Advocacy & Safety - BGSU's environmental friendly transport

There are a few items that put BGSU on the map as an environmentally friendly school:

1. The campus buses and service vehicles run on BioDiesel fuel

2. The electric vehicle institute designs, patents, prototypes and tests environmentally friendly hybrid delivery and public service vehicles, designed to run on BioDiesel and electricity.

3. The last, and coolest, is the electric Falcon race team, which I take part in. We are an all electric race team that develops, tests, and races an electric specific race car. The problem is, people are no longer interested in this series. It is a clean series, all the batteries are charged using BioDiesel fired generators, and the car itself uses no fossil fuels. The series is going to go belly up soon, unless we can get funding. As usual, money is the deciding factor. I know that there is interest, Discovery Channel is piloting a new series called Amped Up, where people develop and race electric powered race cars, but we cannot seem to find any money. Any guidence would be greatly appriciated.

www.bgsu.edu/colleges/technology/EVI

There are a few items that put BGSU on the map as an environmentally friendly school:

1. The campus buses and service vehicles run on BioDiesel fuel

2. The electric vehicle institute designs, patents, prototypes and tests environmentally friendly hybrid delivery and public service vehicles, designed to run on BioDiesel and electricity.

3. The last, and coolest, is the electric Falcon race team, which I take part in. We are an all electric race team that develops, tests, and races an electric specific race car. The problem is, people are no longer interested in this series. It is a clean series, all the batteries are charged using BioDiesel fired generators, and the car itself uses no fossil fuels. The series is going to go belly up soon, unless we can get funding. As usual, money is the deciding factor. I know that there is interest, Discovery Channel is piloting a new series called Amped Up, where people develop and race electric powered race cars, but we cannot seem to find any money. Any guidence would be greatly appriciated.

www.bgsu.edu/colleges/technology/EVI


BioDiesel? Is that low sulphur content diesel fuel? Have you tried charging the batteries with solar power?

BioDiesel? Is that low sulphur content diesel fuel? Have you tried charging the batteries with solar power?

BioDiesel is diesel fuel made from soybeans. Using solar to charge up the batteries doesn't provide enough power. We have three sets of 30 Optima red-top car batteries that we need to charge between runs, and they last only about 8-10 miles. At 150 mph. Full power draws 360 volts and 700 amps. This thing really sucks juice. The motor is the same motor used in the space shuttle, to open the doors, and in our set-up it makes 225hp and 450ft/lbs of torque. Using solar, it would take days to recharge that, not hours like it does now.

BioDiesel is diesel fuel made from soybeans. Using solar to charge up the batteries doesn't provide enough power. We have three sets of 30 Optima red-top car batteries that we need to charge between runs, and they last only about 8-10 miles. At 150 mph. Full power draws 360 volts and 700 amps. This thing really sucks juice. The motor is the same motor used in the space shuttle, to open the doors, and in our set-up it makes 225hp and 450ft/lbs of torque. Using solar, it would take days to recharge that, not hours like it does now.

Soybeans, huh? Learn something new every day. That's pretty neat! Those are some pretty powerful motors ya got there.

Soybeans, huh? Learn something new every day. That's pretty neat! Those are some pretty powerful motors ya got there.


have you thought of getting MIT to design you a more efficient engine?

have you thought of getting MIT to design you a more efficient engine?

No, because NASA designed it.

No, because NASA designed it.

it is an old design, isn't it? and if you got some other college in on it... well.. maybe you would get more notice and more money.

How about talking to John Glenn? Maybe he has some contacts through NASA that can help (in addition to the fact he's a former senator). I'm sure you can't count on Taft for help.

oh. you could also just set up some of those big water bottles in shops and do a charity style thing.

We actually showed it to Taft, he showed NO interest whatsoever. Have not tried Glenn, but its worth a shot.

BioDiesel is diesel fuel made from soybeans. Well, that's one form of biodiesel. Biodiesel, as its name implies, is diesel fuel made from biomass. (Okay, one could argue that crude oil is biomass, but we're talking about biomass from something that lived and died recently.) There is the possibility of creating a biodiesel infrastructure including agriculture, but currently, most biodieselers use what would otherwise be "waste" biomass such as fryer vat grease.

