Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion General Science Discussion Forum 5 high school kids do what Ford and Gm refuse to do...

I apologize in advance for posting this whole article but I wanted to make sure everyone read this. This is from Dailylos website if you wish to see the pics of the car, it is sexy and has 300hp!!!!

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HS Students Design Award Winning Biodiesel-Electric Super Car
by Burton Halli
Sat Apr 08, 2006 at 07:51:34 AM PDT

Before I share this story with you, let me get out the obligatory disclaimer: I searched for other diaries and/ or comments on this and came up with nothing, so if this has been previously posted...well, too bad - I tried;)

At this point we are all aware of the automotive industry's complicity in helping big oil hold back alternative fuel technology that could save the world alot of oil and us alot of money and pain in the future. Until I read this story I have never seen that made so painfully obvious, though.

Please share this story with everyone you know and pass it along to your Senators and Congress Critters. Ask them why 5 High School students with less knowledge than your local mechanic and a physics teacher have accomplished what the big name automakers SHOULD have accomplished a LONG time ago, and with a mere fraction of the funding and expertise.

Follow me to the other side for the rest:

Burton Halli's diary :: ::
I have been sitting on this for a couple of weeks, dying to spread this story, but I was waiting, hoping I would have time to create a really nice diary that does the story justice... Since that day will never come, I resigned myself to just getting it out there so more people know about it.

Meet the k-1 Attack Hybrid. Designed by 5 below average students and ex gang members as an after-school project, over the course of a year.


A CBS News story (with video) about the kids and car can be found HERE

And HERE is the team's website with more pictures and a video from a local newscast.


This is off-the-shelf technology, and we're not 180 I.Q. people around here," said Simon Hauger, a physics teacher who is the West Philadelphia automotive program's administrator."

Last year the car won an award for eco-friendly vehicles at the Tour de Sol competition, held by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. Despite their success, the program was on the school district's budget chopping block until an outcry from parents and local car dealers convinced them to keep the program going.


"The West Philly squad's car is based on a kit called the Attack, made by K-1 Engineering, based in Serbia and Montenegro. The kit's carbon-fiber body fits over the chassis and frame assembled from a K-1 kit and a Honda Accord donor vehicle, which the team modified extensively.

The students altered the frame to accommodate a 200-horsepower electric motor under the front hood. An upgraded 150-horsepower, turbocharged Volkswagen diesel engine occupies what would be the trunk on most cars.

To comply with Tour de Sol rules, the engine runs on "biodiesel" fuel: It's biodegradable and nontoxic, and has significantly lower emissions than petroleum-based diesel when burned.

The Attack's soybean-based biodiesel was made by students and Hauger in their West Philadelphia garage, Hauger said.


Could it be that simple? Putting a VW turbo diesel (TDI) engine from a junked car on a Honda Accord chassis, and adding an electric motor to the front wheels? Oh, and don't forget the car's body, purchased as a kit from K-1 Engineering in Serbia. A simple flash presentation of the car can be found HERE. Well, there's slightly more to it, but I am no scientist and the concept is so simple it made me furious. Furious we have allowed ourselves to be taken by big oil and the automotive industry for all these years... Anyone with a very basic knowledge of cars and physics should be able to understand how this is put together.

The electric motor that powers the front wheels is driven by a bank of 450 volt ultra-capacitors that give it excellent power for short bursts of acceleration, but when not accelerating the vehicle is powered by the diesel engine. In other words the electric motor stores enough energy to take care of the acceleration, which is where alot of fuel is normally wasted, and the diesel engine takes over, giving you the benefit of good mileage numbers at higher speeds. That's it!

The result is a hybrid car with sports car performance ( 300 hp, 0-60 in 4 seconds) and sips fuel you could literally make in your garage at the tune of 50 mpg. But here's the real kicker:

The car beats the gas mileage/ performance ratio of any car on the market today... Yes, you read that correctly.

