Super powered cars…. are green???

How can that be? That’s what I thought the first time I read an article in Fast Company back in Nov 2007….. but yet, there he is, Johnathan Goodwin from Witchita, Kansas has managed to create GREEN cars that are super powered…. and we’re not talking about your Prius. He’s taking Hummers, Escalades, and Jeeps…. BIG SUV’s…. and they’re being turned into electric hybrids… they have JET engines…. (they actually have two engines…. an electric motor, and the second is a turbine which will turn on when the cars juice runs low… it will blast on for a few seconds to charge it up)…. now you may be thinking that having a jet turbine in your engine would make it FAR from being green…. that’s what I thought. Well apparently this isn’t the case…. these turbines can run on biodiesel…. so next time you gotta fill up, pull her up to the back of a Mickey D’s. Sure your exhaust will smell like french fries, but I think that’s a sacrifice we can all take to be green and still get to drive around our monstrous Hummers



I suggest looking this guys story up… I mean, I really couldn’t believe it when I read it in Fast Company. I saved the article because I was so thoroughly amazed. AND while you may think that this would cost an arm and a leg…. it doesn’t… he fabricates each engine with pre-existing car parts (essentially it’s a bolt on that he makes uniquely for each truck/car) and only costs about $5,000. That may seem like a lot to some, but for us car enthusiasts we all know that bolting on a turbo, and all the other stuff to get extreme power will end up costing about that much or more……

Here’s the craziest part…. with his unique, hand made bolt on hybrid electric engines not only do you lower emissions by 80% and use 50% less fuel, but you get an incredible amount of power…. like a Prius on steroids…. In the article it’s quoted that many of the Hummers that he’s turned into green cars now push TWICE as much horsepower! They go from 300 to 600 horsepower! Not to mention it actually increases the torque too! A Hummer, that gets 60 miles to the gallon (UNHEARD of!) that does 0-60 in 5 seconds! That’s every mans DREAM car!!!!!

So why hasn’t this kind of thing gone into mass production? I can tell you why…. the lack of Biodiesel fuels…. C’mon McDonalds, Burger Kind and Taco Bell! Give up the grease! Quit holding back on us! but in all seriousness, this is truly what prevents us from mass producing biodiesel cars. Which is a shame. I for one would love to buy myself some HUGE truck or SUV, have Johnathan outfit it with one of his engines and cruise around knowing I’m getting better gas mileage then the Camry next to me…. not to mention next time I pull up to a red light I can rev my engine at the sports car next to me and then ACTUALLY blow them out of the water!

All I gotta say is I hope Johnathan makes a deal with a car company soon…. or I hope that biodiesel fuel becomes more predominant! I can’t wait for these super powered efficient cars to get on the road! It’s my DREAM to have a fast, beefy car without feeling guilty about carving a bigger hole into the ozone!