The cool thing is, most diesel cars need no alterations, and at most a few minor additions, to run biodiesel. The "fuel" needs to be filtered more thoroughly. Depending on the weather, it may need to be warmed to a liquid state or mixed with petrodiesel to be sufficiently liquid to enter the existing fuel system. One favorite mod is to a diesel truck with existing dual fuel tanks. To one tank, you extend the fuel lines so that they run next to, or around, some of the coolant hoses (heater hoses, for example), and then back to the fuel tank switcher. Then, you pump biodiesel into that tank and petrodiesel into the other. You start the cold engine on the petrodiesel tank. When the engine has run for a couple of minutes, the biodiesel has been warmed by proximity to the coolant hoses, and you throw the tank switch to run on biodiesel.

Dr. Rudolph Diesel invented his engine specifically to be a "flexible fuel" engine. His intention, in part, was for it to be used in the mass market using a sustainable, replaceable fuel. The present, widespread use of his technology with a fuel that is no more sustainable (and no less a cause of international strife) than gasoline would have him spinning in his grave.

Oh, and when you burn fryer grease, the exhaust smells like french fries.

Well, that's one form of biodiesel. Biodiesel, as its name implies, is diesel fuel made from biomass. (Okay, one could argue that crude oil is biomass, but we're talking about biomass from something that lived and died recently.) There is the possibility of creating a biodiesel infrastructure including agriculture, but currently, most biodieselers use what would otherwise be "waste" biomass such as fryer vat grease.

The cool thing is, most diesel cars need no alterations, and at most a few minor additions, to run biodiesel. The "fuel" needs to be filtered more thoroughly. Depending on the weather, it may need to be warmed to a liquid state or mixed with petrodiesel to be sufficiently liquid to enter the existing fuel system. One favorite mod is to a diesel truck with existing dual fuel tanks. To one tank, you extend the fuel lines so that they run next to, or around, some of the coolant hoses (heater hoses, for example), and then back to the fuel tank switcher. Then, you pump biodiesel into that tank and petrodiesel into the other. You start the cold engine on the petrodiesel tank. When the engine has run for a couple of minutes, the biodiesel has been warmed by proximity to the coolant hoses, and you throw the tank switch to run on biodiesel.

Dr. Rudolph Diesel invented his engine specifically to be a "flexible fuel" engine. His intention, in part, was for it to be used in the mass market using a sustainable, replaceable fuel. The present, widespread use of his technology with a fuel that is no more sustainable (and no less a cause of international strife) than gasoline would have him spinning in his grave.

Oh, and when you burn fryer grease, the exhaust smells like french fries.

i thought is was made to run on peanuts?

i thought is was made to run on peanuts? Well, most diesel engines will run on peanut oil, and quite nicely, thank you. It'd just be exquisitely expensive.

I do recall, however, stories kicking around the UK that diesel fuel was getting so expensive that people were buying some kind of cheap vegetable oil (rapeseed [aka canola], IIRC) to run their diesel cars. The fuel taxes are so high there that it makes diesel more expensive per unit volume than cheap oil at the grocery. Somebody figured out that sales of cooking oil were way above what they should have been. They actually tried to bust the buyers and make them pay the fuel tax on the oil they were buying at the grocery. Dunno how things ever turned out.

Well, most diesel engines will run on peanut oil, and quite nicely, thank you. It'd just be exquisitely expensive.

I do recall, however, stories kicking around the UK that diesel fuel was getting so expensive that people were buying some kind of cheap vegetable oil (rapeseed [aka canola], IIRC) to run their diesel cars. The fuel taxes are so high there that it makes diesel more expensive per unit volume than cheap oil at the grocery. Somebody figured out that sales of cooking oil were way above what they should have been. They actually tried to bust the buyers and make them pay the fuel tax on the oil they were buying at the grocery. Dunno how things ever turned out.


:roflmao: "but sir! it's just penut oil! you can't bust me for buying peanut oil!? "