pretty darn close itself. And a very cool looking car at that.

[SiouxSayer]

Perhaps the under-educated, American mouth breathers would like to ask why it is that European cars can post super-tasty MPG stats on cars sold there like the new VW Polo that cruises along with a 75mpg fuel range. This is but one of hundreds of other models that are kept from American shores and roadways..­.because like healthcare, Americans just aren't happy unless they're paying the most for the least. So, until we collectively get our tiny little brains out of our ever ballooning rear-ends we will continue to fail....

....oh, and BTW, be certain to charge a sufficient amount for this new tech that prevents any ACTUAL American from buying them, OK? But I'm sure you knew to do that anyway....­pssst.....­tell the knuckle-draggers that it's research and development, production expenses, etc....the­y'll believe you....eve­n though Europe has been producing these vehicles for decades now....

...morons.­...

.

[Palemoon]

Well, the US isn't just addicted to oil, it's addicted to capitalism. That is the driving force behind things like "planned obsolescen­ce"... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence Which is basically a capitalist excuse to build shoddy products that don't last very long. If you built a car that went 10 years before it needed the first repair, then that's not helping them sell cars. They build cars so that you have to get rid of them a few years after purchase and get a new one. That probably explains why GM, for all their claimed engineering prowess, is ignorant enough to put plastic gears on their timing gears. Every GM product I've owned has FAILED in this one area. Which further lined the GM coffers with my money. Like my 1984 Pontiac Fiero, good car, but plastic gear went out, $1700 to repair by shop. Later owned an '87 Chevy Caprice Classic, same thing. This time I had my brother and a friend repair it for around $300-$400 since it also bent some pushrods and other stuff. Now I own a non-American SUV that I have only had to replace electrics on, such as a fuel pump. (Should be a big hint as to what I have there, LOL).

But you are right, we're not happy unless we're complaining about sinking our life savings into something we get the least out of, lol. And yes, our healthcare is probably worse than the US made cars.

[SALADIN]

As a Corvette owner, this car looks more like a Saturn, an Opel, or a VW Beetle than a 1963 Corvette. Vettes don't have 4 seats.

My Vette can go from 0-60 in about 4 seconds without any modifications from the factory, and averages about 22 mpg, no kidding. Pretty good considering it puts out 430+ horsepower.

[American Hayek]

I hear you Saladin. People have to understand the efficiency of the American V8 - great power to weight ratio, cheap to produce, and incredibly durable. Not that surprising considering that we have been massaging internal combustion engines for 100+ years.

I am rebulding an 86 C4 vette myself. First and second generation of GM Fuel Injection, ECM, etc. Crude by today's standards but an enlightening journey into automotive engineering. People need to understand that car evolution is just that - little tiny steps that add up to big leaps over time. Not huge lurching jumps.

The hybrid technology is coming along nicely, it will just take time for it to gain the reliability and cost effectiveness that people expect.

[KillTheMessenger]

There is no such thing as an efficient V8. If you want to build an efficient engine, you go with a three or at most four cylinder model running at constant rpm. High compression, high expansion ratio and lean mix are key.

Not sure about that durability claim, American cars seem to be more in the shop than on the road. Cheap to build? Absolutely. You get what you pay for.

[DMEEPhD]

The Opel GT indeed, except of course, for the seating and the HP.

However, efficiency in gas mileage isn't anything new for high horsepower cars. My 1988 BMW M6, with 289 HP, does 28 mpg on the freeway if I can maintain 73 mph average. Of course, I'm breaking the arcane speed limits of our Interstate Highway system. My M6 was designed for the Autobahn. If I putt along at 55 mph, my gas mileage drops to 18 mpg. Around town, it drops to under 14 mpg, often dropping to 12 mpg.

I added a bunch of performance mods to the engine (cams, intake, cam gears, chip, exhaust, etc.) and bumped the HP to 451. I still get great highway gas mileage (24 mpg - if I can keep her over 70 mph) for such a road rocket, but my around town is abysmal.

Now if they could do this 20 years ago, what are our automotive engineers capable of now?

[KillTheMessenger]

"Now if they could do this 20 years ago, what are our automotive engineers capable of now?"

About the same... as you noticed it's only a matter of matching the engine's optimal power point (which is a very limited rpm/power range) to the average driving pattern. Without a continuously variable transmission and some sort of hybrid energy storage ICEs are just not doing so well.

The Prius seems to have its best efficiency (of 30%) at 13.5hp power output. That's probably just enough to stay within the speed limit for a car that size. But it's about a factor of 20 less than what is needed to build a "road rocket". And it's that factor of 20 between optimum power and peak power where all the losses are.

[BLinCincinnati]

"Corvette-inspired biodiesel hybrid that opens like a clam."

Wonderful for a rainy day!

[solid]

Good point.

[bubbuh]

Not to mention seating four widebody American arses, er, I mean realtime realsize people.

[poco767c]

That's great but people don't want a hybrid that looks like 'the car of tomorrow' from a 1950's science convention. People are used to a style of car and want something that fits that. Boring but comforting.

[KillTheMessenger]

The Prius proved the "boring" statement wrong. Toyota made the right decision with the second generation and gave the car an unusual look. Honda tried to hide that they were making a hybrid and bombed, despite being almost equally good. They didn't repeat that mistake with the new Insight, for sure.