At the recent Philadelphia Auto Show, the car was like a huge elephant sitting in the corner of the room, highlighting the collosal failure(s) of the big car makers to get a car like this to market. Of course there was the few known hybrid vehicles on display at the show, developed with multimillion dollar budgets, and sold at premium prices to America. But these kids did it much better, with MUCH less:


The West Philadelphia team's budget was considerably smaller. "We've estimated that there's probably between $80,000 and $100,000 worth of parts in the car," Hauger said. That includes carbon-fiber body panels donated by Hexcel Corp., of Stamford, Conn., and wheels and tires from OZ Racing. Philadelphia-based refining company Sunoco gave $5,000.

Still, he said, for last year's campaign leading up to the Tour de Sol, his team and students spent about $25,000. That included building the car and incidentals, such as lodging costs on the way to the race in upstate New York.

"The Robin Hood Motel," Hauger said, laughing. "Use your imagination - it probably was as bad as it sounds. We're really low-budget."

They raised the funds through Philadelphia Academies Inc., a nonprofit board that steers city high schoolers to career-focused schools and gets support from businesses and individuals.


So why haven't the big automakers offered a car like this? Kosi (one of the students) gets it - It has to do with the big oil companies:


"They're making billions upon billions of dollars," he says. "And when this car sells, that'll go down -- to low billions upon billions."

From the mouths of babes...

And lest anyone think these kids are child prodigies, working on concepts far above what most adults could comprehend.


"We have a number of high school dropouts," he (Hauger) says. "We have a number that have been removed for disciplinary reasons and they end up with us."

One of the Fab Five, Kosi Harmon, was in a gang at his old school -- and he was a terrible student. The car project has changed all that.

"I was just getting by with the skin of my teeth, C's and D's," he says. "I came here, and now I'm a straight-A student."

To Hauger, the soybean-powered car shows what kids -- any kids -- can do when they get the chance.

"If you give kids that have been stereotyped as not being able to do anything an opportunity to do something great, they'll step up," he says.


In the high school's neighborhood, the median household income is $21,300, about half the national average, with nearly a third of residents below the federal poverty line.

"The urban environment is challenging," said Hauger, who is in his 13th year of teaching. But projects such as the hybrid car make abstract class concepts real, he said.

"They're doing real problem solving... . I've seen cases where kids are marginal" academically, he said, "but this has given them the extra push to succeed."


"It's good to be on the team," said Bruce Harmon, a soft-spoken 18-year-old who said he got one step closer to his dream of designing cars when he transferred to West Philadelphia High this school year.

Although the program developed an environmentally friendly hot rod that puts Detroit gas guzzlers to shame, the West Philadelphia program is handicapped by Philadelphia's chronic school budget woes.


Could a more stark contrast be drawn? A group of kids considered misfits and lost causes, fighting school district budget problems and their own personal demons beat the hell out of ALL the carmakers who spend hundreds of millions of dollars researching this stuff, only to tell us the technology is "not viable" or would cost too much to produce?

Obviously there are other considerations in bringing a car to mass market, like safety regulations and emissions standards, but since these kids did the hardest part of the job, why can't a car maker with a HUGE research and development budget figure that part out? Is that asking too much?

Below I have listed all the links from above, in case someone missed something. I want everyone to know about these kids and what they have accomplished." end quote

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Nice find.

Lillith asks:
"why can't a car maker with a HUGE research and development budget figure that part out? Is that asking too much?"

Well yes it is. Do you really think corporate responsibility should extend past the short-term financial implications to the current CEO and his compensation package?

I didn't ask, the writer of that article did. I guess I need to put end quotes

unfortunately the laws and the demands of share holders will never allow the big car companies to develop things like this. it would cost the share holders a few pennies and they would fire any ceo that tried.

Think again dehammer. Stocks for renewable energy companies are gaining more and more attention. There have always been waiting lists for the hybrid and all electric cars (before Ford decided they did not want to make an all electric car even though they had quite a waiting list).

The technology to make it safe is already here, the engineering is also within easy reach. The big car companies do not want to change. If your statement was true Toyota's and Honda's stocks would be plummeting as they are making more hybrids every year, that is not the case.

