I was watching Planet Mechanics, and they built what is called a stirling engine.
not having heard of it, i did a little research and found out in 1986 58 MPG was achieved.

"At least two automobiles exclusively powered by Stirling engines were developed by NASA, as well as earlier projects by the Ford Motor Company and American Motors Corporation. The NASA vehicles were designed by contractors and designated MOD I and MOD II. The MOD II replaced the normal spark-ignition engine in a 1985 4-door Chevrolet Celebrity Notchback. In the 1986 MOD II Design Report (Appendix A) the results show that highway gas mileage was increased from 40 to 58 mpg and urban mileage from 26 to 33 mpg with no change in vehicle gross weight. Startup time in the NASA vehicle maxed out at 30 seconds,[citation needed] while Ford's research vehicle used an internal electric heater to jump-start the vehicle, allowing it to start in only a few seconds."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine

 

Interesting read. WOuld like to have seen that in the car itself. To bad so many things against it.

 

May not be the best pic, but .............

 

We've had the technology for years for high mpg cars, you can blame the oil companies filling the lobbyist and politicians pockets for not bringing it to the public in the USA. Who do you think squashed the Diesel movement in the 70's, GM.

 

As much as I think there is plenty of BS going on with corporations and lobbyists, I'd love to see proof of stuff like this.

The things that killed diesel vehicles in this country are the 5.7L olds and the 4.3L buick diesels, and cheap fuel. Nobody wanted slow smoky clattery vehicles when it didn't cost them very much to fill a gasoline car. GM's two car diesel engines were so poorly designed, and GM's division wide market share still near enough to 50%, that they created a major negative impression of car diesels. Repeaded fuel pump failures for the 6.2 and 6.5L truck engines contributed their fair share as well. VW's aluminum head, overheating wonders did little to help. Pat Toyota and Mitsubishi on their collective heads for seeing fit to slap failure prone rubber timing belts on theirs. About the only automaker who made good diesels from back then that you can still find on the road with semi-regularity is Mercedes. Nissan, Mazda, and Isuzu diesels did well enough, but their vehicles have long since largely succumbed to the metal moth.

Urban legends like the 50mpg carburetor never existed, and most of these "exotic" engine designs often look really good on paper, only to be found too expensive to mass market. Stirling engines are one of them.

 

Let us not forget the EV1, now GM is making a big deal of the Volt.

 

Look at oil as a somewhat dying commodity in the future. The oil companies have to get rid of their stock and make their profit on it before alternative energy sources or aggresive conservation methods are deployed. Lucky for them that they are rich enough to be able to buy lobbyists and use them against the masses.

Apart from greed and politics, the future looks pretty exciting from a technological point of view.

 

What is funny some of the smaller companies building hybrid and electric cars far surpass anything the Big auto companies are putting out engineering wise. Now how are you going to tell me a small company with less money to work with has engineers and designs that exceed the bigger companies. It all comes down to who has there hands in which companies pockets. Control control control

 

The smaller companies are totally focused on that particular product while the BIG companies are only halfa$$ing it to meet whatever mandates to qualify for whatever discounts/bonuses/tax breaks etc etc....oR so they don't get ridiculed for NOT trying to advance said product.....so yes, the smaller companies can and do put out a better product.....anybody ever see the electric drag cars?

 

Looks at cars like the VW superbeetle and the VW old rabbit diesel pickup. 50+ mpg. I once came acrossed a newpaper article of a engineer who made an engine that got 100mpg+, sold it to the gas companys and became rich since they didnt want cars like this riding around. Back in the early 1900's late 1800's electric cars were more used than gasoline powered cars. Today we have the Tesla which is a powerful, all electric car with decent range ona charge. And people make a big deal about hybrids and looking for a alternate solution. HA.

And I agree with previous posts, its all about greed and politics. Our house and senate cares nothing about the good of the nation and world as long as they get richer and keep themselves happy. If they did they'd stop lobbying bills costing taxes payers their money, stop the democrat, republican seperation and work together as one to make things right.

Hell, you gotta go to Haiti if you even want healthcare from the U.S. hahaha