A Concept Car?

Hybrid vehicles seem to be popping up all over nowadays, or perhaps I’m just noticing them more. This got me thinking. What if we could merge hybrid technology with E85 technology? I’ve heard that the Toyota Prius gets up to 50 MPG. What if you could combine that with E85 which is 85% ethanol and therefore only 15% gas?

Most ethanol in the US is made from corn but if we switched production of ethanol to switch grass it would not only take less energy to produce ethanol but would have less impact on food production and soil erosion.

I was watching a TV show a while back where a group of people took a Toyota Prius, beefed up the battery pack and added a plug so you could plug it in to an electrical outlet in your garage to charge the batteries. They reported up to 100 MPG.

I’ve heard recently that someone is working on switching batteries for hybrids from lead-acid batteries to lithium ion. I don’t know if this will increase gas mileage but it sure sounds like it would be more environmentally friendly. If I’m not mistaken, lithium ion batteries weigh less than lead-acid batteries so I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t improve fuel economy.

I was watching another TV program where someone had developed a solar paint that could convert sun energy into electrical energy. I think you see where I’m going here. A hybrid vehicle that runs on 85% ethanol produced from switch grass with a beefed up lithium ion battery array that uses a paint on the car’s surface that will charge the batteries. I wonder what kind of gas mileage a vehicle like this would get.