Image Credit: The Coffee Car

October 4, 2011

The price of gas and finite amount of resources are just a few reasons developers are looking for technology that will run a vehicle without relying on fossil fuels. A team of inventors in England has come up with a way to power a car with coffee grounds. The coffee car is a modified Rover SD1 that uses an onboard wood gas generator system which burns wood and coffee grounds at a high temperature. The result is a synthetic gas made up of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane capable of powering an engine.

The so-called “Coffee Car” just broke a record for the fastest speed traveled by a car using organic waste. The car was able to reach an average speed of 66.5 miles per hour and will now be in the Guinness Book of World Records. Last year the Coffee Car broke a record for the longest distance traveled using organic waste as fuel.

The Coffee Car team wanted to design a car that would run on waste products and came up with the concept of a coffee car after noticing the large amounts of used coffee grounds at local coffee shops.