Howdy,
I just wanted to share the results of my record breaking drive from Canada to Mexico using only 12.4 gallons of fuel (diesel)
If I can do this one would think that we should be driving cars that do better than 25mpg. And Yes the Avion could meet all fed standards for crash ect all we need is the money
PS this is not a battery car!
Most modern cars will do much better than 25 mpg if driven the way you drove to milk 119 miles out of a gallon of diesel on your Canada to Mexico trip, on the other hand, the Avion would get nowhere near 119 mpg if driven by the typical commuter who seems to think that red lights will change sooner if he accelerates towards them.
I went passed all the milking farms at 55-60mph.
The car drives like a real car because it is one. We did our best to avoid rush hour and congestion. We stuck to I-5 all the way except we took 210 around LA. On the way up the mountains we drove 60-65mph so I could keep it in 6th gear. The flow scan meter showed 50mpg up the pass and with out taking it out of gear (that would be cheating) on the down hill side the meter showed over 200mpg.
A battery car would do better in stop and go but the Avion with the current engine will still show 75-80mpg around town and once you are on the highway better than 100mpg.
The car was designed with a strong Aluminum chassis with side guard beams 6"thick and a crush-able front frame to survive front impacts and airbags could be installed with out significant weight.
Perhaps you could do better?
Yours
Craig Henderson
A quick google search revealed an Avion website. According to the website, it was designed in 1984 as a very fuel efficient sports car, it has set several fuel economy records, and now the owners of the website are planning to put it back in limited production. Two comments:
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Whenever I hear, “all we need is the money” I let someone else provide the money. That is no particular reflection on you, Mr. Henderson, just on my own conservative attitude toward my own money.
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I’d feel more inclined to be impressed at your record if I saw it mentioned on a hypermiling website, such as www.cleanmpg.com.
Scrabbler
If you really want to “save the planet”, forget the Avion and buy a Honda 230L motorcycle. In addition to being able to nearly match this car’s fuel economy with gasoline, not diesel, it is composed of only about 350 pounds of “stuff”. The Avion is made of about 1600 pounds of stuff.
Stuff has to be mined, refined, transported, and turned into vehicles. Aluminum is particularly expensive stuff to make cars out of primarily because it takes about 6 kwh of energy to turn aluminum ore into a pound of aluminum metal. I bet tons (literally) of coal had to be burned to refine the aluminum needed to build this car.
People like the car. It is a bonus that it gets over 100mpg.
and if you use less material it is lighter and less expensive to build.
I would challenge any one to do better, at home in your spare time.
All the best
Craig Henderson