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Cal Poly Students Design Eco-Car That Gets 2,752 MPG

by Amar Toor on February 22, 2010 at 03:20 PM

To most city-dwellers, the concept of "gas mileage" means about as much as "cow tipping." But, for the driving and eco-conscious people of the world, getting the most fossil-fuel bang for your buck is pretty darned important. And, in the great race to build the most fuel efficient car in the world, a group of students from Cal Poly may have just raised the bar to insurmountable heights.

In preparation for the vaunted Shell Eco-Marathon student engineering competition, a group of mechanical engineers in California has designed a three-wheeled vehicle with all kinds of crazy gas mileage. The so-called 'Black Widow' can squeeze about 2,752 miles out of every gallon of gasoline -- about 13 times more than GM's Chevrolet Volt, which clocks in at a comparatively pedestrian 230 mpg. The team has been tinkering with the Widow ever since her inception back in 2005, and have since managed to pump up her mileage from 861 mpg to today's staggering rate.

The engineers have done so, as Wired reports, by turning the car into a Romanian Olympic gymnast; at just 96 pounds, it can reach speeds of up to 30 mph on the strength of a three-horsepower, four-stroke engine. Students say their creation can go even faster, but for the sake of fuel efficiency (and next month's competition), they're focusing on running her at lower speeds.

Unfortunately for all of mankind, though, the Black Widow is more conceptual than practical. Team president Verent Chan explained to Wired, "By no means are we developing cutting edge technology that will be used in future vehicles," adding, "More than anything, our club is training engineers to push the boundaries of efficiency so when they enter the working world, it will be no different in how they approach other designs."

So, cars like the Black Widow may not be saving our bank accounts or our ozone layer any time soon. But, if more professionals were to embrace the same sense of intrepid scientific adventure that these kids have, our real-life fuel efficient options (and our environmental outlook) would only get better. [From: Wired]

Tags: cal poly, CalPoly, cars, engineering, fuel economy, FuelEconomy, green, shell eco marathon, ShellEcoMarathon, top

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