People want to have cars that save gas and are more environmentally friendly, it is the corporations who are lagging. There are plenty of people who spend their own money on converting their diesel car into a bio-diesel and make their own fuel. If you like I can post links to the sites that show you how to do it.

Open your eyes and stop listening to what the corporations tell you.

thats because the ppl that are stock holders in those companies expect their ceo to do renewable energy research. the ppl that hold the stock in the big auto makers companies are a total different breed. they just want the maximum return on their money. they are not interested in renewable resourses of energy, or in more energy efficent cars. likely they are the same ppl that hold stack in fuel companies as well. they will not want to cut their own thoats.

personally i would rather have a gravity powered car, but thats me.

I choose to respectively disagree. How exactly is Toyota and Honda not a big auto maker? Those two companies are expanding whereas Ford and GM are constantly having to close plants. I think the Ford and GM culture think that Americans are still stuck on huge cars, meanwhile Toyota and Honda chip away at the market and as usual Ford and GM are clueless as to how to fix their issues.

I am sure stockholders would go back to Ford if the CEOs would listen to reason.

Don't be surprised if Toyota to purchases GM in the next year. My broker, and others I know, certainly thinks it likely.

The problems with GM and Ford are atherosclerotic plaque in the management. These two major American firms will no doubt become foreign-owned soon as neither is financially viable.

Has anyone noticed that America is up for sale? Bell Laboratories (renamed to Lucent) is now French owned.

That would make me laugh hysterically if Toyota purchased GM, all those rednecks would sure be pissed off. I wonder if the commercials where the new CEO of Ford is talking about working with Volvo to improve Ford's safety are shown in the deep South. Of course the CEO states that in doing this they are "putting the emphasis on American engineering". Everytime I see that commrcial I holler at the TV " THEN WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO VOLVO!!!"

Can't you just see Billy Jo Bob getting into a huff about that? "Wha..them people who make fureign yuppie mobiles?? Why good ole Amurican engineering don't need nothin' of that..."

Oh my....

Having spent some time in Japan I know for a fact that the Japanese cost of living is not third-world.
The fact that Toyota is successful while GM and Ford are floundering is not because Toyota is hiring residents of Sierra Leone to build their cars.

And while the industry would like to blame it on the UAW that is part, by hardly all, of the story.

First off, why is is that you assume that everyone that likes, and or drives GM and Fords are "red-necks?"
I'm from the north, the origin of American, New England, I drive GM's allways have and always will.
You have southern people driving Hondas and Hundias now, they also drive Dodge's down there, infact the dodge is the most popular truck ther now.
I'm not defending the "Souther Folk", but I'm also not bashing on him either.
For on I done not condem Ford talking with Vovlo, they bought out Jag, and with this they are just trying to expand their experiance, and safty so that more people will buy their cars, trucks, and vans.

I am fully aware that not everyone who drives a Gm or Ford truck is a redneck. However, Ford and Gm have always been the bastion of "American made", hunting. fishing and "good ole boys" image so I went with it. I am not condeming Ford for speaking to Volvo either, what I found hysterical was that in the commerical the CEO is stating that he promotes American ingenuity while stating that they need to speak to a foreign company on how to make cars safer.

If he is so concerned about American ingenuity, perhaps they should have thought of that years ago when others started to make smaller more fuel efficient cars instead of trying to play catch up now. I just thought it was ironic, that's all.

"Southerners" are about 1/3 or more Yankee transplants now. I came south when I found out that I didn't have to do winter.

Now I'm moving one state to the north. Now I expect them to all sport bumper stickers saying: "We don't give a damn how you did it down south!"

Are you aware that Ford owns Volvo? (it also owns Jaguar, but they don't have the "safety" reputation do they?)

I was not aware that Ford owned Volvo, I will have to see when that happened. I think Volvo's reputation was garnered way before Ford bought them so I still think it is funny.

Ford owns Jaguar too.

Jaguar has watered down to become a really nice taurus. This is one example of Fords demise.