I was listening to the NPR Science Friday radio show today at lunch. They were talking about car technology; what is possible and where we are headed. Anyways, one of their guests was this guy who was a teacher from inner city Philadelphia, and he claims his class had built a couple of hybrid cars using "off the shelf parts" and a "shoe-string budget". With common parts and relatively little money, they were able to make a fully functional and practical hybrid car that gets 180 miles per gallon! That's right, you heard me. They were also able to build a sports car hybrid, that could do 0-60 in about five seconds, but still get 60 mpg!
I always figured the car manufacturers were dragging their feet when it came to increasing fuel efficiency...especially the U.S. companies. According to this guy though, the technology is here and now, and all of the car companies have been exposed. I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that the Model T used to get about 20 mpg when it came out 100 years ago. There is no reason the average family car should only be getting 25 mpg (or so) 100 years later!
I know what you're thinking, "Yeah, they can make a car that gets 180 mpg, but I'm sure it costs like $80,000 dollars." Not true my friends. That's the lie the car manufacturers want you to believe. The high school teacher claims they can make a production quality version of their car for just over $20,000 dollars.
Unless this teacher is full of crap, why are we wasting billions of dollars bailing out the major car companies? I want my tax dollars to go to this guy and his high school class!
