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Post a reply || Back to The Racers Net BBS - message board Truckee Biofuels & Team EcoTaxi's XPrize Car
Message: Truckee Biofuels & Team EcoTaxi's XPrize Car As you may have surmised, Truckee Biofuels is no more. (That's the short version.) I have taken a job with a small engineering firm based in Olympic Valley, and I am grateful for having been able to make the transition out of a money losing business and into engineering work focused on energy efficiency at the macro level, something I have long been interested in. I have also begun training for certification by AWEA (the American Wind Energy Association) as a Utility Scale Wind Technician, maintaining and troubleshooting megawatt class (> 1mW) wind turbines, which I am on track to complete at the end of April. A deep, heart-felt 'thank you' is in order to all of you who helped make Truckee Biofuels' nearly 3 year venture what it was by buying biodiesel as often as you could. What a ride it was... All of this said, you know that I couldn't be 100% content with a good job in a field I love and more schooling for work in a field I am loving more daily. I am pretty content with that, it's true; but, it's the "impossible" challenge that still intrigues me, that challenge that everyone says "won't work." There is one such challenge that's come to my attention and which I have had the privilege of being asked to participate in - the Automotive XPrize. Attached is a detailed proposal for how Team Eco-Taxi (Truckee's own biodiesel and straight-vegetable-oil-powered taxi company) can build a car fulfilling the XPrize's requirements for a "mainstream" vehicle. The car will: 1) Get at least 100 mpg equivalent. 2) Meet stringent emissions criteria. 3) Be a car people would actually want to buy. The proposal attached details the team, the contest, the Prize itself, how we will make such a biodiesel/ hydrogen powered car meet and/or exceed these criteria, and more. But the proposal doesn't detail one of the most important parts of the contest, which is the submission of the $7000 entry fee by Feb. 28th. This entry fee, in addition to building the car itself, presents a considerable challenge, especially since we learned about the contest just a few weeks ago. We have been meeting with a half dozen people with the technical knowledge of how we can build this car and determining what modifications we'll make to attain this mileage. We've determined we can do it, but only with the technical and financial contributions from people who care and who understand that this is a noble and viable project. To raise the money for the entry fee, we need $7000 by Feb 27th. No contribution is too small. We will mail receipts for every cent sent (please include your mailing address). If we fail to raise the money, we will refund 100% of your donation. The entry fee is refundable if we fail to build a car that attains the specified three goals (if we build a car that only gets, say, 90 mpg) or cannot complete the race phase of the XPrize. If you have questions, you can call me at 530-412-2617. You can call Stephen Lederman, EcoTaxi's founder and owner, at 530-386-2555. Grassroots support can turn grassroots engineering into a vehicle that doesn't cost $50,000, that runs on renewable fuel and water, that uses technology not far beyond the reach of most backyard mechanics, that almost anyone could maintain themselves, and that uses proven technology, not experimental, untested equipment. We can do this. We welcome your questions and comments, and we appreciate your support. Pass this along to friends who you think may be interested. With thanks, Ronnie Colby (Biodiesel Guy, Writer) for Stephen Lederman (owner, builder, mechanic, Eco-Taxi) Charles Ferris (Diesel Mechanic) Brian Woody (Mathematician) Bob Gray (Engineer) (your name and contribution here) Team Eco-Taxi c/o Truckee Biofuels PO Box 9857 Truckee, CA 96162 Please see X_Prize_Proposal_RC_SL_v2 Replies to this post
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