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Home | Green Cars | Green Supercars | Ronn Motors Shows Off its 40mpg Scorpion Sports Car at SEMA

Ronn Motors Shows Off its 40mpg Scorpion Sports Car at SEMA

05 November, 2008 07:11:00

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At the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Ronn Motor Company has showed the Scorpion sports car that uses 30-50 percent blend of hydrogen and gasoline, promising reduced emissions and 40 mpg plus efficiency.

The Scorpion gets its sting from a hydrogen delivery system the company calls H2GO. The H2GO system has been developed to be available as an aftermarket product for all cars, light trucks and commercial vehicles. The company is pursuing EPA certification of the Scorpion so people can get a better idea of what the system is capable of.

In ‘conventional’ hydrogen powered vehicles like BMW Hydrogen 7, Honda FCX Clarity or Chevrolet Equinox hydrogen is pumped into a tank in the car, just as gasoline. The hydrogen gas is then fed into the fuel cell where it is electrochemically converted into electricity--with no combustion, no moving parts and no emissions other than water vapor. The electricity is used to power the vehicle.

The Scorpion takes another approach – it uses electrolysis to convert water into gaseous hydrogen. The Scorpion uses an Acura V-Tech, V-6, Type S, 3.5 Liter power-plant with a close ratio six-speed transmission. The engine is modified to use gaseous hydrogen instead of liquid gasoline (much like a natural gas vehicle is modified). The hydrogen is mixed with gasoline since there is no carbon in hydrogen; there are no or almost no CO2 emissions and only trace amounts of NOx (oxides of nitrogen).

By tossing in the optional turbo chargers, the engine is capable of making a blistering 450 horsepower.

Ronn Motor says that the fuel economy is improved by 30 percent and the fuel mileage stands at an estimated 40 mpg.

Last month, Ronn Motor has said would begin a research and development program to study the more efficient use of ethanol and hydrogen blended fuels. The company plans to make an ‘ethanol ready Scorpion’ that will be ethanol compliant and engineered to burn 70% gasoline or ethanol and approximately 30% hydrogen.

Ronn Motor Company, located in the Texas Hill Country west of Austin, was founded by Maxwell and former Dell, Inc. Executive Adrian Pylypec of Austin, who is Vice President for the Company.

[source: Wired]

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