Coffee Powered Car – the Carpaccino

And here I thought I was doing well putting my coffee grounds on my roses and hydrangeas.  This 1998 Scirocco is powered by coffee grounds.  At over $13 per mile, it’s not quite cost effective and refilling every thirty minutes is a bit much, but it’s a start.  It took Doc a while to perfect the flux capacitor, so we’ll give the Carpaccino some time.

http://blog.pricewheels.com/2010/03/08/coffee-powered-car-gets-56-espressos-per-mile/ 

Coffee Powered Car Gets 56 Espressos Per Mile

Mar 8th, 2010 by Ross Edwards

A car powered completely by coffee grounds named Carpuccino has been built for the British TV show Bang Goes The Theory. According to The Daily Mail, the car, a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco, was chosen because it looks like the DeLorean from the movie Back To The Future. With the added hardware necessary for using coffee as fuel, the similarities between the Carpuccino and the DeLorean are actually pretty strong.

The coffee grounds are heated to about 1300 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point it breaks down into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The separated gases are then cooled, filtered, and then finally burned for fuel in the car`s engine. The coffee powered Scirocco has a top speed of about 60 miles per hour. The drivers will need to refill the car`s pot every half hour and clean the filter every 60 miles.

The coffee powered car is more of a scientific exercise than a real alternative to petroleum fuel. The Carpuccino will use about £1,820 ($2,740 U.S.) worth of coffee on its 210 mile trip. A standard Scirocco would only use about £36 of gasoline for that same trip. While using coffee isn`t economically viable, the technology used in the Carpuccino could also burn garbage to power cars. While garbage is definitely cheaper than coffee, the difference in aromas would mean the difference between the driver being a local celebrity and a pariah.