SEP 09

It's really interesting how creative the whole fuel economy move is becoming.

Only 25 gallons of fuel TOTAL, that would average about 90 - 100 mpg. Must be some serious hypermiling to achieve that.. but they are taking 10 days to do it.

Wonder if this is also a PHEV to get such great mileage, and take such a long time to get there.

Too many loose holes in the story... we need more info, please!

Well its not getting across the country by algae, its getting 5% of the way across the country by algae.

Well, I suppose a publicity stunt is what is needed, but there are a lot of deceptive words in the press release. Megan, where do they claim it will take 25 gallons? Please reference such claims-- I found none searching the Sapphire or VeggieVan sites. Someone must have just taken their wording (150 mpg across the country), then used google maps to find the distance between cities visited and divided by 150. The plug-in _could_ get 150 if driven carefully a limited distance, but on the highway, it will get about 60mpg.

They are also mixing technologies-- the plug-in, and then 5% biogasoline. Because of the ethanol mandate, it could have more corn ethanol than algae fuel, yet it's touted as being powered by algae. If indeed it would do what is said (150mpg), it would only need 1.25 gallons of algae fuel, so they just carry a few bottles of additive. But really, it will probably need 3 gallons of algae additive, and burn 6 gallons of corn ethanol.

Why not call it the Cornius? The VeggieVan was at least 100% powered by waste vegetable oil. (Of course if we use 100% of available waste vegetable oil, it would only augment a small fraction of the diesel fuel.)

To me, it seems that we need large changes in transportation fuel, and it's deceptive to call 5%-bio (B5) "Biodiesel" or E10 "Ethanol"-- that's a drop in the barrel and a small fraction of the 50% increase in range from gas-only hybrid, or >100% increase possible with plug-ins.

I was sad to see no specifics on the plug-in: just mention that it had a plastic cover so people could see the extra battery. Most current Prius plug-in retrofits just range extend the NiMH battery (by faking out the control signals to the engine), but don't increase the available power to drive the wheel. The Prius electric motor gets half the power from the battery, half from the engine+generator. In theory, adding an extra battery could allow the electric motor to run more often without the engine.

Seems to be incredible hype for 5 percent algae biofuel. The car could probably succeed on 5 percent Mazola oil or recycled cooking oil from the McDonald's deep friers along the way. Does this really prove anything scientifically? It's just a promotion from the Fuel movie and the media are going along for the ride.

The National Algae Association wishes Josh Tickell a safe journey and the best of luck.

Even if the article is not accurate, I still think that the concept of using natural resources for fuel is awesome. Algae reproduces to quickly, so it would be a great alternative energy resource.

Check out these other sites:
http://ow.ly/oTx7
http://ow.ly/oTpr

The tour sounds neat and 5% is a good start since nobody as far as I know has really touted widespread awareness of algae-gas at this point. I'd like to know if Sapphire is supplying the entire mix for the whole trip. So what is in the other 95% gasoline? Does it contain corn-ethanol gasoline mixes? I'm not sure Mr. Tickell would necessarily subscribe to corn-ethanol mixes due to his preferences against that kind of biofuel.

I heard somewhere they get 200 mpg on this vehicle. Is that true?

Also, is algae fuel just getting oil from coal? Does it still have emissions that hurt the atmosphere (like traditional ones) ?

But only the millitary will see the big difference because they have the contract.

Algae is grown from waist water or from ponds. Its the fastest growing organism on this planet. It is carbon neutral, which means that it removes CO2 from the environment and is biodegradable. It is 10 times less toxic than table salt when used as diesel fuel. In my eye's is the answer to the energy problem (replace crude oil)and far more better the ethanol and methanol.