Neil Young??? This guy has made a better hybrid than the prius?

Lincvolt

He basically restored is 1959 Lincold Continental which is reported to be the heaviest car ever manufactured and he's from what I understand to be 100 miles on a gallon of gasoline...he was on one of the latenite talkshows recently and basically he had hired some engineers/mechanics to come up with some type of hybrid, long story short he mentions that if it was mass produced by a major car manufacturer it could cost the consumer around 2500 bucks for this conversion..this is really frustrating to see that this can be done and those skunk car manufacturers are screwing with us..it's really just an awful shame that we cannot get this technology that has probably been around for ever..there are four parts to this video and some other stuff connected with this when you look at the other youtube links...my apologies if I was off on some of the information...you know what's even more frustrating is talking to my wife about this and she could care less.....

reply to post by chrismarco


Is that the hearse that he had? I remember that he had a giant black funeral car and used to tour/do gigs with it. How cool....

But yeah, it's a shame we don't aim for such fuel efficiency.

reply to post by sir_slide


Not a hurse but this Lincoln is huge....obviously restored and in great shape...

Had a malfunction.

articles.sfgate.com...

Neil Young's warehouse fire started in hybrid car

A three-alarm fire that damaged a San Carlos warehouse containing memorabilia belonging to rocker Neil Young started in a vintage car that he had converted into a hybrid vehicle, authorities said Tuesday.

So, the fire started in the car? Hmmmm. Convenient.

His company:

www.lincvolt.com...

His music! (great song)

I am starting to look into what it would take to build a small electric car from scratch. I think it could easily be done at minimal cost.

These small cars could be manufactured in small sized warehouses at local levels, and bye bye giant corps.

reply to post by poet1b


I wonder if a Cobra kit from Factory Five Racing would make a good start for that project? Instead of using the typical mustang single donor... maybe outfit it with electric from the start?

www.factoryfive.com...

reply to post by Gmoneycricket


Yikes I call stinker on this...

That just so crazy that it takes an old Rock Star to come up with a seemingly good system.

Keep on rocking in the free world! I wonder what kind of mileage I could get with my "90" VW Rabbit Cabriolet?!?

reply to post by poet1b


Didn't they try that with the TESLA vehicle..small company I believe but people are to concerned about making an electric car something that looks and drives so that it could keep up with a corvette...we just need it to take us to point a and poin b. I cant figure out why they just don't make cars that are for public consumption not to exceed say 80 mph or less...leave the police and emergency cars go for the higher speeds...

humm duplicate post

reply to post by chrismarco


I read about this in a magazine a few years ago, Neil Young is the MAN!

Originally posted by chrismarco
Didn't they try that with the TESLA vehicle..small company I believe but people are to concerned about making an electric car something that looks and drives so that it could keep up with a corvette...

Different market. You're right, I think that's what Tesla is about. That doesn't mean a person can't make one that's about efficiency and cheaper production.

Looks like Tesla isn't just the roadster now...

www.teslamotors.com...

The Model S is less than half the cost of the roadster and has a little more distance/charge. Still 50k though and I bet you could outfit one of those FFR kits for much cheaper

leave the police and emergency cars go for the higher speeds...

Yeah best we can't out run the cops...

Looked interesting, I would use two Capstone c65 Turbines rather than the 200 series. Less power output (about 87 horsepower each) but I could not find data on the size of those Turbines. The 200 looked pretty damn large.

Thanks for the post good to see Neil still at it.

reply to post by SeleneLux

That just so crazy that it takes an old Rock Star to come up with a seemingly good system.

Neil Young has always been an inventor, and his inventions all have a kind of retro Americana feel to them.

He used to own the Lionel (toy) train company for many years. His guitar effects are all self-designed, analog effects. He’s always been into restoring old American cars, too.

This is a natural for him.

What a coincidence that a fire started in his home-built hybrid vehicle. I'm sure that this has never happened to anyone before, and Mr. Young was just a victim of bad luck.

Originally posted by underspace
reply to post by poet1b

 

I wonder if a Cobra kit from Factory Five Racing would make a good start for that project? Instead of using the typical mustang single donor... maybe outfit it with electric from the start?

www.factoryfive.com...

Sure would. FF cobras have fiberglass frames, aluminum pans and are very light compared to today's cars.

However you'd be laughed at to the point of anger at every light when kids in 110 hp Scions smoke your cobra.


That would be like putting a weedwhacker motor in a ferrari.


you could.. but would you want too?

reply to post by BadNinja68


Why do you think it necessarily has to be so under-powered when there is already so many real world examples of high performance electric-driven cars?

Also, isn't electric typically good on acceleration?

I have been fantasizing about a electric pneumatic hybrid, using compressors for breaks, electric generation, and breaking to charge a pneumatic charger.

Basically a concept of two motorcycles put together with a shaft design that would couple to the compressors, and some flaps to also assist in breaking and charging of the air tank. Give it some lean capability for cornering. The idea would not be so much acceleration, but longevity. Big enough for a three seatter, narrow and tall, about a 1,000 lbs.

Maybe foot pedals to boost pneumatic pressure for the more physically determined.